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Yesterday we asked which Big Ten coach you hated the most and you guys answered in overwhelming fashion:
That wasn't exactly a huge surprise, with Crean being the guy I figured would win said poll in overwhelming fashion. And also of little surprise was the fact that Bo Ryan took the second spot...because people hate him for some reason.
Anyway, today we're going in the opposite direction and asking which Big Ten coach you like the most. While yesterdays poll was one sided as expected, I have a feeling today's poll will be be a bit more debated as there are plenty of options to chose from that would make sense and no one coach that is the overwhelming favorite. Well maybe Tim Miles, but past that I could see a number of these guys splitting votes pretty evenly.
As for myself, while I do like Tim Miles and his social media presence, I'd probably have to go with Tom Izzo if I'm being honest. When it comes to basketball it's hard to argue with Izzo's body of work as the long time head coach at Michigan State has literally never had a losing season and has won at least 22 games in 15 of the last 17 seasons. Izzo's ability to consistently keep Michigan State up top in the Big Ten year after year has been impressive and speaks volumes of his ability to coach and recruit talent to East Lansing.
Izzo has also became quite the character away from the court and has made probably as many waves for his antics as Tim Miles has on Twitter:
Here’s Tom Izzo Hanging Out With The Situation | The Big Lead http://t.co/61vEbi9
— Tyler Duffy (@tyduffy) September 10, 2011
It should also be mentioned I have the utmost respect for Izzo over a number of other things he's done, like stopping a game to thank Ed Hightower and give the ref a standing ovation as Hightower closed out his 32 year career as an official. As a Purdue fan I can also say I took kindly to Izzo blasting his teams student section over their A-C-L chants aimed at Robbie Hummel:
"Robbie Hummel is one of the most respected people in this league, and I want our fans to be as hard as they can be, I just don’t want them to be ignorant.That would be a very ignorant statement. I would throw the guy out of here that said something like that. If he wants to talk about his grandmother, I wouldn’t like it, but I’d deal with it. But if he wants to talk about an injury to a kid who’s been through so much, I’ll try to find out who it was and make sure that I buy his ticket."
When everything is said and done I feel like Izzo is not only the best coach in the Big Ten from a basketball standpoint, but his personality has been making him easily one of the most likable guys in the conference. I'm sure some people will disagree, but let me know in the comments section and vote for your favorite coach in the poll. I'm interested to see what the results will be for this one.