Is Tom Izzo the last of his kind?

Tom izzo has been the head coach of Michigan State basketball for nearly 30 years, and one thing has remained consistent: He's not going to go away quietly.

Izzo has set a lot of records throughout his Hall of Fame coaching career, but the most impressive feat might be the fact he remains the last coach in the Big Ten that has led his team to the ultimate prize in college basketball and that's winning a national title.

Purdue was able to make a case that they were going to end the winless drought in the big game for the Big Ten, but they fell short, setting the league up to head into the 2024-25 season on a 25-year title drought.

Not taking away the great accomplishments of John Beilein, Bo Ryan, Bruce Weber, Thad Matta and most recently Purdue's Matt Painter, as all have reached the national title game with their respective teams.

Izzo has been and is the only one that has or was able to get the job done. Izzo has seen a lot of things during his coaching career and has always faced plenty of criticism, and rightfully so.

There have been so many great coaches in the history of college basketball, and so many that have led their teams to championships. At so many historic programs.

The Spartans being one with Izzo, looking elsewhere, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, North Carolina, the "blue bloods" as they like to call them.

Then again their has been a big shift in the sport the last several years, and it's starting to really change, and not for the better for coaches like Tom.

Duke is still an elite-level program, but they aren't quite the same as when they had Coach K manning the sidelines. Kansas still has Bill Self, but they don't look the same, in fact, they just had their worst season in Self's tenure.

Add in the fact the John Calipari is leaving Kentucky for Arkansas.

Coaching legends of the last 15-20 years aren't their anymore. Everyone has gone for new, younger coaches, and you can certainly start to see why, that is so.

You can be a great recruiter, but if you aren't adapting to the times (i.e. the transfer portal) which all Spartan fans are frustrated by Izzo's stance on that.

The UConn Huskies and coach Dan Hurley just won their second consecutive national title, and who could have seen that coming?

It wasn't long ago when they were most notable for winning a title one year, and then would be completely miserable the next. Wow, have times changed.

Izzo and the Spartans have gone to 26 straight NCAA Tournaments, but the last four trips have been far below the standard.

I love Izzo as much as anybody, and have been thankful that my whole life he has been the coach and led us to the tournament during my life, but I don't like the direction things are heading if he doesn't adapt to everything happening in the sport.

One thing's for sure Izzo's the last of his kind, and he's not going to just walk away, like Coach K or even Jay Wright did.

He's been doubted plenty of times before. You can say he's lost it, but one fact remains true, he's the last Big Ten coach to win the big one, and don't get me wrong plenty of others have tried, but they couldn't get the job done.

That's another issue in itself, as the Big Ten is overrated honestly.