A nine-year veteran on the Spartans' bench and a four-year letterwinner on the court, Michigan State's Dwayne Stephens has officially been promoted to associate head coach heading into this fall's college basketball season.
↵Stephens will become the sixth associate under Tom Izzo, as all five predecessors have gone on to take the reigns at their own Division I program after leaving East Lansing. It is assumed that it will only be a matter of time before the D-1 offers start flooding in for Stephens' services much like they did for Mark Montgomery, Jim Boylen, Doug Wojcik, Brian Gregory and Tom Crean in past years.
↵Although he specialized mainly in low-post play over the last few season, Izzo is fully confident that his new No. 2 is more than equipped for the task at hand. "When a decorated player like Draymond Green credits much of his development to Coach Stephens, that's the ultimate compliment a coach can receive," Izzo said. "There is no doubt in my mind that he has positioned himself to be the next MSU assistant coach to run his own program."