Michigan State’s Tom Izzo Denounces Magic Johnson Statue Defacers

Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo had some strong words with regards to the sports fans, supposedly from the University of Michigan, who vandalized the beloved statue of alum Magic Johnson on MSU’s campus Thursday morning.

The Sparty statue was guarded that day, as it usually was, by the Michigan State Spartans (No. 7) marching band. However, Johnson’s statue was spray-painted with a maize yellow ‘M’ (one of Michigan’s colors), along with the words ‘Beat State’ directly underneath it.

When asked for comment, Izzo stated: “There’s a lot of great Michigan kids. There’s some idiots. And there’s some idiots on our side, too, that do crazy things.” He then added: “Messing with Sparty is a bad thing, like messing with their ‘M’ is a bad thing. But messing with Magic, that’s a worse thing. And we’ll make sure that from now on maybe the basketball team will sleep out. … But we’ll have him covered from now on.”

University spokesman Jason Cody stated that once the suspects are identified, they will face criminal charges.

This is not the first instance of graffiti-type vandalism that either school has witnessed. Michigan State’s Sparty statue was spray-painted in Michigan’s colors twice earlier this year, in April and September before the Spartans played against Oregon. The two rival teams are set to play each other on Saturday.  Michigan is ranked No. 12.