Thomas Kelley returning to Michigan State as men's basketball assistant coach

East Lansing — Thomas Kelley is coming back to Michigan State.

The former Spartan guard and one-time graduate assistant was named an assistant coach on Friday, rejoining Tom Izzo’s staff by replacing longtime assistant Dwayne Stephens, who was named the head coach at Western Michigan in April.

Kelley spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach at Western Michigan after three years as a graduate assistant at Michigan State. He was retained by Stephens when Stephens landed the Broncos job but Kelley will now rejoin the Spartans’ staff.

“It’s always been a thrill for me when I can bring a former player back to Michigan State and that’s definitely the case with Thomas coming back as an assistant on my staff,” Izzo said in a statement. “I’ve known Thomas for nearly 30 years, from recruiting him, coaching him and then having him on my staff when he started his career.

“He was a player on my first Final Four team here and when he came back as a graduate assistant in 2015, you could tell from the jump that he was going to be a great coach, from his work on film, his work on the floor with the team and his ability to communicate with the players. I always thought he’d be a terrific coach and he was able to grow and learn more during his time at Western Michigan. It’s great to have him back with his Spartan family.”

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Kelley, a Grand Rapids native, played for the Spartans from 1994-99 and helped the Spartans reach the Final Four in his final season. He then played 15 seasons as a professional in Holland, Israel, Turkey, Austria, Hungary and Finland.

In 2015-16, Kelley returned to Michigan State as a graduate assistant and helped the Spartans win two Big Ten championships while reaching the NCAA Tournament in all three seasons. At Western Michigan, six Broncos earned Mid-American Conference recognition and 13 earned Academic All-MAC recognition.

mcharboneau@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @mattcharboneau