Before the Michigan State Spartans took on the Maryland Terrapins, the Spartans wore special warmup shirts that featured the letters “BHM” on them in recognition of Black History Month, which began last week. And Tom Izzo explained what those warmup uniforms meant to the players.
During his postgame press conference, Tom Izzo opened up about the importance of Black History Month to him and his players and why it was important for them to acknowledge it with their warmup jerseys, explaining that when it comes to social justice, America is “still probably behind in a lot of ways.”
“Listen, there’s so many things that haven’t necessarily been fair in our country and this and that,” Tom Izzo said according to On3. “And I think we are making some progress. Still probably behind in a lot of ways. I just want to give guys a chance to appreciate, I love the anthem. Everything else, I thought it was apropos for the month and apropos for Michigan State.”
Izzo also pointed out that Michigan State has a proud history of inclusivity, pointing to former football head coach Duffy Daugherty, who became known for recruiting Black players when other programs would not.
“Way back in the Duffy days, we kind of started the regime of getting black athletes up here and personally I take a lot of pride in that and what we did. I’ve read up on it,” Izzo said. “I listen to it. I heard the stories on Bear Bryant sending guys here, I wish Bear was alive and sent me a few guys right now. So, in that respect, I thought that was great.”
It’s clear that this was something that was important to Izzo and his players.
[On3]
