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Michigan State football unveil new Mat Ishbia-funded building: 'It looks like a spaceship'

EAST LANSING — That sound you heard from the new Tom Izzo Football Building on Wednesday came from the new locker room.

A cathartic celebratory caterwaul of Michigan State football players getting their first glimpses of a high-tech extravaganza of LED lights, a booming sound system, loads of storage space already filled with fresh gear and a glowing green padded seat at every stall.

“It looks like a spaceship,” sophomore defensive back Dillon Tatum gushed after Thursday’s opening practice of preseason camp. “For real, though, it's sweet.”

Yet for coach Mel Tucker, revealing the first phase of the new football building funded by megadonor Mat Ishbia meant much more than completion of one circle he began the day he took over for Mark Dantonio in February of 2020.