Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo coaching the Cleveland Cavaliers, Lebron-less or not, would be about as weird as having Rampage Jackson playing Mr. T's part as a member of the A-team, wait that's really happening. Let's consider how other college coaches have faired when they took NBA head coaching jobs.
Mike montgomery coached Stanford for 18 years and Montana for 8 years, compiling a 547-244 record along the way and leading Stanford to the NCAA tournament ten straight times from 1995-2004. In 2004, Montgomery was hired by the Golden State Warriors. During his two year tenure with Golden State, the team went 34-48 both years. He is now currently the head coach at the University of California.
John Calipari had a successful tenure at the University of Massachusetts from 1988-1996. He was hired by the Nets for the 1996-1997 season. The Nets reached the playoffs in 1998, where they were swept by the Chicago Bulls. Calipari was fired during the beginning of the 1998-1999 season after the Nets went 3-17.
Rick Pitino was a successful college coach at Providence and Boston University before taking his first NBA job in 1987 with the New York Knicks. In just two years, he led the Knicks to a division title. However, this success is not representative of his adventure in NBA coaching. He compiled a 102-146 record from 1997 to 2001 with the Boston Celtics, his time there deemed a failure. However, Pitino was a very successful coach at the University of Kentucky and is currently head coach at Louisville.
Did any of these coaches really succeed in the NBA? You could argue Calipari's playoff appearance or Pitino's division title is considered successful. But, not really. In my eyes a successful NBA coach needs to have multiple winning seasons, along with sustained post season success. Neither Calipari, Pitono, nor Montgomery accomplished this.
The reason there has been limited success is obvious: the responsibilities of a college coaching job and NBA coaching job are completely different.
For a college coach, he has all of his players living on a close-knit campus where it is difficult to get in trouble -Tyler Smith, you're just unlucky. He doesn't have to worry about contract disputes, free agency, or the media on the same scale as the NBA. Rather than a long 82 game season where teams travel around the country, a college coach can easily manage a schedule of about 30 games where you play most of your games within a single conference, although there sometimes are out of conference opponents on opposite sides of the country.
College coaches do play a larger role in games than do NBA coaches. They often call set plays from the sidelines- sorry Mike Brown no ISO Lebron- and actually teach their players to defend. Clearly the college game is more of a team-oriented game. Most of this stems from the fact that most college basketball players do not have the egos of NBA players. Because of this, they're more willing to work with their teammates. Regardless of whether you have a John Wall or Derrick Rose-like talent, no one is going to put up 40 shots in a college game, it won't happen. There isn't going to be one player who can completely take over a game like players often do in the NBA. Although, if Lebron would have gone to college, i'm pretty sure he would have dropped 70 at least three times.
Whether it's the fact that college coaches are perfectionists and take pride in the fact that they can control all aspects of their team on and off the court or that they can't handle NBA personalities and the media, successful college coaches have not faired likewise in the NBA. Think Tom Izzo has thought about this?
Tom Izzo has turned Michigan State into a college basketball power house, leading the Spartans to six final fours and six Big Ten championships in his first 15 years as well as winning a national championship in 2000. What's even more impressive is that he hasn't had the talent that John Calipari or Rick Pitino get every year at their respective programs. His teams have won because they are fundamentally sound and tenacious on defense, not because there are 10 Mcdonald's All-Americans on the Spartans' rosters.
So why should he leave Michigan State? What if he goes to Cleveland and Lebron flees? Would he able to make the playoffs with a Cleveland Cavaliers team where Mo Williams is the go-to scorer? no. If Pitino and Calipari couldn't, Izzo probably can't either. If Mikhail Prokhorov lures Lebron to Newark, which I'm 99 percent sure will happen, Izzo should stay in East Lansing.
If the king stays in Cleveland, then it is a different story. With Lebron, you are guaranteed a top playoff seed and you won't even really have to coach. If Lebron stays, Izzo should take the Cavs head coaching job, its a no-brainer, despite the fact i will miss Izzo in March.
Because we still have about two and a half weeks until the NBA free agency period, i advise Izzo to weigh his options. Who else is on the market for Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to hire? Phil Jackson isn't walking through that door and Byron Scott is not particularly enticing. Izzo should wait for free agency.
Coach Izzo, you should remember one important thing: a ring won't come without the king.
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