Michigan State basketball: Losing Mark Montgomery may not be all bad

Mark Montgomery is leaving his position as an assistant for Michigan State basketball for the Detroit Mercy head coaching job.

After a week of speculation and rumors regarding the vacant head coaching job at Detroit Mercy and Michigan State basketball assistant Mark Montgomery, the news became official on Wednesday.

Montgomery will be hired as Detroit’s next head coach.

Sources: Detroit will hire Michigan State's Mark Montgomery as its next head basketball coach.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) April 3, 2024

While the rapid reaction might be to panic a little as Michigan State is already entering an important offseason and they’re now losing an assistant coach after a lackluster season, it’s not the worst news in the world.

Tom Izzo is entering what many believe to be a critical offseason that could decide how the remainder of his Michigan State coaching career plays out. After a fourth consecutive season of mediocrity (sneaking into the NCAA Tournament as a 7-10 seed), Izzo needs to hit that reset button and maybe cut some of the dead weight in the program. I’m not calling Montgomery “dead weight” but getting a new assistant to get some fresh eyes on the program will likely help. The program has become stale and Montgomery didn’t do enough to change that while he was here.

Granted, I think he’ll do a solid job at Detroit Mercy, but I think it was good timing for both sides as Izzo needs to get some fresh faces on the staff. It was feeling a little 2016-19 Mark Dantonio-esque.

Montgomery, a former player for Jud Heathcote from 1988-92, was in East Lansing for plenty of Izzo’s success, acting as an assistant from 2002-2011 before taking the head coaching job at Northern Illinois where he spent 10 seasons and went 124-170. He did win one MAC West title but never made the NCAA Tournament and was fired eight games into his 10th season. He came back to Michigan State in 2021 and has been working with Izzo since. In that span, Michigan State basketball has gone just 64-41 overall and 32-27 in Big Ten play.

It felt like a change was needed for both sides and now Izzo can get some much-needed help with a new hire.