When Tom Izzo entered Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio for the start of his 25th consecutive NCAA Tournament last Friday, one of the first people he met was his assigned police officer from the Columbus Police Department, Nathaniel Harp. What Izzo probably didn't realize at the time was that Nathaniel was the son of David Harp, the police officer who had been assigned to him 11 years prior, when Michigan State played in the 2012 NCAA Tournament first and second round games in Columbus.
When you have as storied and as illustrious of a career as Izzo has had, random happenstance like this is bound to happen, I guess. But the reason why this story is being written isn’t just because a father and his son provided security to a Michigan State basketball head coach more than a decade apart. It isn’t because the Spartans are 4-0 when being shadowed by the Harps. It isn’t even because they both happened to get pictures with Izzo while doing their jobs.
It’s being written because I found both of their experiences with Izzo to be very similar and – even though they are both huge Ohio State Buckeyes fans – they wanted the public to know their opinion of the Spartans’ Hall of Fame head coach.
“I was waiting for [Izzo’s] bus to drop him off on Friday, introduced myself, shook hands, and he instantly started talking to me,” said Nathaniel Harp. “He was very personable, a class act, respectful, polite. [He] told me on multiple occasions how much he appreciated me being there with him.”
Nathaniel had the opportunity to be in the Spartan locker room for some of Izzo’s pregame coaching. As a huge college basketball fan, Nathaniel found that to be surreal. And when they entered the arena for the first time, it really hit him.
“I had chills walking out onto the floor the first time with him,” said Nathaniel. “It was pretty cool. He’s arguably one of the greatest college coaches – there’s a small handful of guys that fit in that category – watching him work was pretty cool. I saw him writing on the white board and going over the game plan and breaking down the other team, it was pretty cool.”
Nathaniel’s dad, David Harp, had a very similar experience 11 years ago when the Spartans came into Columbus and beat Long Island and St Louis to advance to the West Regional in Phoenix.
“I worked every event in the arena and I probably [shadowed] 15-20 coaches over the years,” said David, the elder Harp. “Out of all the coaches I did, only two of them stand out – Tom Izzo and Bruce Pearl. They were extremely personable. They would take the time to actually talk to you and treat you decently even though you are just there to basically shadow them. You do spend quite a bit of time with them. [Izzo] was very personable and seemed like a genuinely nice guy.”
David provided security for many coaches over the years but Izzo and Pearl were the only two he remembered. When he asked Izzo for a picture, he was mostly doing it to poke fun at his wife.
“My wife really likes [Izzo] and I’ll be honest with you, I wanted to get the picture as a joke to show her I got to hang out with him because she was extremely jealous,” said David. “So when I told him that my wife is a huge fan, he said ‘absolutely’ so I took a quick picture with him. I’m a big Ohio State fan but I do like Michigan State because I think they’re a class act.”
The assignment of officers to coaches is technically randomly assigned but, David says, there were two of them that ran the events back then -- so he was able to pick ... and he picked Izzo.
In 2012, David generally sat outside of the locker room and never really ventured in.
“I don’t like to get in his way, so I just stand back and shadow him at a distance,” said David. “Wherever he goes in that building, we go.”
I was curious if he had ever had any close calls or any fans get near a coach unexpectedly.
Nothing. Which is a good thing, of course.
“If anything [negative] were to happen, it’s the security guys on the perimeters that deal with that stuff when you’re actually with the coaches and with the team,” said David. “If [the coaches] bring anything to your attention, you immediately have someone else deal with it. You don’t ever leave the people you are assigned to. The way the arena is set up and the way they do the security, it’s next to impossible to get to them.”
David Harp was very complimentary of Izzo, shining high praise on how he interacted with those around him.
“Out of all the people that have come through that arena, there have only been a small handful of people that jump out,” said David. “The Jonas Brothers, Ted Nugent, Michael Buble. There were only four or five that when they were going back to the locker room – when we were standing off to the side – that went out of their way to come up, shake your hand, and thank you for being there and thank you for what you do. The rest of them, you’re just a cog in the machine, if you know what I mean. I would absolutely put Izzo in that category. He goes out of his way to acknowledge the little guy, so to speak. You’re just there doing a job – and they don’t have to – he just seems like a genuinely nice guy who appreciates what you do for him. I think he appreciates the people around him and what they do, I really do. And that’s coming from a Buckeye.”
His son, Nathaniel, is also an Ohio State fan, and a college basketball fan in general.
“Buckeyes first, but I root for the Big Ten,” said Nathaniel.
According to Nathaniel, there were eight officers assigned to a coach – they did a random draw and he ended up getting lucky by getting Izzo.
“The entire weekend – if they are in that building, we are with them,” said Nathaniel. “Trying to stay about four or five feet away, let them do their thing. Just watch over them the entire time they are in the building.”
When asked what his most memorable moment from the weekend was, he doesn’t hesitate for an answer. It was something the whole world saw eventually, and Nathaniel was just a few feet away when it happened.
“The first game on Friday, Izzo was quite upset about a call and then just snapped that clipboard – I had a front row view for that,” said Nathaniel. “When I’m on the floor, I sit behind the assistant coaches. During that timeout, I saw them hand him the clipboard and saw him snap the clipboard.”
Overall, though, being able to follow a Hall of Fame coach around for the round of 64 and the round of 32 – a witness to history from just a few feet away – was something Nathaniel said he would never forget.
“As a basketball fan, that’s an experience that so few people will ever be able to do,” said Nathaniel. “It’s kind of a surreal experience. Feeling momentum swings from the bench is something the average fan doesn’t ever get to do.”
Very few people will ever get to follow Izzo around so intently – from the pregame to the postgame, from the court to the locker room, from the press conferences to the celebrations and more. Not his wife. Not his kids. Not even his communications team, although they probably come the closest.
But the Harp family has gotten to do it twice now – and the Spartans are undefeated while under the watchful protection of David and Nathaniel Harp.
