“We’re losing really good mentors.”

East Lansing — Jay Wright, Roy Williams, Nick Saban and now Tony Bennett.

Michigan State University men's basketball coach Tom Izzo has seen a number of respected college coaches retire in recent years as new NCAA rules – or lack thereof – have completely changed the college sports landscape.

Such a mass exodus no longer surprises Izzo. It's just a sign of how much the game has changed, and Bennett's sudden retirement in Virginia only reinforces his feelings.

“That (Bennett's retirement) was one of the saddest days for me,” Izzo said Thursday before the Spartans' exhibition game against Ferris State next Tuesday.

“Yeah, it bothered me when Jay Wright did it, with Roy (Williams), Nick Saban of course – different people doing it. But this one is 55 years old. He was coming off a national championship a few years ago. He’s a good person, a good coach, a good guy.”

Bennett, who coached the Cavaliers to the 2019 national championship, announced his immediate resignation on Oct. 17, just weeks before the teams began their 2024-25 season.

When Bennett addressed the media the next day, he railed against changes in college athletics, particularly new transfer portal rules and name, image and likeness rights. He said the rules changed the game so much that he felt he could no longer be an effective coach.

“Games and college athletics are not doing well and something needs to change,” Bennett told the Associated Press. “I think I was prepared to work here the old way. That's how I am and that's how it was. My staff gave me the push I needed to get to this point, but something has to change.”

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Bennett's resignation saddened Izzo and initially shocked him too.

Izzo's ties to Bennett go back to when Izzo was a college basketball player in Northern Michigan and attended summer camps run by Bennett's father as part of his Wisconsin-Stevens Point program. Bennett was young, but soon the two were on the sidelines as coaches of the same sport.

Now Izzo Bennett has survived in a job they both care about. And after calling Bennett the next day to talk to him about the decision, and after hearing Bennett's thoughts on the state of college basketball at his farewell press conference the next day, Izzo said he was no longer shocked – and that He won't be there even if the next high-ranking coach leaves.

“I feel bad for him, but I feel good for him,” Izzo said. “I mean, did he want to do that? Did he want to go out like that? No, I don't think so at all. But is what he does a relief? Will he have a life now? Yes. So I told him I didn’t know if I was proud of him or jealous of him.”

Izzo has his own concerns, particularly about how all of these changes will affect players in the long run. He sees the transfer portal and NIL rules creating a kind of free reign in college athletics, and that bothers him.

At some point, he feels players as a whole could be left behind, such as those who don't find new homes in the transfer portal and end up at the D-II level. He also expects that many coaches, particularly the old-fashioned program developers, will soon follow Bennett's lead.

“What bothers me is that some of these guys are really good coaches and really good people and really good mentors to these young kids,” Izzo said. “We’re losing really good mentors.”

Izzo isn't sure where the NCAA will go from here, but he said he has stepped away from many committees and conferences to find the answer.

At some point he too will retire. Until then, he'd rather focus on his Michigan State program, a group that enters its 30th season at the helm with high expectations.

“I’ve been on every committee trying to change the world,” Izzo said. “The world is on my heels. And now I’m going to try and get in my team’s way and worry about my team.”

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@ConnorEaregood

“We’re losing really good mentors.”

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