Tom Izzo isn’t only a great basketball coach, he seems like a great family man as well.
Part of the reason that he didn’t take the Cleveland job last season was that a) he didn’t want to pull his daughter out of high school and b) he didn’t want to take his family to Cleveland.
But it is more than just his immediate family. Izzo is also apparently a pretty cool uncle as well.
You see, his nephew plays basketball for St. Cloud State, a Division II school in Minnesota. You have to be a pretty good basketball player to make a Division II team, but that level is still a long, long way from playing under the bright lights of the Breslin Center.
Which is why Izzo made the decision to give his nephew a chance to experience those bright lights for himself:
Kevin Levandoski saw an opening, and he ran with it.
The St. Cloud State men’s basketball sophomore has a very famous uncle in Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo. As a Division II player, he knew the chances of getting his Huskies to play Izzo’s Spartans weren’t very good, but he thought he’d ask any way.
When Izzo said yes, Levandoski was ecstatic. He relayed the information to St. Cloud State head coach Kevin Schlagel, who worked on finalizing the Nov. 2 exhibition game in East Lansing, Mich. The contract was officially signed on Tuesday morning.
Michigan State lost an exhibition to Grand Valley State in double overtime five years ago.
If Levandoski can somehow lead his team to a win in the Breslin Center, he will forever have bragging rights in the family.
Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.
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