In college hoops, the coach can be the program, and everything revolves around him.
In pro hoops, the star players with the big contracts can hold the program hostage, and coaches last about as long as elementary school kids' sneakers.
So why is Tom Izzo thinking of going to the NBA? If he goes, he should make sure that his contract is bigger and longer than that of any player. Otherwise, he, too, can be toast in two years (if the madness of it all doesn't drive him to the insane asylum before that). And he won't get that big a contract, if for no other reason than no matter how good the coach, if you don't have the players you just cannot win.
Is he bored at Michigan State? Is LeBron James the basketball Siren that will cause him to dash himself on the rocks that are littered with the detritus of the coaching careers of many a good coach? Will LeBron stay for Coach Izzo/
Has he talked with Rick Pitino or John Calipari, both of whom failed miserably in the NBA, or even Coach K, who has turned down suitors before? If not, he should.
Good luck, Coach Izzo, but remember this, you are a basketball coach, not a magician.
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Should he go to the NBA Izzo will have absolutely no trouble landing a premier college coaching position when the time runs out of his hourglass in Cleveland, as it almost certainly will. At that point a new school and a new challenge might well be rejuvenating, and he'll certainly have plenty of "bank" to tide him over.
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