How Tom Izzo, Jud Heathcote gave Rick Barnes 'welcome to the Big Ten' moment as Ohio State assistant
Rick Barnes will always remember his "welcome to the Big Ten" moment when the Tennessee basketball coach was an assistant at Ohio State.
Barnes met Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who was then an assistant for Jud Heathcote at MSU, in 1986 when they were recruiting a player in Columbus, Ohio. A couple weeks later, Barnes made a recruiting trip to the Detroit area.
Barnes ended up sitting with Izzo and Heathcote to watch a 6-foot-5 prospect out of Highland Park, Michigan. He looked like he weighed 160 pounds and reminded Barnes of Keith Askins, who he signed at Alabama and John Newman, who Barnes did not sign at George Mason.
"But John Newman I made a mistake on and told my head coach, I said, 'I'm not sure he can play in our league,' " Barnes told the Knoxville Quarterback Club on Monday. "And he goes on to have a 15-year NBA career."
As Barnes watched the prospect with Izzo and Heathcote, he thought about the "skinny guys" he recruited in the past. He wasn't sure about this one.
The player shot an air ball. Then he made a couple 3-pointers. Then he shot another air ball.
"Rick, if you bring Gary Williams up here and he sees what I'm seeing, he's going to fire you like I'm thinking about firing Tom," Barnes recalled what Heathcote explained, sitting between him and Izzo.
Barnes went back to Ohio State and told Williams the kid was intriguing, and he'd seen those kind of guys really develop into something. He also told Williams what Heathcote said to him.
"I'm not going to see a kid who shoots air balls," Barnes said Williams told him.
So Ohio State didn't sign the prospect – and Michigan State did.
"Well, that guy, Steve Smith went on to have a 15-year NBA career," Barnes said. "So I kid Tom to this day that they sent me up. That was my welcome into the Big Ten. But through the years, Tom has been a guy that – he makes me proud to be in the coaching business."
Barnes and Izzo were reunited Sunday when Tennessee made the trip to East Lansing, Michigan, for an exhibition game. The Vols won 89-99, and Barnes was pleasantly surprised by the scoring from his transfer guards
His friendship with Izzo isn't the only reason Barnes enjoys exhibition games with Power Five teams, though.
Barnes said the exhibitions games like Michigan State are important, not only because it's a level of play that's difficult to replicate in practice, but also because of the impending conference realignment across Power Five. Once Texas and Oklahoma join the SEC, Barnes said he doesn't know how they won't have to go up to 20 conference games.
DALTON KNECHT: Forget the dunk. Dalton Knecht proved something else for Tennessee basketball at Michigan State.
The Big Ten teams will have an even bigger change after USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon join the conference in 2024.
"Tom actually told me yesterday that they could end up going to 22 with their additions, which that means you'll lose a lot of those intersectional games, which I think are really good," Barnes said. "I think it's been great for college basketball, these exhibition games that people have seen. I think it's exciting to see all these other games being played."
Cora Hall covers University of Tennessee women’s athletics. Email her at cora.hall@knoxnews.com and follow her on Twitter @corahalll. If you enjoy Cora’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that allows you to access all of it.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Rick Barnes' memory of meeting Tom Izzo as Big Ten assistant coaches
