Tom Izzo may soon be looking for a new assistant coach
For the first time in a couple of years, Tom Izzo may be looking for a new assistant coach.
The Hall of Fame head coach hired guys like Mark Montgomery and Doug Wojcik in recent years, but the Spartans may be losing one of those guys this offseason to a new job.
According to reports, Montgomery is one of the names being rumored as a candidate for the Detroit Mercy job. He would be Izzo's second assistant to take a head coaching job over the past few years, joining Dwayne Stephens who took over at Western Michigan.
I am hearing that Michigan State assistant Mark Montgomery might be emerging as a serious candidate for the Detroit Mercy job. He was briefly an assistant there in 2021; the ex-head coach at Northern Illinois.
— Tony Paul | Detroit News (@TonyPaul1984) March 25, 2024
Tony Paul is connected at Oakland and Detroit Mercy so it's no surprise that he has the inside knowledge of this situation. He said that Montgomery is emerging as a serious candidate for the job where he was an assistant in 2021.
Montgomery was head coach of Northern Illinois from 2011-2021 and he went just 124-170 there. He turned the program around after a 10-51 start in his first two years, posting a winning record in 2015-16 as well as 2019-20 before getting fired in January of 2021. He didn't have the greatest record, but he had some really solid seasons.
The former Michigan State basketball player has been around the Michigan State program on and off for the past couple of decades so this departure would hurt because of his familiarity but it would force Izzo to start fresh with a new assistant.
This may not be the worst development of the offseason so far.