Same old song and dance? Not with Izzo, whose regular-guy talk is no act

A formal dinner would've been the easy way out.

Or a golf outing.

Those things are simple, too.

Tom Izzo rehearses hard for his lead role in 'Izzo Goes to Broadway.' (Matthew Mitchell/MSU Athletic Communications.)

But Tom Izzo almost never goes about things the way others would, long ago cementing his legacy as one of the neater guys in college basketball, if not the neatest. Give him three ways to do something, and Izzo will usually choose the most compelling of the bunch.

So it should come as no surprise that the future Hall of Famer from Michigan State has spent the past two weeks preparing to star in -- yep, that's right -- a Broadway play that is expected to raise more than $135,000 for the American Cancer Society.

"The people here wanted to step outside the box," Izzo said by phone. "Well let me tell you; I stepped outside the planet. I'm on Mars right now."

The play is called Izzo Goes to Broadway.

It's a one-time deal happening Wednesday night.

And though I could spend the next 500 words explaining how it was written by Greg Ganakas (the son of former MSU coach Gus Ganakas) or how it features professional Broadway performers or how one of the cast members has 13 Broadway credits on his résumé, I'd rather use this space to explain once and for all that this is why it's hard to find anybody who doesn't enjoy Tom Izzo. Actually, this is Example 493 of why it's hard to find anybody who doesn't enjoy Tom Izzo -- just further proof that in a sport where men mostly take themselves too seriously you can always rely on Izzo to keep things in perspective.

He could easily just be a brilliant basketball coach.

Nothing more, nothing less.

But Izzo consistently chooses to instead put himself in vulnerable situations, consistently opts to leave his comfort zone for the greater good (or just to avoid boredom). He's done skits with Will Ferrell, rode a horse while wearing a coonskin hat, dressed up like Russell Crowe from Gladiator and rappelled from the ceiling of an arena, all to either have a good time or freshen up an otherwise mundane event like a Midnight Madness.

"If somebody asks me to go on an Apollo 13 [mission] to the moon, I'm liable to do it," Izzo said. "And I think that helps me with the players too, because they look at me and say, 'Coach will do anything.' So it helps, because I ask them to do some tough things, too."

This is Izzo's other great quality -- how he always finds a way to relate whatever it is he's doing back to basketball, how he always finds a way to learn from situations even when there isn't a clear lesson to be learned. Take this show, for instance. Izzo has the dance steps down pretty well, but for whatever reason he has been struggling with his lines. He studies them, memorizes them and feels good about them. But then rehearsal starts and lots of people bounce around the stage, and Izzo suddenly forgets to do what he's supposed to do.

"I get to that stage and get stage fright or something," Izzo said with a laugh. "I don't know what it is, but I can't remember anything!"

The lesson?

Izzo said he can now better understand why players -- particularly freshmen -- often struggle to do what they're told on the court (switch on a screen, don't reach for a steal, whatever) even though they seem to understand in advance. Sometimes, it's now clear to Izzo, people simply forget to do what they're supposed to do at the moment when they're supposed to do it, and it doesn't mean they're stupid or lazy or unwilling, it just means that never messing up and always remembering the next move aren't qualities that come naturally to most.

Izzo and the cast perfect a dance number for the show. (Matthew Mitchell/MSU Athletic Communications.)

"I think this will give me a better understanding of how to handle freshmen," Izzo said. "Like the other day, I was talking to one of these guys who has been on Broadway 11 years, and he took me to the back and he was telling me things he does to help him remember his lines. And I'm so sick I said, 'Man, I could use that in basketball.' I really do relate everything to it. And I swear to you, I think it's going to help me be a better coach."

Let the Big Ten be warned.

In the meantime, Izzo will be on stage Wednesday night at the Wharton Center Cobb Great Hall on the Michigan State campus, right beside his wife and children and players, at least at the end. The building should be packed, the laughs should be constant. And when it's over lots of money will have been raised for a good cause, all because Izzo opted, once again, to let the world know that though he is better at his job than most of us are at our jobs, he's not interested in spending 12 months a year reminding everybody, not when the alternative is loosening up and trying new things.

"Everybody always talks about how they're a regular guy," Izzo said. "I mean, even the biggest egomaniac wants to be a regular guy. But I think doing things like this helps me walk what I talk."

Indeed, it does.

Now if he can only remember what he's supposed to say.