Tom Izzo, Detroit, and the Road to the 2027 Final Four: A Homecoming with Purpose
Tom Izzo brought his Michigan State squad to Detroit a day early this week-not just to prep for Saturday’s game against Oakland, but to give back. The Spartans handed out toys to local kids, spreading some holiday cheer in the heart of the city.
But this trip was about more than just community service or game-day logistics. It was also a chance for Izzo and Michigan State to lay the groundwork for something much bigger: the return of the NCAA Men’s Final Four to Ford Field in 2027.
On Friday, Izzo and MSU athletic director Alan Haller joined city officials at Ford Field to unveil the official logo for the 2027 Final Four. Michigan State will serve as the host institution for the event, a role it last played in 2009-a year that still holds deep meaning for Izzo and Spartan fans alike.
“I hope we spend a year trying to make this the greatest Final Four ever,” Izzo said, standing on the same turf where his 2009 team made its unforgettable run to the national title game. “And if Michigan and Michigan State can find their way in it, that would be great. If they can’t, I’m still going to be a big-time supporter of what this means for our city.”
The 2027 Final Four is set for April 3 and 5, but the celebration will span an entire week, turning Detroit into the epicenter of college basketball. Mayor Mike Duggan, a University of Michigan alum, joined the festivities and couldn’t help but imagine a dream scenario: the Wolverines and Spartans both making it to the Final Four in their home state.
Izzo? He’s all in on that idea-and then some.
“I’d sign up for that tomorrow. That’d be the greatest,” he said.
“You want to throw Oakland in there? They were in the Sweet 16 a couple years ago-that’s fine with me.
Maybe we’ll bring Northern Michigan into Division I and get everyone here.”
Izzo’s 2009 team didn’t just reach the Final Four-they carried the weight of a state still reeling from economic hardship. That year, MSU won the Big Ten by four games and knocked off Kansas and Louisville in Indianapolis to punch their ticket to Detroit. Once there, they beat Connecticut in the semifinal before falling to a loaded North Carolina team in the championship game.
“We were playing not just for Michigan State that weekend, we were playing for the state of Michigan,” Izzo said. “That’s when the economy and the auto industry and everything went down.”
The atmosphere in downtown Detroit that weekend was electric. Izzo recalled being in the locker room after the UConn win, celebrating with Magic Johnson, Steve Mariucci, and his team, when someone mentioned how wild the streets outside had become.
“Just crazy-good crazy, not bad crazy,” Izzo remembered. “I said if I had any courage, I’d take my team out there.
At that time, we had to stay up in Troy-there weren’t the same amount of hotels downtown, and we were kind of away from it. And Magic said, ‘Let’s do it, coach, let’s do it!’
“I said, ‘Yeah, if I lose Monday night, everybody will be mad at me.’ So I didn’t do it.”
This weekend, Izzo’s Spartans are back in Detroit for a noon tipoff against Oakland at Little Caesars Arena. That game carries its own sense of nostalgia, too.
Two members of that 2009 Final Four team-Goran Suton and Raymar Morgan-are now helping this year’s squad. Suton joined the staff as a graduate assistant over the summer, while Morgan recently returned to East Lansing as a student assistant.
Michigan State has long embraced big stages. Back in 2003, the Spartans hosted Kentucky in the “Basketbowl,” the first basketball game played on a court placed in the center of a football stadium.
That event was the brainchild of then-athletic director Mark Hollis, who was in attendance Friday. Hollis now serves as COO of Rock Entertainment Group and played a major role in bringing the Final Four back to Detroit.
Mayor Duggan also reflected on the city’s recent success hosting major events, including the 2024 NFL Draft, which drew massive crowds and widespread acclaim. He recalled an earlier attempt in 2018 to bring the Final Four back, when city officials tapped then-Spartan star Cassius Winston to help make the pitch.
“Our chief presenter was a young man by the name of Cassius Winston,” Duggan said. “He did a tremendous presentation. So the persistence of the Michigan State team helped push it across the finish line.”
Dan Gavitt, the NCAA’s senior vice president for basketball, said Detroit’s ability to pull off the NFL Draft was a key factor in awarding the city another Final Four.
“It was a big part of the sports commission’s pitch,” Gavitt said. “The fact it was such a successful event for arguably the most important sports property in our country, the NFL, gave the committee great confidence that if they can do that, they can more than do a successful Final Four again.”
Also in the crowd was David Barrett, the composer of the iconic “One Shining Moment” anthem, which turns 40 next year. Barrett wrote the song in a bar in East Lansing, and it’s become synonymous with March Madness ever since.
Izzo reflected on how that song once served as a motivator for Mateen Cleaves and the 2000 national championship team. After an Elite Eight win over Iowa State at the Palace of Auburn Hills, MSU cut down the nets in Indianapolis to give Izzo his lone national title.
“To compete for a national championship is the ultimate prize for a student-athlete,” said Haller, who knows the feeling firsthand-he won a national title as a goalkeeper for North Carolina’s soccer team in 2001. “This event here in Detroit will be tremendously impactful for student-athletes that have the opportunity to compete. There’s no greater feeling than winning an NCAA championship.”
For Izzo, the return of the Final Four to Detroit is more than a basketball milestone. It’s a full-circle moment-an opportunity to bring the sport’s biggest stage back to a city that lives and breathes the game, and to inspire a new generation of players, coaches, and fans.
And if the Spartans can make another run to Ford Field?
Well, that would be the kind of story even “One Shining Moment” would struggle to capture.