SPORTS

Fellow coaches would love to have a beer with Tom Izzo, poll says

CBS Sports polls 110 anonymous college basketball coaches; 10% say they'd take a night out with the Spartans coach

Brian Manzullo
Detroit Free Press
Tom Izzo poses on the court as the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame 2016 class is announced April 4, 2016, in Houston.

College basketball coaches around the country have spoken: Michigan State's Tom Izzo would be a solid candidate for a night out with a brewski.

CBS Sports polled 110 anonymous college hoops coaches over the summer, asking them a variety of fun questions leading up to the 2016-17 season. One of those questions: "Who's the college coach you'd most like to have a beer with?"

Though 29% said they would get a beer with West Virginia's Bob Huggins and 15% said they'd go with Kansas' Bill Self, 10% said they would pick Izzo.

"Izzo -- with a bottle of red," one coach anonymously responded.

Izzo is a solid choice, if we'd say so ourselves. He's been the Spartans' coach for two decades, reaching seven Final Fours, winning five Big Ten tournaments and a national championship in 2000; surely he has some great stories to swap.

One more interesting tidbit from CBS Sports writer Matt Norlander: "I also went about asking coaches which kind of beer or drink they'd prefer. I got everything from straight scotch to Blue Moon to Miller Lite to Bud heavy. The most common answer? Beers of the pale ale variety -- though I did have five coaches tell me they'd choose vodka and cranberry. That was not expected. One coach told me he'd like to wear a fedora while having a Corona on the beach with Buzz Williams. Let that image sink in."

Contact Brian Manzullo: bmanzullo@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianManzullo.

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