He could have become the Cleveland Cavaliers’ coach in 2010, but turned it down amid concerns LeBron James might bolt a few weeks later for, say, Miami and leave behind a crater in the middle of the Cleveland locker room.
He could have had the Atlanta Hawks job about 10 years before, or maybe have been on the sideline with the Minnesota Timberwolves or Detroit Pistons, his home-state team, and probably others along the way.
Yet, Tom Izzo stayed at Michigan State instead.
His influence on the NBA, though, is unmistakable for someone who has never been in the NBA. Maybe it is the irony as he enters the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, part of the Class of 2016 led by Shaquille O’Neal and Allen Iverson that will be enshrined Sept. 9, that so many teams in the pros got the Izzo imprint without getting Izzo himself — despite no shortage of attempts from front offices to lure him out of East Lansing.
He remained in the college game and at Michigan State as that rarest of signs in the business — stability — that has reached 21 seasons, 19 consecutive trips to the NCAA Tournament, seven Final Fours and the 2000 national championship. But Jason Richardson went to the NBA. And Zach Randolph. And Draymond Green. And Morris Peterson.
Eighteen of Izzo’s former Spartans, in fact, have been drafted, nine in the first round. Two others, Charlie Bell and Alan Anderson, carved out long careers without being selected. The Izzo running total at the time of enshrinement in Springfield, Mass., is six players chosen in the last five years alone: Green (2012), Gary Harris and Adreian Payne (2013), Branden Dawson (2015), and Denzel Valentine and Deyonta Davis (2016).
Izzo has coached five consensus All-Americans — Mateen Cleaves, Peterson, Richardson, Green and Valentine — in his only job as a college coach. The Iron Mountain, Mich., native is 524-205 with the Spartans with seven Big Ten regular-season titles and five conference tournament championships.
Among the other inductees and award winners without prominent NBA, ABA or WNBA ties:
John B. McLendon — Already enshrined in the Contributor category, McClendon was voted in this time by the North American committee for becoming the first coach to win three consecutive national crowns after leading Tennessee State to the NAIA title from 1957-59. He was the first African-American coach to win the championship and the first to coach in a professional league, with the Cleveland Pipers in the ABL in 1962. In 1969, McLendon was hired by the Denver Rockets as the first coach to break the color barrier in the ABA. He died in 1999.
Cumberland Posey — A direct-elect from the Early African-American Pioneers group, he played from the early-1900s to the mid-1920s and built a list of accomplishments that included leading Duquesne in scoring for three seasons and winning four consecutive Colored Basketball World Championships. When that career ended, he switched to baseball, spent 35 years as a player, manager and owner in the Negro leagues and was elected to that sport’s Hall of Fame in 2006. Posey died in 1946.
Jim Delany — The Big Ten Conference commissioner since 1989, after 10 years as commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference, was named the recipient of the John W. Bunn Lifetime Achievement Award, the highest honor from the Hall short of enshrinement. He is a former vice president of USA Basketball and played on two Final Four teams at North Carolina.
David Aldridge — Aldridge is being recognized with the Curt Gowdy Award for print media for his work with the Washington Post, ESPN.com, the Philadelphia Inquirer and, currently, NBA.com. He is also a sideline reporter and analyst for Turner Sports after previously reporting for ESPN.
Jay Bilas — The Curt Gowdy Award winner for electronic media has been a studio and game analyst at ESPN, primarily for college basketball, since 1995. Bilas, nominated for an Emmy in 2007 and ’08, played at Duke and later rejoined the Blue Devils as an assistant coach under Mike Krzyzewski.
Scott Howard-Cooper has covered the NBA since 1988. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.
