Tom Izzo reflects on reaching career win No. 700

Originally posted on Spartan Shadows | By Daily MSU | Last updated 1/31/24

Tom Izzo accomplished yet another massive milestone in the Spartans 81-62 win over Michigan. This win over the Wolverines was Izzo’s 700th of his career. And it couldn’t have come on a better night than Tuesday. A rivalry win on Izzo’s 69th birthday? It really can’t get any better than that.

That’s a LOT of wins. pic.twitter.com/wIkchxakcW

— Michigan State Men's Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) January 31, 2024

Izzo hits 700 wins

Tom Izzo’s all-time record now moves to 700-288. He has accomplished so much in his career at Michigan State, but this accomplishment is one of his best in my opinion. This accomplishment speaks to Izzo’s long term success at MSU, something most coaches don’t have. Many coaches have a great season here or there, but not many can have the run of success that Izzo has had.

When thinking about this accomplishment, Chris Solari of the Detroit Free Press shared that Izzo loved seeing former players in the building is what makes it special.

Izzo also spoke on the part of this accomplishment that impresses him the most. He said that, “700 wins at the same school is even impressive to me… I am really honored and proud.”

Finally, in true Tom Izzo fashion, he had to poke some fun at this milestone. He shared that “I’m still like 520 games behind Mike Krzyzewski, so let’s keep that in perspective.”

Other career accomplishments

On top of win No. 700, Izzo has had many other career accomplishments. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016 and is MSU’s all-time wins leader. Tom also leads the Big Ten in all-time wins and has the longest streak of NCAA Tournament appearances by a single coach at 25.

Michigan State also has countless program achievements while Izzo’s been the head coach as well. This includes 10 Big Ten regular season titles, six Big Ten Tournament titles, eight Final Fours, and one national title.

This accomplishment now has me thinking how many wins he’ll get to in his career. Could he get to 800 wins? I’m honestly not sure. If I had to guess, I do think he will reach 800 wins at some point. Izzo recently spoke publicly about his retirement plans, and it sounded like he won’t be retiring any time soon. A hundred more wins likely will take 4-5 more seasons, and I think Izzo could be MSU’s coach for that long still.

As you might guess, however, Izzo isn’t satisfied. I’ll leave you with one final quote from Izzo that I’m sure none of you will be shocked to read.

“We got work to do, but we ain’t dead yet.”