POWER CONNECTIONS

Tom Izzo was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on September 9, 2016, cementing his status as one of the game’s all-time greats. The upcoming 2025-26 season will mark his 31st as the Spartans’ head coach.

Izzo has compiled an impressive list of accomplishments in 30 seasons as head coach of the Michigan State men’s basketball program, including the 2000 NCAA National Championship, 11 regular-season Big Ten Championships (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2025), six Big Ten Tournament titles (1999, 2000, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2019), eight Final Four appearances (1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2019), eight National Coach of the Year awards and a Big Ten-record 27-straight NCAA Tournament appearances.

2025 was truly a remarkable one for Izzo and his Michigan State team. In February, the Spartans won at Illinois as Izzo became the all-time leader in Big Ten conference wins for a men’s basketball head coach. The win in Champaign also ignited a string of seven straight wins to close the regular season, propelling Michigan State to a Big Ten Championship. For Izzo, it was the 11th regular-season conference title, matching the Big Ten record for a men’s basketball head coach.

When the Spartans were selected for the 2025 NCAA Tournament, it extended the program’s streak to 27-straight appearances, continuing an active Big Ten and is officially recognized by the NCAA as the nation’s longest current streak. Michigan State’s streak of 27-straight NCAA Tournaments is also the third-longest in NCAA history.

In the NCAA Tournament, Izzo is at his best, earning him the nickname “Mr. March.” His 59 NCAA Tournament wins are the most ever for a Big Ten coach, ranking first among active coaches and fourth all-time. When the Spartans were selected for the 2023 NCAA Tournament, Izzo became the first men’s basketball head coach in history to lead his team to 25-straight appearances.

It’s easy to see that Izzo knows how to win, but he also knows how to win the right way. In his 30 years directing the Spartan program, 86 percent of his players who completed their eligibility also left with a degree. In the last 25 years, 69 Spartans have received their undergraduate degrees.

Izzo’s 737 wins are fourth-most by any coach in his first 30 seasons in the history of college basketball. In November 2009, he passed his mentor Jud Heathcote (340 wins) to become MSU’s all-time winningest coach. In 2021-22, the Spartans beat Maryland in the regular season finale for Izzo’s 663rd win, making him the Big Ten leader in overall wins. On Jan. 30, 2024, MSU beat Michigan for Izzo’s 700th career win, making him the first Big Ten head coach to reach 700 wins at one school and the 38th coach in Division I history to reach that mark.

A 2015 inductee into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, Izzo led MSU to seven Final Four appearances between 1999 and 2015, becoming just the fourth school in college basketball history to do it in any 17-year span, including just the third since the tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1985. His eight Final Four appearances rank fifth all-time, first among active coaches, first all-time among Big Ten coaches and the most for any coach since 1996.

A 1977 graduate of Northern Michigan, Izzo joined the Spartan program as an assistant coach in 1983. After 12 seasons as an assistant, the 1995-96 campaign marked his first season as head coach.

Star of ABC’s ‘Shark Tank,’ Top Business Speaker, Serial Entrepreneur, Venture Capitalist and Investor, Featured in Harvard Business Review Case Study in 2023

Kevin O’Leary’s success story began in his native Canada, “with a big idea and zero cash.” In 1986, he founded SoftKey Software Products, later to be called The Learning Company, in his Toronto basement. Under O’Leary’s leadership, the company became a giant in its sector before it was acquired for $4.2 billion. In 2000, O’Leary founded O’Leary Ventures, a generalist venture capital investment platform that has since invested in start-ups and early-stage companies across virtually every sector. In 2003, he co-founded Storage Now, a leading developer of climate-controlled storage facilities, which was later acquired for $110 million. His next investment, Stream Global Services, was later acquired for $820 million.

More About Kevin O’Leary

In 2006, O’Leary joined the Canadian cast of Dragon’s Den, the international business reality show and forerunner of the U.S. Shark Tank franchise. His tough critiques and brutal honesty made him a popular judge. In 2009, he was invited to join the founding cast of ABC’s Shark Tank, alongside Mark Cuban, Robert Herjavec, Lori Greiner, Daymond John, and Barbara Corcoran. Shark Tank continues to be one of the most popular television programs of all time, garnering multiple awards and nominations, including four Emmy awards. Reflecting his commitment to “eco-preneurship,” O’Leary also co-hosted The Discovery Channel’s Project Earth series, which explored radical ideas to combat global warming.

O’Leary currently serves as chairman for a portfolio of companies that reflect his guiding principles for business. They include venture capital investment platform O’Leary Ventures; Beanstox, an automated internet-based investment advisory service; and O’Shares Investments, which provides ETFs for long-term wealth management. He is the founder of O’Leary Financial Group, and Chief Sommelier of award-winning O’Leary Fine Wines. Since 2021, O’Leary has also been a strategic investor in WonderFi, now one of the largest regulated crypto asset trading platforms in the world.

A strong believer in financial education and fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs, Kevin O’Leary is the author of a bestselling series of books: Cold Hard Truth; Men, Women and Money; and Family, Kids and Money. He has spoken to future entrepreneurs at Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, Notre Dame, Waterloo and McGill. Corporate speaking audiences have included Ernst & Young, MassMutual, First Third Bank, Constant Contact, Comcast, Zendesk, Cisco Systems, National Conference of State Legislatures, and ExxonMobil.

O’Leary serves on the investment committee of Boston’s prestigious 200-year-old Hamilton Trust. He is an avid chef, wine lover, world traveler, photographer, electric guitarist, guitar collector, and die-hard New England Patriots fan.

Mr. O’Leary received an honours bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and psychology from the University of Waterloo and an MBA in entrepreneurship from the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario.