Tom Izzo is now the winningest head coach in the Big Ten.
The longtime Michigan State leader broke Bob Knight’s record on Saturday night with the Spartans’ 79-65 win over Illinois at the State Farm Center. That officially marked Izzo’s 354th conference win, which broke a tie with Knight.
Izzo now holds a career Big Ten record of 354-173.
Knight dominated at Indiana for decades. The longtime coach led the Hoosiers to three national titles and five Final Fours during his 23 seasons in Bloomington. He finished there with a 659-242 overall record. Knight died in 2023.
Izzo matched Knight’s record with an emotional comeback win over Oregon last week. He had a chance to break the record on Tuesday night at home over Indiana, too, but the Hoosiers snuck out a 71-67 upset win.
On Saturday night, the Spartans put him over the top.
“I just want to be thankful for the 148 players I coached. Each one of them got a win, and those wins helped me. The president, the ADs, my assistant coaches. And over 6 million fans that watched this over those 354 wins, so that’s who I want to thank, Jimmy. I’d turn it in for a banner, but I guess that’s not the way it is right now,” Izzo said after the game.
Izzo was hired at Michigan State in 1995. He’s led the Spartans to the NCAA tournament in all but two seasons where that was possible, and he won a national championship in 2000 — which was the last title a Big Ten team has won. The Spartans have won 10 regular-season conference titles and reached the Final Four eight times on his watch. Izzo was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.
With the win on Saturday, Izzo now holds a 727-300 career record. The 70-year-old trails only seven other active coaches in the sport on the all-time wins list. Former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski still holds the men’s Division-I record with 1,202 career wins.
On Saturday, Michigan State’s history-clinching game started a little shaky, with the Spartans falling behind the Illini in the first half. But Michigan State outscored Illinois 42-24 in the second half to take the win.
Spartan forward Jaxon Kohler put up a double-double in the away win, with 10 rebounds and a game-high 23 points. With the win, Michigan State spoiled the jersey retirement night for Terrence Shannon Jr. — which, given that the team unveiled his jersey upside down, wasn’t too hard to do.
Michigan State now sits at 20-5 on the season, 10-3 in Big Ten play, which puts them one game behind No. 20 Michigan for first place. The Spartans will take on Purdue on Tuesday and Michigan on Friday.
