Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo doesn't like to sugarcoat anything, much less when it concerns his program.
Izzo hosted a media availability late last Thursday, where he addressed key issues within college basketball, with much of his remarks sparking intrigue regarding the transfer portal and inconsiderate social media behavior.
For Izzo, enough is enough.
"The [transfer portal] system was set up without any proper guidelines," Izzo said. "It has not helped any players make decisions. They're left to get middlemen and other people involved in their lives. I don't think parents could know what their [kids] are doing. I'm on every [basketball] committee known to mankind. As a coach, I barely know what's going on."
Izzo said social media correlates side-by-side with the transfer portal, whether that's fans sending threatening messages to act disloyal to the players they once cheered for, simply because they don different color uniforms than the green and white.
"Every kid that left, I'm still gonna support," Izzo said.
Izzo confirmed none of his players who opted to leave blindsided him by a tweet or Instagram post and came to him with the common courtesy they needed another fit for their future.
In doing so, he expects Spartans fans to act with decency as this constant shuffling of players to teams, sometimes new teams, yearly, continues.
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"I hate Twitter," Izzo said. "I don't think I'll be getting any NIL deals with Twitter. I really don't give a damn. I think it's disgusting what they [the fans] do to these human beings. I just want us to be different at Michigan State."
While Izzo isn't fully against the transfer portal, he said there needs to be "guardrails" surrounding the level of constant contact between coaches, players and agents/
It's unclear whether Izzo's pleas are going to reach the powers that be. At the very least, the legendary coach is speaking up.
The Spartans were eliminated in the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight after winning the Big Ten regular-season title this past year.