Michigan State basketball: Inside Tom Izzo's rare staff shakeup

EAST LANSING — Tom Izzo shifted responsibilities for Michigan State basketball’s coaching staff. And it starts with a new role for his close friend and consigliere Mike Garland.

Izzo announced Wednesday during the team’s media day that his longtime assistant Garland transitioned into his new position as special assistant to the head coach. That moves Mark Montgomery, who returned to the program this summer, onto the court as an assistant coach along with associate head coach Dwayne Stephens and recently promoted assistant Doug Wojcik.

Izzo said Garland’s primary duties will be to focus on building relationships and helping current and former players with their struggles on and off the court, as well as helping Izzo with film breakdown and strategy. He also will absorb some of the responsibilities Wojcik had as recruiting director.

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Garland also had to miss time during the 2019-20 season due to his son Ray’s heart transplant, and Izzo doesn't want Garland to worry about being on the road for the grind of recruiting.

“When I think back to the number of years Mike and I have been together, when I say special assistant, he's a special guy for me,” Izzo said. “And so I think this way, it'll give him a little bit of flexibility with his son going through what he's going through. It'll give me a little bit of the ability to relax a little bit that I know Mike is kind of dealing with all the issues and problems with these kids.

“We know (the focus on) mental illness has been upgraded a lot in college sports, and maybe having someone that keeps an eye on things with our players on the front end, we won't have to deal with the crisis management on the back end.”

Garland, a Belleville native who played basketball alongside Izzo at Northern Michigan from 1973-77, joined MSU’s staff when his former backcourt mate took over for Jud Heathcote in 1995. Outside a three-year stint as head coach at Cleveland State and one year as an assistant at SMU between 2003-07, the 67-year-old Garland has served as Izzo’s confidante and sounding board as his assistant for 22 of 26 seasons leading the Spartans. He also has been a favorite of MSU players during his time as an assistant.

“Mike and I have been together since my first night on Northern Michigan's campus and all but four years stint when he was at Cleveland State,” Izzo said of Garland, who coached at his high school alma mater for nine seasons before reuniting with Izzo at MSU. “Mike has been my guy.”

Both Montgomery (2001-11) and Wojcik (2003-05) worked under Izzo with the Spartans before venturing off to run their own programs.

Wojcik initially returned to MSU in 2018 as director of recruiting following nine seasons as head coach at Tulsa and College of Charleston between 2005-14. The 57-year-old got promoted to on-court assistant again in June after Dane Fife returned to his alma mater Indiana, joining Mike Woodson’s staff. Fife spent 10 years on Izzo’s bench after initially replacing Montgomery, who left for Northern Illinois after the 2010-11 season.

Izzo when he was an assistant to Heathcote recruited the Montgomery, who played alongside Stephens at MSU from 1988-92. Northern Illinois fired Montgomery, 51, in January midway through his 10th season. He initially joined Mike Davis’ staff at Detroit Mercy before returning to Izzo’s staff in June.

“I think we're a very well-oiled machine right now,” Izzo said. “Getting Monty back, it was something in the past, we went through some great years. Him and DJ (Stephens) are good friends, him and Doug are good friends, him and Mike are good friends. So it's been a very smooth transition.”

Montgomery initially was hired to take Wojcik’s former job as recruiting director, but Izzo said conversations with Draymond Green and others this summer led him to rethink his staff structure.

He decided to bring some younger voices into the program, hiring former players Austin Thornton as video director and Matt McQuaid as assistant director of operations. Garrett Briningstool, an executive assistant to Izzo the past two years, also became director of operations and chief of staff in the offseason. McQuaid is 26 years old, Briningstool 28 and Thornton 33.

So far, the players seem to enjoy the new voices.

“It's a little different, just from a dynamic standpoint on the staff. For us, I don't really think it's that much different,” junior captain Malik Hall said. “I think we gel with the coaching staff really well, and we're all excited to have Monty, Quaido and AT back. They're all guys that have been here before, so it's just another sense of family and just more family members around.”

Rotation rumblings

Asked if he has an idea about who might start for the Spartans when they face No. 3 Kansas in the Champions Classic on Nov. 9 in New York, Izzo pointed to three position battles that could determine that.

Senior swingman Gabe Brown and freshman guard Max Christie are the two Izzo currently has penciled in as starters. He said Marcus Bingham Jr. and Julius Marble “are in a dogfight in different ways” in the post, and Izzo also is determining the other forward spot between Hall and senior Joey Hauser.

There also remains a strong competition at point guard between sophomore A.J. Hoggard and Northeastern transfer Tyson Walker, while Izzo also said freshman Jaden Akins “is playing awfully well right now” at shooting guard behind classmate Christie.

“I can tell you that I have a seven-, eight-man playing group right now, and it probably is going to go to nine,” Izzo said. “And then it'll be emergency stuff beyond that.”

Davis Smith on scholarship

Izzo said he gave sophomore walk-on guard Davis Smith one of the two open scholarships for this winter. His father, Steve, is the former NBA great and MSU legend – but not why the younger Smith landed the scholarship for this winter.

“He earned a scholarship because he's Davis Smith,” Izzo said, “not because he's Steve Smith's son.”

Contact Chris Solari: csolari@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @chrissolari. Read more on the Michigan State Spartans and sign up for our Spartans newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo's shakes up staff