Michigan State head men's basketball coach Tom Izzo had his weekly press conference today (video courtesy SpartanMag), and had some very interesting things to say about the direction of college basketball today with respect to NIL and its impact on the educational mission of college sports.  

He was asked about the comments from St John's coach (the Creeper - yeah, that guy, Rick Pitino), in which Pitino ripped his basketball team for being "weak" and "atrocious".  Izzo had not seen or read the comments from Pitino, so the commentary went off course and descended into comments from Izzo about the state of affairs of basketball players based on the current landscape involving NIL and the transfer portal.  

Before you watch, please refer to the complicated and brief history in understanding the conversation, and the discussion by Izzo and reporters of the "3 years that everything has changed".  This refers to the 2020 - 2021 COVID year, which involved the US Supreme Court in Alston v NCAA, and which led to the NCAA punting on athletes' right to make money off their publicity - despite the reality that doing nothing has a negative impact on competitive equity, which is one of the NCAA's main reasons for being in existence). 

It was followed up by a very good question (I think from Graham Couch) referring to Izzo as the "revered statesman" of college basketball... which added to the discussion. 

Look and listen from 27:12 to 34:05; there is a bit of discussion about game play, and he intersperses some of the issues with McDaniel at Michigan (who has been suspended for all road games) from a coach's point of view.  It all provides some interesting perspectives on policy, politics, and how a very good coach [Izzo] is just trying to do the best damn job he can to coach young men within the landscape of college basketball. 

Some Izzo quotes that impacted me:  

On NIL/transfer: "the disadvantage is it brought a lot of tough times these past three years, because trying to fight it wasted a lot of my energy and time." 

"I've tried in the new year, just to let it [NIL/transfer portal issues] go... its very difficult."

"I will state to the day I die: If this is best for all parties involved, someone has got to prove it to me. ... the unitendend consequences that all this has brought is difficult and you won't find out for 5-10-15  years down the road."

"If at any time in any profession, there is not the ability to hold people accountable, I don't see benefits in your job, my job, or their job. "