So be true to your school now
Just like you would to your girl or guy
The Michigan State flag is flying once again — just had to be retrieved from a dusty, cobweb-encrusted corner of the garage and brushed off. All it took were a few wins over lower-seeded teams in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Curiously, I found myself whistling a few bars from a ‘60s song you may recognize.
It has been a long odyssey. From the viewpoint of one of an estimated 600,000 alumni of the school in East Lansing, Mich., the Michigan State brand has been severely tarnished.
First was the Nassar affair and the resignation of university president Lou Anna Simon in 2018. Her successor, Samuel Stanley, lasted three years and quit after “losing the confidence” of the board of trustees. In 2022, Teresa Woodruff became the fifth university president in five years. The current president, Kevin Gustiewicz, is now one year into the job. Along the way came the eyebrow-raising, 10-year, $95 million contract awarded to Mel Tucker, a football coach of limited experience. Only a couple of years into his tenure amid accusations of sexual harassment, Tucker was fired for cause in 2023. Clearly, we are beyond the days when John Hannah and Clifton Wharton occupied Cowles House.
It was enough for this alum. I “adopted” another school, the University of Alabama, whose football program at the time was under the aegis of Nick Saban, who had formerly coached at MSU. I also “adopted” Southern Methodist University in Dallas County, where I lived and worked for 13 years in the ‘80s and ‘90s. And I amused myself by following the fortunes of the University of Texas-San Antonio because I like its Texas setting in the Alamo City and its cheeky mascot, the Road Runners. I thoroughly enjoy wearing my Alabama gimme cap and hearing greetings of Roll Tide. In fact, still do. Casual research reveals the athletic programs at the University of Alabama helped grow enrollment. And there was never any turmoil or hint of scandal.
Be true to your school now
And let your colors fly
Be true to your school
However, every late winter and early spring, MSU basketball coach Tom Izzo gains the national spotlight for his uncanny ability to get young men of diverse backgrounds to get a 9.5-inch round ball go into a 18-inch wide metal hoop. The media enjoy repeating the refrain: January, February, Izzo. He is now 70 and has done this for 30 years. He has taken basketball teams to 16 Sweet Sixteens and eight Final Fours. But only one national championship, that in the year 2000. Izzo and his basketball teams alone have eradicated some of the tarnish from the Michigan State brand. He has his name on a building — a football building, the Tom Izzo Football Building at Michigan State. Not bad for a guy born in Iron Mountain, Mich., who stands only a few inches more than half the distance from the floor to the hoop on a basketball court.
Michigan State’s men’s basketball team has now defeated three lesser-seeded teams to advance to the Elite Eight — a step away, but a giant step away from the Final Four. Izzo recognizes the significance of Final Four-dom. “We don’t put up any banners for great eights,” he said. “We put up banners for championships and Final Fours and national championships.”
Rah rah rah be true to your school
Rah rah rah be true to your school
A No. 2 seed in the South bracket, they play No. 1-seeded Auburn at 2:05 p.m. PDT on Sunday in Atlanta. Oddsmakers make them a 4.5-point underdog. So if the oddsmakers are correct — and they usually are although there are exceptions — this will be Michigan State’s last stop on the 2025 tournament trail. Yet win or lose, Izzo has almost single-handedly help scuff off another blemish of tarnish.
Lyrics to “Be True to Your School” from the Beach boys written by Brian Douglas Wilson and Mike E. Love
