Yesterday during Michigan State’s win over Bradley, head coach Tom Izzo was caught on camera RIPPING into Aaron Henry. Izzo was so heated that he had to be restrained by his players when he lunged forward at Henry after the initial “incident.”
The criticism for Izzo is piling up. Just type Izzo’s name into Twitter and you’ll find all sorts of responses to this.
“Unless Henry just threatened Izzo’s family, that’s a really bad look.”
“Shout out to Aaron Henry for keeping his composure while a grown ass Tom Izzo acting like a child.”
“I’ve said it for a long time. Tom Izzo is an asshole.”
Warranted?
These are just samples of what’s being said about Izzo and his coaching style. Is he deserving of this criticism? Did he actually do anything wrong? The answer is no. Anyone who has played competitive sports can relate to being Aaron Henry in that video. When you underperform, make a glaring mistake, or don’t do what your coach asks, he’s going to rip you and you’re going to take it. As a college athlete myself, I know that if I’m not meeting my coach’s expectations for me, he’s going to get pissed and I’m going to have to shape up. Henry himself didn’t even flinch. He even supported his coach’s actions.
This is nothing that doesn’t happen to every other competitive athlete in the country. The only difference being the TV camera on Izzo. The soft society we live in has made way more out of this story than what there is to tell. Nobody’s hurt and no one is going to apologize. Izzo’s actions were completely justified. This extends far beyond athletics. It doesn’t matter what profession you’re in. If you do your job poorly then you’re going to get what you deserve. No one gets a reward for being mediocre.
I’m usually the first person to go after Izzo. I’ve never really been a fan, but I’ll 100% support him on this. I hate to say that I’m cheering for MSU the rest of the way, but it’d be great to see Henry outperform everyone in their next game. Unfortunately, these kinds of media narratives are only going to get worse. With one coach on camera, they’re going to have their eyes on every timeout and every dead ball waiting for the next coach to fall victim.