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Former Michigan State guard lands assistant coaching job, per report
Published:
News out of the basketball coaching ranks.
Former Michigan State guard Tum Tum Nairn is set to be the next assistant coach at Southern Utah per a report from Jeff Goodman with Stadium. Nairn, who played at Michigan State from 2014-2018, joins the staff led by head coach Todd Simon.
Southern Utah’s Todd Simon has hired former Michigan State guard Tum Tum Nairn as an assistant coach, source told @Stadium. Was a coach for Sunrise Christian Academy and Mokan Elite this past year. Will be a star in coaching.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) September 7, 2022
Under Tom Izzo, Nairn appeared in 137 games (65 starts) for the Spartans. He averaged 2.5 points in 19.5 minutes per game. Nairn was recently the head coach at Sunrise Christian Academy in Wichita, Kansas. He also worked for the Phoenix Suns in 2018 with a role in player development.
The Thunderbirds went 23-12, including 14-6 in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) last season. In six seasons as Southern Utah’s head coach, Simon holds a record of 96-94 (.505).
This sounds like a very good pickup for Southern Utah. Nairn played for one of the legendary coaches in college basketball in Tom Izzo. Izzo has been the head coach at Michigan State since 1995 and holds a career coaching mark of 666-267. He was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame back in 2016.
If Nairn picked up anything from Izzo, he could be in for a solid coaching career.