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Tom Izzo playfully responds to question about facing Phil Martelli Jr. in Bryant matchup

Paul Harvey

By Paul Harvey

Published:

Tom Izzo is leading Michigan State into a 27th straight NCAA Tournament on Friday.

Translation? He’s been doing this coaching thing for a long time. So long in fact that he is starting to face the sons of some of his longtime peers.

On Friday, that includes facing Phil Martelli Jr., the head coach at Bryant and the son of longtime coach Phil Martelli Sr. The elder Martelli was the legendary St. Joseph’s head coach before joining Juwan Howard’s Michigan staff.

Ahead of the matchup, Izzo was asked about getting to face the sons of some of his friends, including Richard Pitino, the son of Rick Pitino, who used to serve as the head coach at Minnesota. Richard is now the head coach at New Mexico, and there’s a possibility of a 2nd-round matchup between the Lobos and Spartans.

Izzo had a humorous reaction to the question as a “backhanded compliment” and took things a step further, reminding the reporter that he is also coaching the son of one of his former players in Jase Richardson.

“Is that a backhanded compliment? What the hell is that?” cracked Izzo while laughing. “You can just say it if you want to say it. Do you want to add one more thing? And I’m coaching one of my former players’ sons who happened to win the games here to get us to a championship in Jason Richardson, with Jase.”

Izzo also wanted to make sure it’s clear he’s “not coaching anybody’s grandsons” these days, but he also described it as “an honor” to be able to coach against the sons of his friends.

“… They’re your friends because you respect them, and you respect them, which means they probably raised good kids,” Izzo explained. “I think Richard was in our league at Minnesota, could play against him. Phillip, we play against tonight. Shaka (Smart at Marquette) is a good friend in a different way.

“All the guys that we could play, and especially when we do, there’s some ties to it. I think that’s a good thing. But going against a guy’s son who you have great respect for won’t change our friendship, won’t change anything because it’s not a — it’s a respect factor that I think will go on no matter what happens.”

We’ll see what happens come tip-off, but it’s just another unique aspect to Tom Izzo’s legendary tenure in East Lansing.

Paul Harvey

Paul is a lifelong fan and student of all things college football. He has been covering college football since 2017 and the B1G since 2018.