From Spartans to Cavaliers?

Rumors have it Michigan State's basketball coach Tom Izzo has been offered a job from the Cleveland Cavaliers. Izzo has been incredibly successful in his tenure at Michigan State. Since 1995, Izzo has been to six Final Fours, six Big Ten Championships, and won the National Championship in 2000. He also got his ass handed to him in the NCAA Finals by the best team in the world (North Carolina Tarheels) in the 2008-2009 basketball season.


Hiring college coaches to NBA positions can be a very risky maneuver by GM's because the college game is so far from the NBA game. Most of the time, the best college coaches are simply the best recruiters. When John Calipari was linked to the NBA, I was strongly against it, because Calipari is nothing but a recruiter. There are a select few in the College game (Izzo, Williams, Krzyzewski, Boeheim) who are amazing coaches. They set up dominant programs as opposed to coaches who can just have a great year due to great recruiting classes (Calipari, Donovan). With that being said, it would be very hard for Izzo to leave Michigan State this year. With the returning class Izzo has, the Spartans have a great chance of winning a National Title. Returning players like Kalin Lucas and Raymar Morgan would make it very hard for Izzo to leave.

In Izzo's current deal at Michigan State he's making 3 million a year so the Cavs will certainly have to offer him more than that. However, I think they'll also have to offer a certain player by the name of Lebron James (ever heard of him?). No way Izzo comes to Cleveland without a guarantee Lebron is coming back. He's in such a good place at Michigan State there's no way he would leave to go to a rebuilding team in the NBA.

In the end, I think Izzo stays in Michigan State, but it still makes it interesting with these rumors circulating.