Mike Garland is in his second stint on the Spartan bench, with the 2016-17 campaign marking his 17th season at Michigan State.

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He returned to East Lansing for the 2007-08 season, having previously served as an assistant at MSU for seven seasons from 1996-2003. In his time at MSU, Garland has helped coach the Spartans to 15 NCAA Tournaments, seven Big Ten Championships, five Big Ten Tournament Championships, six Final Fours and one National Championship. In fact, he has been on staff for every Big Ten Championship the Spartans have won under Tom Izzo. He excels in self-scouting and individual player improvement. His instruction led to six Spartans being selected in the NBA Draft during a three-year span from 2000-02. In total, he has worked with 16 Spartans that have been selected in the draft, including six in the last five seasons.

“Mike is someone who was here through our championship and Final Four runs, and helped build this program from the ground up,” said Izzo at the time of Garland’s return. “Mike has a tremendous passion for coaching and developing relationships with players. He helps instill the toughness necessary to compete at the championship level.”

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In 2006-07, Garland served as associate head coach at SMU under Matt Doherty. Prior to that, he was head coach for three seasons at Cleveland State, posting a 23-60 record, while increasing the Vikings’ win total each season. In his second season, the Vikings improved by six wins in Horizon League play, which was the fifth-best improvement in league history.

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Prior to his arrival at East Lansing, Garland enjoyed a successful nine-year stint as varsity head coach at Belleville High School. During that time, he posted a career record of 153-49 (.757) while earning numerous coaching honors. He was selected as the Associated Press’ 1993-94 Michigan High School Coach of the Year, while also being named the Michigan Mega Red Conference Coach of the Year. Garland, who coached three players to first-team all-state honors during his tenure at Belleville, was named The Detroit News All-Metro West Coach of the Year in 1990-91, while being selected as the All-Suburban Coach of the Year during the same campaign by the Detroit Free Press. His Belleville teams won six Mega Red Conference championships, four district titles and advanced to the state tournament quarterfinals in 1991. He spent five seasons as an assistant at Belleville before being named head coach.

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Garland started his coaching career in 1977 with a two-year stint as an assistant basketball coach at Cody High in Detroit. Garland then headed to private business for several years before his desire to teach led him back into coaching as the junior varsity coach at Belleville High in 1982.

Garland earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education and community recreation from Northern Michigan in 1977. While at NMU, he was the recipient of the Minority Student Academic Achievement Award. Izzo and Garland were teammates on the Wildcats’ basketball squad.

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Garland’s family includes his wife, Cynthia, daughter, Simone, and sons Quentin and Michael Ray, and grandchildren Simone, LaNyla, Jacqueline, Amanda and Jeremiah.