SPOKANE, Wash. -
For the 6,000 who fill the seats each game night at The Kennel, every date that has "home" attached as always been worth a circle. But this season the list of impressive visitors has made those marks a bit more bold.
Notre Dame, Oral Roberts, Butler, just to name a few. The centerpiece of the schedule is one of college basketball's most storied programs, and no season ticket holder was happier to have Michigan State here than their former coach, Jud Heathcote.
"I told Tom [Izzo] that ‘you should come out here to play Gonzaga so I can watch you play'", recalled Heathcote. "Believe it or not he scheduled the game but I told him ‘whatever you do don't play them in The Kennel, make them play in the [Spokane] Arena'. But Tom is such a good guy that he said ‘we'll play wherever you want to play'."
"It was important that we come here for Jud," said Izzo. "But to come to a place like The Kennel, which I've watched on TV, I've tried to hit all the places that are famous for me so that I can say when I'm done that I've been everywhere.
"To be able to come here and play against a guy I respect and to come here where my mentor is from, and to be able to come and see - for me it's a win-win-win."
It was Tom Izzo who took over for Heathcote 17 seasons ago in East Lansing. The man that won maybe the most famous national championship keeps in close contact with the coach who's built a basketball power on that foundation.
"The job [Izzo] has done is unbelievable," said Heathcote.
"I'm not sure I'd be here if it weren't for Jud and what he's done for me," replied Izzo. "I don't only mean hiring me but being the main man and helping me get promoted, which wasn't easy coming from an assistant to a head job at a Big 10 school. He's a throwback, he's special and someone I really appreciate."
That same sentiment is shared in Spokane where Heathcote has been a fixture at The Kennel since he retired. His allegiance to Michigan State is the only one that tops his to GU. Then again, he didn't sit in the war room with Izzo before the game to tell him how he could beat the Zags.
"And Mark [Few] wanted to have lunch this week and I kind of put him off," said Heathcote on the other hand. "I didn't really want to have lunch and talk about the game because it's hard for me to root against Gonzaga. So I tell everybody I'm not rooting against Gonzaga, I'm rooting for Michigan State."
His is a connection between two of college basketball's premiere programs - a link that, for at least one night, a hometown and its visitors could both appreciate. Heathcote and his wife were honored by Izzo and Few at halftime of the game last Saturday.
"That was great and well deserved," said Few. "He's just one of the all-time greats. He's an unbelievable, unique person who has meant a lot to me and my career. And I know he's meant everything to Tom and his career. Just to be able to do that with Tom and Jud and Bev was something I'll remember for the rest of my life. "
Jud Heathcote was honored at haltime during the Gonzaga-Michigan State game on Saturday (Photo: SWX)
