Mikey D

~First and foremost, I’m glad Tom is back. I think it would have been a nightmare situation had he left. Going through a coaching search, trying to keep a top-ten recruiting class, avoiding mass exodus in terms of current player transfers, and keeping up with our 2011 and 2012 recruiting targets- it would have been an ugly mess, and perhaps would have set us back not only next year, but for the next couple of years. Yes, it could have been that bad. Now that Izzo is a lifer, we can groom the next coach and set in motion a change in power when the time comes. But again, I am so happy Izzo is still green.

~I will admit it. I cried last night during the presser. It happened when Izzo took the podium and the players walked to the front and gave him a hug and stood behind him. That kind of shit gets me, and was exactly what I needed to see (side note: Allen was there, but did not come up…very interesting). The loyalty is there, and anybody that thinks this whole situation is going to affect the upcoming season will be sadly mistaken.

~ The whole exchange with Detroit News columnist Lynn Henning is definitely making waves today. For the most part, I’m with Henning. I’d say about 70-30 I’m siding with Henning. As I made perfectly clear in my previous post, I hate how Izzo basically went dark for nine days. I’m sorry, but that’s ridiculous. There is a middle ground that Izzo needed to reach- not too much information, but not too little- that he failed to achieve (and perhaps I should include Hollis and Simon as well, since they felt the need to attack and criticize the media as well). For Izzo to not give any updates or information for nine days on a national story and expect the 24-hour news media not to get some misinformation is completely ignorant and surprising to me. He should know better.

~What bothered me equally was Izzo’s attack on Henning’s recent column, where he suggested that Izzo could never go back to MSU because of the amount of time it was taking him to decide his future. Izzo said something along the lines that he didn’t “appreciate” what Henning wrote. He then proceeded to blast Henning for not being close to MSU basketball, Izzo, and unfamiliar with the Cavs situation. While all of this is true, and while I do disagree with much of what Henning wrote, the guy is still entitled to his opinion. That was what he thought, so let him think it and let him write it. It amazed me that Izzo took it so personally and felt the need to spend four minutes in a back and forth with Henning about it. Again, if he didn’t want junk like that written, why didn’t he give the media something to write about? And it’s pretty sad that Izzo would take a newspaper article, an opinion, so personally.

~Now for the 30. This whole saga had plenty of misinformation, but mostly out of Cleveland. It was silly that a blog, WaitingForNextYear Cleveland, stuck by a story last Tuesday that Izzo was taking the Cavs job. It was that kind of misguided information that gets reporters in a tizzy and the story a little more crazy. So Izzo has a right to bash the media for that. That should not have reported. Just like Andy Katz stating Izzo was “leaning” towards the Cavs job. That should not have been reported as well. Izzo can bash that, too. But he can’t lump the entire media together. Single out the parties that made the story circus-like, but don’t include the ones that did their job right (and there were plenty of people that covered the story well).

~Something about last night’s press conference seemed amiss to me. I can’t put my finger on it, though. When Simon was talking, and they flashed to Izzo sitting, he looked extremely uncomfortable and fidgety- like that was the last place he wanted to be. Perhaps he was emotionally exhausted, or still angry at the media, but something felt…wrong. And even when he got to the microphone, the tone in his voice didn’t seem like he was glad the whole process was over and he was happy to be at MSU, but rather it was a tone of almost regret, or sadness. It was like he couldn’t convince himself that the Cleveland job was right, so he had to settle with coming back to MSU. Settling. That’s it. It felt like he settled on MSU, not chose to be back. I honestly believe 100% that if LeBron tipped his cap that he was going to be a Cavalier, Izzo would be gone right now.

~All that said, I did like the determination and motivation in Izzo’s voice towards the end. Now that he’s back, settling or not, he’s still going to give 110%, and it seems he’s out to prove people wrong. I like that. If anything this whole experience may have bonded the team, and perhaps angered them (it seems to have made Izzo a little feisty). There’s nothing I would like more than to kick off the 2010-11 season as an angry and motivated team. That would be much better than last year’s chemistry-lacking group.

And now it’s all over. Praise the lord, hallelujah. I can finally go back to my recruiting boards and track future MSU recruits and not have to worry about our coach.

Gigantic sigh of relief.

~Mikey D