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Tom Izzo has incredible nickname for the transfer portal

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated Mar 25, 2025 3:35 PM ET

Tom Izzo is very clearly not a fan of the transfer portal.

The transfer portal for the college basketball season opened on March 24 and will close on April 22. The timing coincides with the heart of March Madness as it opened just after the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament. If you think that timing is ridiculous, you’re not alone.

Longtime ESPN announcer Dick Vitale, who used to be a college basketball coach, called the timing of the portal opening “absurd.”

Isn’t absurd that TRANSFER PORTAL opens during the heart of @MarchMadnessMBB ? There is so much instability in college basketball yet the upper echelon from administrators r talking about messing with the one golden event MARCH MADNESS – talking about expanding. PATHETIC
— Dick Vitale (@DickieV) March 24, 2025

Former NFL star JJ Watt similarly criticized the timing of things.

Izzo’s Michigan State Spartans are one of the 16 teams remaining in the NCAA Tournament. That means he has to choose between prioritizing preparing for the Sweet 16 or working on his roster via the portal.

In comments to the media on Tuesday, Izzo made his dislike of the portal clear. He referred to it as the “urinal.”

“That too takes work that I have to do every night instead of being in the urinal – ugh, portal – so that too takes work,” Izzo said.

Tom Izzo refers to the Transfer Portal as “The Urinal” during his recent presser

Never change Coach pic.twitter.com/lBpFLUcvGC
— dunc (@SpartyWRLD) March 25, 2025

The longtime Michigan State coach also said he would keep his focus on trying to win this season.

“I’m going to worry today about the guys I got in this program that have done an incredible job this year, and that’s it. And if that costs me later, so be it, but Tom Izzo isn’t cheating the people that he has that have been loyal to him for this chaos that is going on out there,” Izzo said.

Tom Izzo today on the transfer portal opening while the NCAA tournament is still going: pic.twitter.com/EXv3JxkZom
— Moneybagg (@MoneybaggH0E) March 25, 2025

Michigan State is the No. 2 seed in the South Region and will face No. 6 seed Ole Miss in Atlanta, Ga., on Friday in the Sweet 16. The Spartans are 29-6 this season.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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