Michigan Golf Journal February 2020

From Green Grass to the Green & White Hardwood Michigan Golf Journal Green & White Hardwood By Tom Lang MSU sophomore point guard Jack Hoiberg faced a fork in the road as a high school senior fresh off two consecutive golf team state championships at Hinsdale (IL.) Central – to either accept a golf scholarship offer from the University of South Dakota, or a walk-on basketball agreement with Michigan State. “Growing up I always dreamed of playing in the NCAA tournament, and really I wasn’t ready to give up basketball,” Hoiberg recently told MGJ after an MSU practice. “Golf is a sport you can play your whole life, but basketball; when you’re done, you’re done, except for maybe rec leagues. I wasn’t ready to give it up competitively.” Then, after choosing to walk on at MSU to play for Hall- of-Fame coach Tom Izzo, Hoiberg could have fled after his freshman season to join his father, Fred, now the new basketball head coach at Big Ten rival Nebraska after more than three years as head coach of the Chicago Bulls. “It’s definitely cool to say I play under Tom Izzo because growing up I didn’t know him personally but obviously I knew of him,” said Hoiberg, who plays golf and shoots baskets left-handed but does everything right-handed. “Everyone knows how great of a coach he is.” Hoiberg told The State News in the fall he felt like MSU was also family, so the urge to join his father at Nebraska, faded.