Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo “talked seriously” with the Phoenix Suns over their head-coaching vacancy last year, he told the Dan Patrick Show on Wednesday.
“I’ve had more than a couple job offers in the NBA, looked at one last year with Phoenix — my former player (and Suns owner) Mat Ishbia,” Izzo said. “That was hard, that was a hard thing to turn down, because 1) I kind of wanted to go with him and 2) I don’t like what’s going on in college athletics.
“We talked seriously about it,” he added.
Michigan State HC Tom Izzo reveals he was in talks with the Phoenix #Suns:
"I've had more than a couple job offers in the NBA, looked at one last year with Phoenix – my former player Mat Ishbia. That was hard, that was a hard thing to turn down… we talked seriously about it." pic.twitter.com/kjSIJreIWz
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) April 1, 2026
Izzo’s comments aren’t all that shocking given the Michigan State ties within the Suns organization.
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On top of Ishbia being an alum, general manager Brian Gregory is another main figurehead who was an assistant coach at MSU (1990-96, 1999-03).
The same goes for current Phoenix head coach and former MSU grad assistant and video coordinator Jordan Ott, who Phoenix landed on instead of Izzo this past offseason. Ott resided at Michigan State from 2008-13.
There’s also the fact Izzo coached Ishbia for four seasons at Michigan State.
Izzo has never coached at the NBA level but has carved out a Hall of Fame career with the Spartans. He’s gone 764-309 across 31 seasons, winning the national championship in 2000 and appearing in eight Final Fours (1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2019).
The Ott hire, however, has the Suns trending in the right direction in just his first season on the job.
Despite preseason projections that had Phoenix in the lottery conversation as opposed to the postseason picture, the Suns are 42-34 and is currently the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference with six games to play.
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