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"300"

A modern-day "Spartan" leader on the surprise blockbuster

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Tom Izzo is head coach of the men's Michigan State Spartans basketball team. A four-time coach of the year, he led his team to the men's national title in 2000. He's notorious for holding drills in which players battle for rebounds in football helmets and pads.

OVERVIEW "As a coach, I identify with Leonidas. He came up with a game plan that gave him the best chance to be successful. He also had to motivate his soldiers, much like we motivate our men. Every player's different, and you need to have a relationship with the player to know what drives him. Some respond better to a direct challenge or to criticism; some respond best when their backs are against the wall. Whatever tactic you use, you have to get them to push through what they perceive their limits to be."

SHOWING EMOTION "The biggest difference between the Spartans in '300' and the MSU Spartans is the basketball team is more emotional. For the movie's Spartans, showing emotion meant weakness. In an early scene, when Leonidas leaves behind his queen to go to battle, he doesn't permit himself to show emotion. Later, when one soldier watches his son die on the battlefield, his emotion makes the other soldiers question his ability to do his job. But at MSU, emotion does not mean weakness. One of my favorite moments was standing next to a crying Mateen Cleaves after he realized his dream of winning a national championship."

YOUNG RECRUITS "In '300,' the Spartans begin recruiting warriors at birth. They discard undersized babies, they make toddlers spar with each other, and they cast teenage boys out into the wilderness to see if they are able to survive. Obviously, we are not that extreme in college basketball, but it concerns me that players now are being recruited at younger ages. [Editor's note: The University of Southern California recently received a verbal commitment from a 14-year-old.] First of all, recruiting is an inexact science. Players develop differently, so there is no way to predict how a high school junior will perform when he's a college senior. But secondly, it puts too much pressure on young players well before their time."

DRESSED TO KILL "The Spartans' cape-and-Speedo look seemed a little odd. But I don't worry too much about the fashion of the uniform. I'm much more concerned with the performance of the player in it. Short-shorts worked for players such as Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and all the greats before them, and the Speedo and cape seemed to work just fine for '300's' Spartans."

-- David Andrukonis

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