Tom Izzo passed along a message to Michigan State fans earlier this summer that they weren’t ready to hear shortly after a Colorado judge ruled that all 2022 class student athletes would be eligible for a fifth year in accordance with the new NCAA rule.
He told Spartan fans that his roster was set and that he wouldn’t be adding anyone like Jaxon Kohler or Tre Holloman who were both seeking fifth years of college basketball.
The news hurt because Kohler could definitely help the upcoming roster with some experience at the four and so the team wouldn’t have to rely on a first-year starter (Cam Ward) and a guy coming off a season-long injury (Kaleb Glenn) to run the position. It hurt, but it made sense because he had already exhausted all of his roster openings.
On Tuesday, Kohler officially entered the transfer portal which everyone expected but no one was mentally prepared for. It was just a weird feeling seeing a four-year Spartan decide to play elsewhere.
Also on Tuesday, Kohler announced who his finalists were.
And Michigan State fans aren’t going to be thrilled about three of the potential landing spots.
Michigan State transfer Jaxon Kohler tells me that he’s considering the following schools and will have other conversations later today.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 18, 2026
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisville
BYU
Kohler is pursuing a fifth year and is currently eligible following the preliminary injunction in California.
Kansas, Kentucky, or Louisville would all put a bit of a damper on the 2026-27 season for Spartan fans because Michigan State fans have grown to dislike each of these programs over the years. Kansas and Kentucky for obvious reasons because they’re always in the title hunt and they’ve both handed Michigan State some tough losses. The same could be said for Louisville.
As for BYU, that’s the one place that Michigan State fans would be just fine with losing Kohler to simply because it’s home for him and that was the first program that came up when it was rumored that the Spartan big man was looking for a fifth year of eligibility.
Seeing Kohler in a Kansas or Kentucky jersey next season would just feel wrong.
Jaxon Kohler has a different feel than past Spartan transfers
Over the past few years, there have been several Spartans who have transferred away from the program like AJ Hoggard, Tre Holloman, and Xavier Booker, but there’s a different feeling toward Kohler among Michigan State fans than there was toward the aforementioned trio.
Kohler is only leaving because he doesn’t have a choice.
If he wants to play a fifth year of college basketball and try to build up his NBA stock, he will have to do it at another program because Izzo has already made it clear that he has no room for the Utah native. If Izzo was open to him returning, there’s a good chance that Kohler would be wearing a Spartan uniform next season. You can’t fault Jaxon for wanting one more year.
Kohler will also have more Spartan fans rooting for him than the other guys who have left on their own accord for various other reasons. That is, until Michigan State inevitably faces Kansas, Kentucky, BYU, or Louisville in the NCAA Tournament (you know it’s going to happen).
Hopefully the inevitable matchup with Kohler is in the national title game.
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