Tom Izzo has been around college basketball for a long, long time.
The Michigan State head coach and Hall of Famer has seen his fair share of changes across the college hoops landscape whether it was the one-and-done rule, to the inauguration of NIL, to the introduction of the transfer portal, he's seen it all. And he hasn't loved the direction of the sport.
It's clear that Izzo is just fighting to survive in this new landscape. He's trying to embrace the NIL and transfer portal era (because, adapt or die), but it hasn't been an easy transition for him.
Whenever Izzo talks about the transfer portal and the NIL era, you can see the disdain on his face, but he knows that it's just the reality of the sport currently. He's willing to adapt, but there's a cost: his morals.
Fortunately, he has fared well lately and is coming off a Big Ten title and Elite Eight berth with a team that he said probably wasn't even one of his top-20 most talented, but it was a top-five Spartan squad in terms of togetherness. That's all it takes sometimes. The best teams win big.
But Izzo still doesn't love the state of the transfer portal, and he appeared on Jon Rothstein's podcast this week to talk about it. He also supported a John Calipari-proposed rule that he thinks would fix the sport. Izzo also spoke about what he thinks is currently ruining college basketball, and -- shockingly -- it's not NIL or the portal, it's "dirtbag" tamperers.
Tom Izzo agrees with John Calipari.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 21, 2025
College Basketball would be stabilized if players were only allowed to transfer one time without sitting out.
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Izzo always speaks candidly, but you know how much he loathes these people who are tampering with players throughout seasons because he doesn't often use the term "dirtbag" to describe anyone.
Every coach is dealing with tampering, but from what I've heard from sources close to the program, he has had to deal with plenty of tampering of his own, including this past season. The team was close-knit and "together", but there were "dirtbags" trying to blow it up behind the scenes.
It's a miracle that this man is still coaching in this climate.