Tom Izzo is one win away from a massive milestone

Tom Izzo is one win away from securing career victory No. 700. He could reach this with a win at Wisconsin on Friday.

Michigan State just got a crucial road win at Maryland on Sunday afternoon. The Spartans beat the Terps 61-59 in a game that came down to the final play. Tre Holloman stepped up and poked the ball free to end the game on an elite defensive play.

This win obviously has a lot of significance to Michigan State’s season. Their first road win of the season and getting back to .500 in conference play are all huge takeaways from this game. But none are greater than the milestone Tom Izzo is now on the doorstep of accomplishing.

Win No. 700

The win against Maryland moved Tom Izzo’s all time record to 699-287. That means Izzo is just one win away from his 700th career win. Of all the accomplishments Izzo has had, this is one of his greatest in my opinion — 700 wins shows the sustained success that Izzo has had in East Lansing, success not many other coaches have had.

Izzo will become the 38th coach all time to reach 700 wins, and only the ninth to accumulate all their wins at the same school. Izzo would also become the only Big Ten coach to hit this milestone while coaching at the same school. There are a few other Big Ten coaches to hit the 700-win mark including Bo Ryan, John Beilein, and Bob Knight, but all three of those coaches were head coaches at multiple schools.

Michigan State’s next game is against the No. 1 team in the Big Ten in the Wisconsin Badgers. This is also a road game, so this will definitely be difficult to win. If MSU fails to beat Wisconsin, their next game is at home against Michigan. Obviously I prefer to beat Wisconsin, but Izzo hitting this milestone at home against Michigan would be pretty fun, too.

Tom Izzo career accomplishments

On top of win No. 700, Izzo has had been career accomplishments. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016 and is also 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. This includes 10 Big Ten regular season titles, six Big Ten tournament titles, eight Final Fours, and one national title.

I’m excited to see Izzo reach this milestone no matter where it happens. We are lucky to have had him as our coach for so long, and milestones like this are just a reminder as to how good we have had it was Izzo in charge.