By Paul Gotham
Tom Izzo gets it.
In a world where the line between what is right and the not so right gets blurred by the bottom line, Izzo stays focused.
The 20th-year coach of the Michigan State Spartans has taken teams to six Final Fours. They have played in front of crowds in excess of 70,000. Their home court, the Breslin Center, holds almost 15,000, and yet Izzo’s Spartans will open the 2014-15 season on the campus of the U.S. Naval Academy in front of 5,500 fans or so.
With a shoe horn, maybe they can get 5,800 into tiny Alumni Hall for the inaugural Veteran’s Classic.
Some may point to an opportunity lost for revenue. Not Izzo.
“My AD and President are good enough to realize the value of it not being monetary,” Izzo said Wednesday by phone. “I have learned, and it wasn’t this way all my life, the appreciation for our military. I think our country in the last four or five years is doing such a better job with that. This day in sports has helped that. I watch the NFL. I watched the NBA last night. I saw what different cultures are doing.”
Michigan State will face Navy in the second game of a doubleheader. Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Tennessee tip off in the first game.
The occasion is another in a line for Izzo who took part in Operation Hardwood – Hoops with the Troops in 2005 and 2006.
“That was an eye-opening experience. Ever since then I’ve had an interest in doing something, and I’ve been privileged enough to do it.”
Since those two tours coaching military personnel on bases in Kuwait, Izzo’s Spartans have taken part in the Carrier Classic (’11) and the Armed Forces Classic (’12).
Izzo’s friend, the former Big Ten rival and current Navy head coach Ed DeChellis hatched the idea for the Veteran’s Classic.
“I had this brainstorm of an idea and ran it by some people,” DeChellis said during this year’s Patriot League media day. “Our athletic Director Chet Gladchuk was behind it from the start and said ‘if you can pull this off, it would be great for us, great for our campus and the community.’”
When the CBS Sports Network committed to the television rights, the idea took shape. Looking for a big name school as an anchor to promote the event, DeChellis reached out to Izzo.
“He’s giving up a lot of revenue,” DeChellis noted. “They’re giving up a lot of revenue. A home game to them is several hundred thousand dollars. They’re saying ‘hey, we think this is more important.’”
The games take place on Friday. The experience happens Thursday.
“They’re not just coming to play a game,” DeChellis said. “They’re coming in on Wednesday night. Thursday is a military day.”
“We got helicopters coming in. We got Y-P boats. We got static displays by the Marines and Seals. They got boat simulators. They got flight simulators.”
“I think our players are going to have their eyes opened,” Izzo said. “The appreciation of what they do every day is going to be maximized.”
When the Brigade of 4,500 converge on King Hall for meals, the players and staffs of MSU, VCU and Tennessee will join them.
“They’re going to go to the cafeteria and sit and eat. Whatever they serve that day, that’s what you’re eating. It’s not going to a line a pick what you want.”
For Shaka Smart and VCU this won’t be the first taste of the Navy training. Smart and his Rams have used Navy Seals training during pre-season workouts since 2011.
But this will be different.
“Thursday is going to be a pretty packed day in terms of different opportunities and experiences for our players,” Smart said during his weekly press conference. “They’re going to get a chance to spend some time with some folks in the Naval Academy. They’re going to get a chance to experience certain components of what it’s like to be in the Navy. Hopefully they come away with a couple of things: one a renewed appreciation for their own lives and the opportunities that they have, but also an appreciation for our military and sacrifices that people in our military make.”
The experience will be the first for Tyndall as the first-year coach takes the reins in Knoxville.
“It’s very exciting,” Tyndall said. “I think it will be a great experience for our young guys.”
The meeting is the fifth all-time between the Vols and Rams with UT holding a 4-0 advantage. The two last met in the semifinals of the 2010 NIT Season Tip-Off with Tennessee grabbing a 77-72 victory.
Navy is 1-0 all-time against Michigan State. The David Robinson-led Midshipmen beat the Spartans, 91-90 on November 29, 1986. Michigan State is first active Big Ten member to play at Navy since Ohio State traveled to Annapolis on February 6, 1932. Navy won that game, 35-32.
Including his time at Penn State and East Tennessee State, DeChellis is 4-14 against MSU and Izzo. Penn State downed the eighth-ranked Spartans, 85-76 on Feb. 2, 2008. The Nittany Lions trimmed the ninth-ranked Spartans, 72-68 on Feb. 1, 2009. Penn State swept the 2010-11 regular season series.
“I wished when I came back from Kuwait and the two little two-week stints over there that every American could go to the military for a year,” Izzo commented. “Not war, but just to the military. We’d be a better country. I still feel that same way. I think our players are going to see it firsthand. I’m appreciative of the Academy for doing it and Eddie and his group.”
Paul Gotham is the founder, owner, editor and lead writer at Pickin’ Splinters. Paul is the Communications and Media Director of the New York Collegiate Baseball League. He is a contributor at USA Today and member of the USBWA. You can follow Paul on Twitter @PickinSplinters.
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