MSU Alumni Club of the San Francisco Bay Area

News just in from East Lansing, Tom Izzo has hired a new assistant coach.

Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo has hired Mike Garland as his newest assistant, filling the spot left open by the departure of Jim Boylen, the new head coach at the University of Utah.

Garland served as an assistant on Izzo’s staff for seven seasons before taking the head-coaching position at Cleveland State from 2003-06. Garland was most recently an assistant under Matt Doherty at Southern Methodist.

“It wasn’t a tough decision,” said Izzo, who played basketball with Garland at Northern Michigan. “He’s been my guy for 25 years, so why change now?”

Izzo also promoted assistant Mark Montgomery to associate head coach and promoted assistant Dwayne Stephens.