Former Michigan State basketball players defend Tom Izzo after outburst
Tom Izzo was the center of controversy on Thursday afternoon, but former Michigan State basketball players rushed to his defense.
It was a common occurrence caught on camera. Tom Izzo’s face turned beet red as he walked up to Aaron Henry following a timeout. You could almost see the steam coming out of his ears.
The Hall of Fame coach proceeded to let his freshman wing have it after a crucial mistake late in Michigan State’s first-round matchup with 15-seed Bradley. The game was on the line and he felt as if Henry was being a bit too casual, forcing some bad passes and missing easy shots.
It left fans wondering what happened during commercial break, and then CBS showed the huddle where a visibly frustrated Izzo was still going at Henry for his mistake and he got up to yell more, but was quickly corralled by an assistant coach and a couple of players.
Then the internet erupted.
“Tom Izzo is a hothead.”
“Who would want to play for a coach like this?”
“Tom Izzo nearly lost it on a player.”
“He went too far.”
All the insults you could imagine about the head coach were scattered throughout social media for hours following the incident, yet no one who has watched Michigan State basketball for the past couple of decades was surprised. This was common for the veteran head coach, dating back to the 1990s.
Henry, too, soaked up the coaching and didn’t think much of the outburst after the game.
From the MSU locker room, Aaron Henry sure didn't have a problem getting yelled at by Tom Izzo: "It's nothing new, it's just responding to it, accepting the coaching, not having a pity party for yourself, just being a basketball player and go respond."
— Matt Charboneau (@mattcharboneau) March 21, 2019
For some reason, this regular Izzo occurrence spread like wildfire and it had the internet talking about how his coaching can’t possibly be received well by his players.
And then former Spartans came to Izzo’s defense.
So coaches cant yell at players now? Lol Izz cares about his players more than half these other college coaches. 600+ wins for a reason. #GoGreen
— Gary Harris (@thats_G_) March 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/ktorbert23/status/1108909278683893760
https://twitter.com/ktorbert23/status/1108907381394685952
https://twitter.com/MilesBridges/status/1108935151747162113
I don’t understand what’s new what how coach Izz went off@ he was doing that to us back in the 90’s lol https://t.co/ikNFbbJSLr
— Charlie Bell (@flintstone14) March 21, 2019
Thats lite
— Durrell Summers (@DurrellSummers) March 22, 2019
Coaching https://t.co/rK9RAi0sTJ
— Tim Bograkos (@timbograkos) March 21, 2019
U gotta wanna be pushed from a coach to bring out everything you can do💯🗣it’ll only help u
— JJJ (@jarenjacksonjr) March 22, 2019
https://twitter.com/DelvonRoe10/status/1108916009124139010
More will probably filter in either verbally or on social media over the next few days as the negative comments about their former head coach pile up.
Next. 5 takeaways from Big Ten Tournament title win. dark
Who are you going to believe, Joe Schmo behind a computer screen saying Izzo is bad and out of line or his former players who have backed him and thanked him for the endless coaching, making them better throughout the process? The answer’s easy.