Gregory exits MSU role to take over at South Florida
East Lansing — As Michigan State prepares for the NCAA Tournament, it will lose a critical voice in the coaching room.
However, none of it is bad as the Spartans get set to take on Miami (Fla.) on Friday night in the first round of the Midwest Region. That’s because consultant Brian Gregory has landed another job as a head coach.
The former Georgia Tech and Dayton coach was named the new coach at South Florida on Tuesday, and he’ll likely be headed there by Wednesday after helping out all season at Michigan State, where he was once an assistant under Tom Izzo.
“I told him this morning, ‘Now that you got a day job, this other job is over so get the hell out of here and make me proud,’ ” Izzo said. “So he’ll be here today and then I think he’ll be bolting. It’s all good, though. It’s all good.”
Gregory had two different stints at Michigan State, serving as an assistant for Jud Heathcote and for a year under Izzo before spending time at both Toledo and Northwestern. He returned to Michigan State in 1999 and was part of three straight Final Four teams, including the 2000 national championship.
He left for the head coaching job at Dayton in 2003 and was there through 2011 when he was hired at Georgia Tech. Gregory was fired at Georgia Tech following the 2015-16 season when the Yellow Jackets went 21-15 overall and 8-10 in the ACC before reaching the quarterfinals of the NIT.
Since then, he’s been helping out with the Spartans.
“Really happy for him,” Izzo said. “There’s a stigma. Like in pro ball, you get fired and the next week you get another job. It’s just rotating. In NFL you do that. In college you don’t get that way because so many guys get fired for the wrong reasons now. Either bad administrators or different ADs move. There’s just so many different moving parts that you get fired for a lot of different reasons besides just winning and losing.
“I thought he got fired for some of the wrong reasons when I look back on a guy that took a job that was under three years’ probation when he got the job. And as Mike Krzyzewski told me when (Gregory) got fired, he did an unbelievable job in the ACC his last year, won 21 or 22 games. So I’m proud of him, happy for him, excited and I know our staff is, and I think he’ll do a heck of a job there. I really do.”
No hard feelings
Izzo said he didn’t have any hard feelings concerning Syracuse coach Jim Boeheimsingling out Michigan State when complaining his team did not earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
“Jim’s a friend of mine now and I have a rapport with him,” Izzo said. “I think that maybe it was more of a shot at my AD since he was on the committee.”
Michigan State athletic director Mark Hollis is the chairman of the committee this season. He has pointed out Syracuse’s lack of wins against tournament teams, record away from home and a non-conference strength of schedule that ranked No. 215 in the country.
“I love Michigan State,” Boeheim told ESPN radio on Monday, “but they lost 14 games and they didn’t have as many good wins as we had.”
Michigan State, the No. 9 seed in the Midwest, had the 10th-toughest strength of schedule, including the No 16 non-conference strength of schedule while being ranked No. 50 in the RPI. Syracuse is 84th in the RPI with a strength of schedule of 63rd and the No. 215 ranking in non-conference schedule strength. The Orange also were just 2-11 away from home and went 10-5 against teams ranked outside of the top 100.
“I don’t know his situation,” Izzo said, “but I do think he’s a very good coach. I don’t think it was against me or our program. I really don’t. If I did I’d tell you I did. I just think there’s frustration. I don’t feel bad about getting in. I think we earned our right to get in, and yet maybe they did, too.”
Taking a break
After playing in the Big Ten tournament championship game three straight seasons, Michigan State took advantage of this year’s early exit.
After losing on Friday to Minnesota in the quarterfinals, the Spartans headed home and took a break from the gym, spending Saturday and Sunday as days off.
“We got a chance to start practicing yesterday, which was good,” Izzo said. “I think our guys were excited and it did do them some good to get a couple days off. Haven’t had that in a long time. They really didn’t play for almost 21/2 days. No practice, just got to relax and get their body’s right, which was good.”
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