Tom Izzo dominates all active head coaches in this stat

Eight Final Fours as a head coach is a wildly impressive accomplishment. To put that into perspective, if Izzo were his own school, he would have the eighth most Final Fours of all time. Only seven schools have been to the Final Four more times than Izzo has. On top of that, only four coaches have more appearances than Izzo including Mike Krzyzewski, John Wooden, Dean Smith, and Roy Williams. The thing that is the most impressive to me is how far behind all other active coaches are from Izzo.

No active head coach is even close to Izzo

Only seven active coaches have more than one Final Four appearance, which is kind of surprising in itself. But what is even more surprising is that the closest to Izzo is Rick Pitino with five. I would not have guessed that Tom would be that far ahead of the rest of the pack. There are some fantastic head coaches that are still active that Izzo is way ahead of. Bill Self, John Calipari, and the aforementioned Pitino are legends of the sport. For Izzo to be that far ahead of all three is no less than amazing.

All three of those coaches likely won’t pass Izzo any time soon either. Pitino, the closest to him, now coaches St. John’s. I wouldn’t say it’s impossible for them to make a Final Four, but to make three to catch Izzo does seem unlikely. Self and Calipari do have the potential to go on a run and collect a lot of Final Fours. Both coach for blue blood programs in Kansas and Kentucky and regularly have the best teams in the country. Either team could realistically make the Final Four most seasons. However, four Final Fours is a lot. Even having one of the best teams in the country does not guarantee you a Final Four run.

Catching Izzo any time soon is assuming Tom never makes one again himself. I think we all know how unlikely that is. Especially going into this season that will likely see the Spartans ranked in the top five in the preseason, the Spartans might be able to make it to the promised land again this year.

The negative side of this accomplishment

Izzo’s biggest pundits all say the same thing. They all say that only one national championship in eight Final Four trips is not good. And to be honest, I kind of agree with them. I don’t agree with their sentiment that this makes Izzo a bad coach. He is a Hall of Famer for a reason. He has accomplished more than most programs have in their history, so by no means is Izzo anywhere near a bad coach. But I can’t deny that I am a little disappointed with only one title in eight Final Four trips.

This does not mean that I think Tom Izzo isn’t the man for the job. I hope he’s our coach forever. But Izzo needs that second national championship desperately. Entering the realm of multiple national championships would elevate him into the conversation of the best college basketball coaches of all time.

Could this be the year?

Michigan State has as good of a chance as anyone to cut down the nets at the end of the season. They return nearly everybody from a team that was seconds away from making the Elite Eight last season. The Spartans are deep and loaded with veterans which is a rarity in today’s game. The most important thing in my opinion is the elite guard play the Spartans will have again this year.

Guard play wins in March. That has been the case for awhile now and I don’t see that changing any time soon. That is the reason why we were able to make the run we did last year. AJ Hoggard, Tyson Walker, and Jaden Akins will lead this team in March once again. They have the ability to put the team on their backs and will them to victory. This is what you need to win it all, and we have it in abundance this year.

No matter what happens, Tom Izzo will always be one of the greatest coaches of all time. His eight Final Fours and the gap he has to all other active coaches is just one more reason why he is one of the best. Will he be able to add to it this year? We will find out in about eight months.