For 20 years Boylen has toiled as an assistant, mostly under Heathcote, Tomjanovich and Izzo. So he has had a lot of time to develop his own coaching style; he has different styles to blend.

"He's coached a million games," Izzo said of Boylen. "Seriously, he's coached 1,200 NBA games and that helps. Also, he waited to get his shot. So he's been able to say, 'I want to be like him in this way, and I want to be like him in this way.' You pick different things you like from people you work for, and that's the advantage of having some experience."

Boylen's demeanor is typically friendly and upbeat. He was very active in MSU's practices, handling the technical aspects of installing game plans while Izzo held players accountable in his vocal, demanding way.

When a player needed a word of encouragement to offset the admonishments, Boylen often provided it. Of course, that's exactly what Izzo used to do back when Heathcote was in charge — and Boylen lived in Izzo's guest room.

"The head coach is definitely the bad cop most of the time, the role of the assistants is more encouraging," Neitzel said. "That patience, coach Boylen kind of brought a different demeanor and helped keep things calm at times. But I think he'll be a great college coach. You may not have seen it a lot in practice, but he can definitely be demanding and get on guys."

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E-mail: jrexrode@lsj.com