Tom Izzo has been on the sidelines for the Michigan State men's basketball program since 1983 and has been head coach since 1995. The Hall of Famer has seen college basketball evolve around him, and he is preaching patience to the fans who are adjusting to the current era of NIL, revenue sharing and the transfer portal.

“It’s hard to explain to fans what we’re going through with the NIL and all the things,” he said, via On3. “It’s really difficult. I can’t explain it to my own wife or to my own staff. Until you sit in that chair and you realize what you gotta do, so it makes it a little more difficult. I hope our fans trust the process. I hope they trust all of us. …But let’s face it, we don’t have all the answers either.

Izzo was speaking of the athletic department as a whole. Though Michigan State hasn't won a championship in men's basketball since 2000, the Spartans will take a 27-year NCAA Tournament streak into 2025-26, which also includes eight Final Fours and an Elite Eight finish last year.

Meanwhile football has fallen on hard times with Michigan State going 5-7 last year and 4-8 the year before amid the Mel Tucker scandal.

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“Our fans need to get with us. Don’t be fair-weather fans,” Izzo added. “Understand there is a process to being great. I’ve worked with a lot of presidents, a lot of ADs and a lot of football coaches and that’s not always good. It’s really not. Stability, I think, is why we’ve been successful. We’re not the Pittsburgh Steelers, but we’ve had two basketball coaches in 51 years.”

With Michigan State bringing in J Batt as athletic director this month, Izzo said the new man in charge needs to making fundraising his top priority.

“It just has to be,” Izzo said. “You can look at it any way you want to look at it, but it is what’s critical for all of us. Then, fundraising in general that $20 million that we’re going to spend — that wasn’t just given to us. Every athletic department is going to be subject to raise money to help that, the facilities and how much we give to each program. So I think fundraising is a major part, yet as a business man you have to understand the athletics to that.”