Don’t Believe the Hype

In 2010, the Cleveland Cavaliers fired their head coach Mike Brown after he failed to produce any championship rings for the organization after multiple years with LeBron James.

Following Brown’s dismissal, the Cavs expressed interest in stealing Tom Izzo away from the Michigan State Spartans.

Izzo politely declined.

What was not portrayed during the media frenzy over whether or not Izzo would take the Cleveland job was the large amount of love shown by residents of mid-Michigan for MSU’s coach. Countless amounts of lawn signs went up in support of Izzo across the area.

All of the signs went to prove how great Izzo had it in East Lansing.

Izzo’s comments in 2010 did not seem to confirm nor deny any future offers.

“I’m the Michigan State coach and that’s what I’m going to do right now,” Izzo said according to ESPN. “Who knows what the future brings? But it sure isn’t at all like it’s maybe being speculated.”

Last week, Izzo had to deal with a similar problem when dealing with rumors that the Detroit Pistons wanted Izzo for their vacant head coaching position. Unlike the Cleveland situation, Izzo immediately denied it this time around.

Despite the fact that Izzo is currently one of the most loved and respected coaches in college basketball, large media outlets like ESPN obsessed for the few hours they had to and speculated that Izzo may leave.

On the surface, chances look slim from a reasonable standpoint that even if Izzo were to leave MSU after this season, that his next stop would be the Detroit Pistons.

The Spartans made it to the Elite Eight this season. Meanwhile, the Detroit Pistons are finishing up tanking another failed season with a three-game losing streak.

Izzo is doing much better in East Lansing with class and adoration than he would in Detroit with a target constantly pointed at his back.

An underlying problem of this whole situation is the willingness the media has displayed for unfounded claims about Izzo.

Owner of the Pistons, Tom Gores, graduated from Michigan State. That may explain his interest in Izzo. Gores, however, does not know much about basketball and will most likely have to hire a new general manager before he hires a new head coach.

Most likely, Gores just wants the media attention for the organization rather than considering Izzo as a serious replacement for Maurice Cheeks and John Loyer. He also received this attention for this speculation despite the fact that rumors and hearsay is not the highest quality of journalism. It also does not help the organization fix its problems – something Gores should seriously be working on.


Colin Jackson is a multimedia journalist for Impact Sports.