The NIL era, with its transfer portals and revenue sharing, has changed college sports forever, and every team, including Tom Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans, have been affected. However, during his appearance on Jon Rothstein’s college basketball podcast for CBS Sports, the host told the veteran coach that Michigan State has somehow managed to retain its identity despite all the changes happening.
Rothstein then asked Izzo how meaningful it was for him to manage this despite all the other teams changing to adapt to the new NIL era. He answered by ripping college programs that had a lot of transfers over the off-season. However, he did praise a Big Ten rival in Marquette for also not dipping too much in the transfer portal.
“I look at Matt Painter; he’s a good friend, even though we’re competitors, and they’ve done it similarly. Shaka Smart has done it pretty well at Marquette if you ask me, and I’m a big fan of Shaka’s, too. You know, everybody’s got to pick and choose their way, but you’ve got a lot of programs right now that are changing 8, 10, or 12 players a year. That wouldn’t be where I want to play, it wouldn’t be where I’d want to coach, but it is getting harder,” he admitted. (6:37)
Tom Izzo then noted that this type of relationship between teams, taking players away from one another, is just hurting themselves and that everybody is just “too gutless” to admit that this was a mistake.
Michigan State has lost a lot of players after the 2024-2025 season wrapped up, with many graduating and some entering the NBA draft. While Izzo did have some big freshman recruits, particularly Cam Ward and Jordan Scott, he still had to dip into the transfer portal to fill the missing roster spots ahead of the 2025-2026 season.
Who Did Tom Izzo and Michigan State Lose and Who Did They Gain Ahead of the New Season?
The most notable loss for Michigan State is their star, Jase Richardson, who entered the NBA draft, while losing guard Jaden Akins, forward Frankie Fidler and center Szymon Zapala to graduation. He also lost guards Tre Holloman and Gehrig Normand and forward Xavier Booker to the transfer portal.
To fill in their transfer portal, NBA draft and graduation losses, the Michigan State have gotten Kaleb Glenn, a small forward from Florida Atlantic who earned second-team All-AAC honors for the Owls. They have also gotten senior shooting guard Trey Fort from Samford, who averaged 14.6 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.4 assists last season.
Related:
‘At Least It’s Not Their Grandsons’ — Tom Izzo’s Priceless Reaction to Coaching Against Peers’ Sons
