Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo speaks to the media after the 73-63 loss to Purdue on Sunday, Jan. 27. 2019, in West Lafayette, Indiana. Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press
EAST LANSING — Tom Izzo took the podium as one of Michigan State’s last remaining leaders.
His president had resigned two days earlier, in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal, and his athletic director retired that afternoon. Hours earlier, Izzo's Michigan State basketball program had become immersed in its own controversy — two sexual assault allegations nearly a decade old coming to life in an explosive ESPN report.