Let me guess, you are under 30 years old.
Lets take a brief history lesson about MSU basketball
before Izzo....
Gus Ganakas (Big Ten Conference) (1969–1976)
1969–70
Michigan State 9–15 5–9 T–6th
1970–71
Michigan State 10–14 4–10 T–7th
1971–72
Michigan State 13–11 6–8 T-5th
1972–73
Michigan State 13–11 6–8 T–6th
1973–74
Michigan State 13–11 8–6 T–4th
1974–75
Michigan State 17–9 10–8 5th
1975–76
Michigan State 14–13 10–8 4th
Jud Heathcote (Big Ten Conference) (1976–1995)
1976–77
Michigan State 12–15* 9–9* 6th
1977–78
Michigan State 25–5 15–3 1st
NCAA Elite Eight
1978–79 Michigan State 26–6 13–5 1st
NCAA Champions
1979–80 Michigan State 12–15 6–12 8th
1980–81 Michigan State 13–14 7–11 8th
1981–82 Michigan State 12–16 7–11 T–7th
1982–83
Michigan State 17–13 9–9 T–6th
NIT Second Round
1983–84
Michigan State 16–12 9–9 5th
1984–85
Michigan State 19–10 10–8 T–5th
NCAA First Round
1985–86 Michigan State 23–8 12–6 3rd
NCAA Sweet Sixteen
1986–87
Michigan State 11–17 6–12 7th
1987–88
Michigan State 10–18 5–13 8th
1988–89
Michigan State 18–15 6–12 T–8th
NIT Semifinal
1989–90
Michigan State 28–6 15–3 1st
NCAA Sweet Sixteen
1990–91
Michigan State 19–11 11–7 T–3rd
NCAA Second Round
1991–92
Michigan State 22–8 11–7 T–3rd
NCAA Second Round
1992–93
Michigan State 15–13 7–11 T–8th
NIT First Round
1993–94
Michigan State 20–12 10–8 T–4th
NCAA Second Round
1994–95
Michigan State 22–6 14–4 2nd
NCAA First Round
In the 26 years before Izzo
Big Ten Titles: 3
NCAA: 9
Sweet 16s: 2
Elite 8: 1
Final Four: 1
Again, MSU is NOT UK, UNC, Kansas, or Duke.
And even UNC and UK struggled for a few years trying to replace a coach.....and thats UNC and UK.
The IU job is 10 times better than the MSU job and it isnt even close.
Don't worry young fella, IU hasn't had a coach in 20 years.....they finally do now.
For example: See Wisconsin after Bo Ryan
Appreciate the kind words and the history lesson but I am not younger than 30. I grew up watching IU during the Corso and Knight eras. Been to pretty much every bowl game and countless NCAA games as a byproduct of parents who were alums and big supporters of both major sports.
Knight pretty much owned Jud and apart from the 79 season when they had Magic, Jud was second fiddle.
However there were some glaring mistakes by IU administration in the early 90s that put us where we are today.
Take Wisconsin, for example. They found footballl success and then up pops the Kohl Center and two good coaching hires in Bennett and Ryan and suddenly the tables were turned. IU opted to put everything on cruise control, hoping to ride previous basketball success and others began to catch up and then surpass IU while making investment in facilities.
I’m not so sure that IU is a better job than MSU in the present day. I mean, after Davis, we had a prime opportunity to go after a big name and we bring in Sampson. Maybe politics were involved but at least some turned us down. Why couldn’t IU draw a big name then? The dynamics of the conference have changed greatly. I think in the minds of IU faithful they confuse passion or hysteria for hoops with results. And the results have not been good overall going on 2 decades.
I’m not here to argue that IU won’t recover. IU has averaged 5th place finishes over the span of 20+ years, so the rebuild will take longer than most would like.
MSU has 7 F4 appearances under Izzo. They are established more than people like to think. This won’t decimate them. Sure, a few down years may follow but they will be back right on top with a semi-competent hire.
Wisconsin - too early to tell with Gard but my bet is they don’t wither away and we still can’t beat them.
We’ll have to just disagree that MSU is not on solid footing or IU is a 10x better job. They sell out their arena too. Their fans are passionate too. It’s not like IU has some “copywrite” on basketball enthusiasm.
If Archie doesn’t have IU in the NCAAs in 3 years, the natives will be getting very, very restless. And I like him....but he cannot take 5 years to rebuild this thing.