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Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo was none-too-pleased when asked to address to NCAA transfer portal just two days before his team squares off with Ole Miss in the Sweet 16. In fact, Izzo wasn’t just unhappy with the question, he was unhappy with the fact that the portal is open at all.
Just two teams in the Sweet 16 — Izzo’s Spartans and the Duke Blue Devils — have four starters who began their college careers at the school they currently play for. Meanwhile, schools like Michigan Wolverines have five starters from five different programs and have to deal with players leaving the team while they remain in the NCAA Tournament.
Izzo, who is not in his 30th year as the head coach at Michigan State, isn’t having it.
Tom Izzo today on the transfer portal opening while the NCAA tournament is still going: pic.twitter.com/EXv3JxkZom
— Moneybagg (@MoneybaggH0E) March 25, 2025
Tom Izzo Rails Against Transfer Portal Opening Up During NCAA Tournament
“I think it’s ridiculous that the NCAA or any other entity put these two things together (the portal opening with the tournament ongoing), that people like you have to ask these questions,” Izzo said. “And I value that you have to ask them. And I do get upset when people are talking to our kids about them. I saw what happened at one school. Teams get a chance to play in the Sweet 16, and people are entering the transfer portal.
“Kids gotta do what they got to do, and they’re really not doing what they gotta do. They’re doing what their parents or their agents are telling them to do, because they still gotta go to practice, go in the same locker room unless they leave the team. And I think that’s insane. I think it’s disgusting. But that’s my own personal opinion.”
When pressed on the matter, Izzo gave an even more impassioned defense of why he didn’t want to discuss it.
“.. If I keep talking, I cheat my players. And I’ll cheat myself before I’ll cheat my players. So you got another question about the transfer portal? I can list you a lot of schools you can call and ask them, they might have the better opinion than me. But me? I’m homed (sic) in on Ole Miss,” Izzo ranted. “…I’ve followed what you said. I’m going to worry today about the guys I got in this program that have done an incredible job this year, and that’s it. And if that cost me later? So be it. But Tom Izzo isn’t cheating the people that he has, that have been loyal to him, for this chaos that is going on out there.”
That kind of loyalty is hard to find among players and coaches these days. And it explains why Izzo has had so much success for so long.