00:00Two Grand Slam coming up at 725, your chance to win $2,000.
00:05Opening day eve, open the show, Talking Tigers.
00:08We do have Tom Izzo audio.
00:10John, this was from Dan Patrick's show?
00:13Yes, it was yesterday.
00:16And I know it hit the airwaves a little bit yesterday as well,
00:20but let's just jump right into it.
00:22This is what Tom Izzo had to say to Dan Patrick yesterday.
00:51That's a revelation.
00:54A lot of questions following that.
00:57Like?
00:58Like, well, I mean, Spartan fans, at this point,
01:05would you like him to take another opportunity?
01:10Are you asking if they're over Izzo?
01:12Well, I mean, we asked that question after the exit.
01:16I'm not.
01:18I don't ever want him to leave Michigan State until he's ready to walk away
01:21or however they want to move on from Coach Izzo.
01:24I don't want to see him coaching another team.
01:29It just wouldn't look right to me.
01:32And I don't know that his personality, much like John Beelines,
01:36didn't work in Cleveland.
01:38I don't know that his works in the NBA.
01:41And I don't want him to have that experience.
01:47If that's what he truly wants to do, hey, go for it and test yourself at the next level.
01:52And if you have success, great.
01:55Right.
01:56But you're a filthy Wolverine scumbag.
01:58So it really comes down to what Spartan fans want.
02:00Do they want their coach to have taken that opportunity?
02:05I think if you ask them, they would say we want him to stay at MSU and adapt.
02:10But if he isn't going to adapt, do you wish he would have left to go and gone to the
02:15NBA?
02:16That's the question for MSU fans, right?
02:19Yeah.
02:19Do you want me to give you my conspiracy theory?
02:21I am dying to hear this.
02:24All right.
02:24So we know Ishbia played for Izzo, right?
02:26It's kind of one of those things.
02:27Every time it comes up.
02:28Hey, did you know that he played basketball at Michigan State?
02:32Is he also hoping that Michigan State loves his coach, but is he hoping that, hey, if
02:40I offer him a job here, let's see how it goes for a year or two, but it gives my
02:46university
02:46a chance to move on and modernize?
02:48So you think Ishbia wants a new coach at Michigan State?
02:52Just a conspiracy theory.
02:54Okay.
02:55That's not where I thought you were going to go.
02:56I thought your conspiracy was going to be that Ishbia never seriously considered Izzo.
03:00But Izzo can float this out to make Spartan fans see like, oh, it's coveted.
03:06What if I wasn't there?
03:09How would it feel?
03:10It's one thing to talk your talk, but what if I had left last year?
03:13You should appreciate me more.
03:14And it's not like Ishbia is going to blow his cover because he's his former player.
03:18Right.
03:18I don't think either of them are true.
03:20No, but it's fun to have those conversations.
03:25But I am curious to Spartan fans, like where would you land on this?
03:31I think if you're a Spartan fan, would you admit to wanting him to leave?
03:36Probably not.
03:37Would you admit that the standards have been lowered if he stays?
03:42If you only make one Final Four in a decade after making six of them real quick, right?
03:5099, 2000, 2001, 05, 09, and 10.
03:55I mean, he rattled off a ton of Final Fours, won a national title.
03:59Well, that's more than a decade ago.
04:02Their standard now is, hey, we get in the tournament.
04:05We have a tournament streak.
04:07Once in 10 years have we made a Final Four.
04:09If you want him to stay, would you admit to the standards have been lowered?
04:15Because if you accept what he's doing, you have to accept that the standards are lower, right?
04:19I don't think Spartan fans have lowered their expectations or their standards.
04:24And I don't think Coach Izzo has.
04:26I think he has a certain way that he wants to go about doing it.
04:30And it hasn't worked.
04:31And I've said this a number of times.
04:33And I know you like to call me the dirty Wolverine.
04:37And when we're talking about Michigan State, I've got a lot of respect for Coach Izzo.
04:42And if you were to take Michigan out of the equation and there wasn't that possibility of the matchup in
04:51the Final Four or a national championship,
04:53do I want Coach Izzo to win another national championship doing it the old school way?
04:59Yeah, because I want somebody to prove that it can be done an old school way.
05:04But he's also not fully old school because he has utilized the portal, not the way other schools have, not
05:11to get his 1A, 1B.
05:14That's the difference.
05:15And I know Rico will text me whenever he's up because he always does.
05:18He goes, well, you're not considering this.
05:19And he did get Caleb Glenn, who got hurt.
05:21It's not that Izzo doesn't use the portal.
05:23It's what you just said.
05:24Will his number one or number two be from the portal?
05:27Is he going to add two starters this offseason from the portal?
05:30And I think everybody knows the answer to it.
05:32To your point, I like Izzo.
05:34Like every time we talk to him, and even when we don't talk to him and you just hear him
05:38do interviews,
05:38I appreciate his passion for college basketball and the way that he's so committed to what he believes.
05:47At the same time, what he believes is not in vogue right now.
05:50And for his own good, it would be better if he did embrace this more than just begrudgingly.
05:55Yes, and part of it is I have accepted the modern business of college basketball,
06:05but I also love the fact that he's one of the voices of college sports.
06:12Not just basketball, but of college athletics.
06:15Let me give you a phrase I've heard you describe, Tom.
06:17He's the conscience of college basketball.
06:20And I think that's well said.
06:22He does have this like I still want it to be right in a world that increasingly is changing.
06:28But right is what wins.
06:32Well, because what's right has changed.
06:35Well, because ultimately you're competing.
06:37It's competition.
06:38It used to be wrong to pay your student-athletes.
06:42Now you're allowed to do that.
06:44And you're allowed to do it not just by the rev share that is coming in.
06:49And every school has the ability to pay their players the same amount of money.
06:54They divvy that up how they choose.
06:57How much goes to football?
06:57How much goes to women's sports and girls basketball?
07:00How much goes to the dudes?
07:05Izzo reveals to Dan Patrick, oh, I was a serious candidate for the Phoenix Suns job.
07:11Spartan fans, in the moment, don't overthink this.
07:14Do you wish he would have taken the job or are you on board with how things are going with
07:18him,
07:18knowing he's going to do what he's going to do his way?
07:21Let's go to Brad in Farmington.
07:22Brad, good morning.
07:24Good morning, guys.
07:26So just my brief history with college sports, I grew up loving it.
07:30I was a Michigan State fan.
07:31I went to Michigan State.
07:32My brother and I, we did the Big Ten championships and maybe all that stuff.
07:36But my reason for the call is, if Tom, I've said for years now, when Tom Izzo leaves,
07:43that'll put the final nail in the coffin for college athletics for me.
07:47I follow him around March.
07:50And then, you know, that's about it.
07:53I don't keep up with recruiting or anything like that.
07:55You know, part of the fun thing when Michigan won their football title, you know,
07:59you knew the guys on their team.
08:00There was an old school element to it in this new era of college sports.
08:05And, you know, I'm a guy who likes knowing who's on my roster.
08:09So, yeah, once Izzo's out, I'm out.
08:12I hope he doesn't leave.
08:14I want to see him get that second title.
08:16And as for the conspiracy thing, that little bit of a stretch, fellas.
08:20I don't know.
08:21No, I know.
08:22Trust me.
08:22We're having some fun with it.
08:23But, Brad, will you at least give them a chance to make their next hire
08:28and see how it goes from there?
08:31I don't think I have the energy for it.
08:33I really just hate what it's become.
08:35It sucks.
08:36I know.
08:37But, Brad, let me phrase it this way.
08:39And it's actually what we want to do to start the 7 o'clock hour is put the shoe
08:42on the other foot.
08:43If you're a Michigan fan, and I, Brad, I'd not ask you to put yourself in that
08:46spot.
08:46It doesn't sound like you have any interest.
08:47But for our Michigan fans listening, they should be loving this.
08:50So, if MSU was winning and they had Yaks and they had Mara and they were in the
08:55Final Four right now, you wouldn't embrace this and enjoy it?
08:58I think that's...
08:59I would enjoy it, but not to any great level.
09:04Not like I would the Pistons lines.
09:06It's kind of like, oh, I really want it for it, though.
09:09And that's fair.
09:09We're going to explore it next.
09:10It's 97.1.
09:11We're going to explore it next.
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