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EDITOR'S NOTE: After this article was published, Steven Izzo made the decision to return to Michigan State in 2023-2024. The story has been updated in parts.

Steven Izzo has his own locker in the Michigan State University men’s basketball locker room these days.

But it wasn’t so long ago that he was in that very same locker room, sitting on the lap of former MSU greats, like Kelvin Torbert or Jason Richardson.

These days, it’s him who throws his sweaty jerseys in the laundry hamper after games and practices. But he vividly remembers being thrown himself into the dirty laundry hamper when he was 3 or 4 years old, playfully, by the Spartan basketball players at that time.

“That was gross,” he recollected, recently, in the lounge outside of the locker room. “I remember guys used to pick me up and bring me in the locker room in the postgame talks after wins.”

Such is the life of the son of Tom Izzo, Michigan State’s Hall of Fame head coach, who has spent an inordinate amount of his life at the Breslin Center, shepherding the Michigan State basketball team to success.

“When I was growing up, I didn’t get to hang around with my dad as much as my mom,” Steven said. “I was with my mom and my sister all the time. I had a bond with [my dad] but I never saw him twenty-four seven.”

Steven and his dad would play catch and other normal father/son activities, but it was just different growing up as the son of a Big Ten basketball coach.

“Obviously [he was] just always busy,” Steven said. "Now I can have the memories, make up for lost time almost, being here every day, always with him. It gives me joy.”

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Steven is finishing up his fourth year on the basketball team at Michigan State, under the tutelage of his father, in a role that they both have really grown to appreciate more and more.

“I’ve enjoyed my time with him,” Tom Izzo said earlier this season when asked about Steven. “Those of you who have kids and don’t get to spend enough time with them as they grow up … to come here, have practice, go on a road trip, and have your son with you … it’s been better than I even thought it would be.”

Tom has a very simple reason why he decided to have his son on his team.

“Let me tell you why I did it,” he said, leaning in. “I did it because it was the greatest thing for me, and I don’t do many things selfishly for me.”

For Tom, it was all about being able to spend quality time with Steven, time that he didn't always have when his son was younger.

“Steven on this team for four years has been a treat,” Tom continued. “Most guys got to coach their kids, maybe in football, maybe in basketball, maybe in baseball. I didn’t get to do that – I was too busy coaching other kids.”

Does he think the time went by fast?

“One hundred percent, but every parent in America would tell you that,” he said. “Am I glad I did it? Two hundred percent. It’s been great. When I think of [Steven] warming up in his first game – we’re at Madison Square Garden playing Kentucky – and then you think of the aircraft carrier, and you think of being in the NCAA Tournament. These are lifetime, memory-making moments that ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the kids in America would love to have.”

It’s not just the memories along the way that have made this an enjoyable experience for Tom and Steven. Life lessons are being learned, by father and by son, in an environment that most people can’t even imagine being a part of.

“There’s a ton of things that I’ve learned, overall, from when I was a little kid in the locker room hanging out to now,” Steven said. “I think about how one day I’m probably going to have a kid at some point, and I think of all the life lessons I’ll be able to teach them. I’ve learned so much from being around this building, just sports in general, but even from other teams on how things should be done and how things maybe shouldn’t be done. I think that I have a lot of life lessons that I’ll be able to pass on.”

Tom and Steven made each other a promise before Steven joined his dad’s team. And, so far, they’ve both kept their end of the bargain.

“We had a deal that everything on the court is ‘I’m a player,’ everything at home is ‘I’m a kid’ and he’s never overstepped boundaries or anything,” Steven said. “Sometimes when he’s upset with someone or he’s yelling at someone or he’s on someone, I try to be the mediator almost – not the annoying way, but I understand how frustrating it is as a player to get criticized. We all go through it – I don’t go through it as much as they do because I don’t play in the games as much – but I understand how things work and I try to be like, ‘Just keep your head up' because when guys do get yelled at, their first initial thought is to put your head down.”

Steven has also built a strong bond with his teammates, and he keeps those private conversations to himself.

“I could only imagine some locker room time when everyone is complaining about the coach,” Tom said. “But we have a rule from day one – what goes on in the locker room, stays in the locker room. I’ll give [Steven] credit, he has not one time – not one time – come up to me and said something about somebody. I think even the players know that he won’t – I greatly respect that, but I also greatly enjoy the opportunity I’ve had to have him around, have him learn what it’s like to compete at this level – the structure, dedication, accountability that’s needed – because that’s going to help him when he gets a job.”

Steven is currently in his fourth year of eligibility, and announced on March 2, 2023 that he would could come back for a fifth year of eligibility (due to the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2020-2021 season).

His dad is welcoming him back.

“He has the COVID year if he wants the COVID year, especially if it’s on the Izzo scholarship,” Tom Izzo said about Steven with a grin, speaking like a dad who is really enjoying his time with his boy. “It’s a hell of a deal, why go to work? No sense in that.”

Steven agrees that he was given an amazing opportunity with his father.

“It puts me in a better perspective on how kids grow up as a younger kid and being able to develop relationships with your kids,” Steven said. “That’s been a blast. Obviously if I didn’t play [on the team], I probably don’t have the memories that I make, get opportunities to hang out and go on trips. It’s definitely a nice connectedness that we have.”

Steven has decided that he will not participate in senior day activities on Saturday afternoon versus Ohio State but will instead return for his fifth and final season.

“I’m in grad school," Steven said. "The goal of mine was to graduate in three years, which I did."

Steven went through a similar process last season, trying to determine if he would return for his fourth year of eligibility after he graduated with his bachelor's degree in three years.

“I remember last year I wasn’t really sure because I was graduating,” he said. “Maybe I graduate and get a job; kind of wanted to escape college a little bit, wasn’t sure what I was going to do.”

The three-game skid near the end of the year made his decision for him.

“I don’t want to leave on this note,” he recalled after last season. “Obviously, we picked it up near the end, but I didn’t want to leave. [After the] last few games, [I decided] I’m coming back for sure.”

Steven relishes the role he has been given on a basketball team that is constantly one of the top programs in the Big Ten.

“It’s been great,” Steven said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of memories that have been made. A lot of enjoyable moments. The other players don’t look at me as the coach’s son and I probably don’t come off as the coach’s son because if there is criticism, I’m probably giving the same criticism that they’re giving because I’m going through the practice, I’m going through the lifts, I’m going through the hours of film.”

His dad knows that these last four years -- and his fifth and final year next year -- will be very meaningful when time provides the opportunity to look back at some point.

“It’s been really good, it really has,” Tom Izzo said. “I think about it, and I realize that five years, ten years from now, when he has kids someday, all the things you don’t think about now will mean so much more later. And for that, I’m grateful that I was able to, thankful that he did, and really thankful that our team embraced him like they have. Because of what my kid sacrificed for me, I’m giving him an opportunity to be a part of things."

"He’s a pretty good teammate, a pretty good cheerleader," said Tom Izzo. "He gets to get in every once in a while, it’s not often enough. It’s good for him, it’s good for me. Hopefully it will be great for him later on, but I think our team has embraced him too and they are just dying for him to make a shot.”

Izzo the coach wants Izzo the player to score in a game, as well, if at all possible.

“One of these days I’m just gonna let him go,” Tom said. “When he gets in, we’re usually ahead, and I have respect for our program. Although one coach this year has said to me, ‘if Steven gets in there at the end, let him shoot.’ So one of these days, I will.”

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