Prior to going on the road to beat Michigan (for the 35th victory over the Wolverines in his head coaching career), Tom Izzo made an impressive list of coaches.
The Michigan State head coach was named to the "midseason" Naismith Coach of the Year watch list.
Izzo was one of 15 coaches to make the cut, along with some other names from the Big Ten.
The 15 names on the Naismith Midseason Coach of the Year Watch List:
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) February 21, 2025
Greg Gard
Dennis Gates
Todd Golden
Penny Hardaway
Tom Izzo
Pat Kelsey
Dusty May
Grant McCasland
Ben McCollum
Matt Painter
Bruce Pearl
Rick Pitino
Richard Pitino
Kelvin Sampson
Jon Scheyer
Greg Gard (Wisconsin), Dusty May (Michigan), and Matt Painter (Purdue) were also listed as coaches to watch for the award with just weeks away from the end of the season.
And it feels like Izzo has a really good chance to win it this year.
Michigan State was projected to finish in the middle of the pack in the Big Ten this season but the Spartans are sitting alone in first place with just four games left. Izzo has done all of this after losing Tyson Walker, Malik Hall, AJ Hoggard, and Mady Sissoko which means he was down four starters coming into the season and he has still led the Spartans to a 22-5 record through 27 games.
Sitting at 13-3 in the league, the Spartans might just need to win three more games in order to capture the conference crown and if they do just that and land a top-three seed, I think he should be a lock to win yet another coach of the year award, especially after passing Bobby Knight for all-time Big Ten wins.
Izzo has done a masterful job so far this season and it's been a refreshing sight after the past 3-4 seasons of letdowns.