Tom Izzo accomplished the unexpected last season, winning the deepest Big Ten ever (literally) by three games and leading a group of unproven players to the Elite Eight.
The Spartans were a couple of bounces away from a Final Four, but they ran into a buzz saw in Auburn in the Regional Final. The Tigers just had too many veterans and Michigan State was clearly too young and inexperienced to hang with Auburn. Still, this run was a typical Izzo coaching masterpiece and he proved yet again why he’s a Hall of Famer.
There’s a legit conversation to be had about Izzo being a top 3-4 coach in the country, but easily top five. Unfortunately, CBS Sports disagreed this week.
David Cobb of CBS Sports posted his head coaching rankings ahead of the 2025-26 season, and Michigan State fans are not going to be thrilled with where Izzo ended up.
The Hall of Famer was ranked as the eighth-best coach in the country behind guys like Nate Oats (Alabama), Matt Painter (Purdue), and Kelvin Sampson (Houston) who are all missing a national title from their resumes. Todd Golden is also listed ahead of Izzo after leading Florida to a national title last season as well as Dan Hurley, Bill Self, and Rick Pitino.
It’s tough to argue that he should be ahead of Hurley, Self, or Pitino, but I believe that he’s the best coach outside of that bunch — yes, better than Painter, Sampson, Oats, and Golden.
Tom Izzo is a top five head coach in college basketball. That’s not up for debate.