Izzo is coming back to Michigan State

It seems like the coaching carousel speeds up every year, doesn't it?

It doesn't matter if you are coaching a lowly D1 school or the NBA's Eastern Conference champion. If a disappointing finish to a season gets pinned on you as a coach, then odds are good you will be needing to update your resume.

How often does a coach become forever associated with one team? Coach K will forever be an icon at Duke. Jim Boeheim is the flag-bearer for the Syracuse basketball program. Jim Calhoun and Lute Olson well forever be known as the men that made Storrs and Tucson, respectively, college hoops hotspots.

And despite taking over for a legend in his own right, Jud Heathcote, Tom Izzo's name will forever be intertwined with Spartan basketball.

You think Izzo's players are happy he's coming back to East Lansing?
(photo credit: MLive)

That's what happens when you lead a team to six Final Fours and a national championship over the course of 12 years.

That's what happens when you build an empire based on doing things the right way -- by working hard without the cheating.

That's why we were all so relieved to hear Tom Izzo say the words "I'm going to be a lifer" at a press conference last night to announce his decision to decline the offer to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Because we already knew Izzo was a lifer.

Its not difficult to see why this was such a tough decision for Izzo. Its not a secret that the man is fed up with the process of selling talented 17- and 18-year-old primadonnas on the virtues of playing at Michigan State. With the recruiting landscape getting dirtier by the day, and the cheaters becoming more prevalent and more daring, I've never seen Izzo's name mentioned in conjunction with a scandal or a recruiting violation. Given the opportunity to coach in the NBA -- something he has always wanted to do -- and possibly coach the most talented player in the world, leaving behind the agents and the runners and the handlers probably didn't seem like a bad option.

Remember, this is a man that has always wanted to coach in the NBA.

Not because of a pay increase. Not because of the prestige. No, he wanted to make the jump to prove that its possible for a college coach to succeed in the NBA. He wanted to make the jump because his life wouldn't be centered around wooing a teenager and that teenager's inner circle. In the NBA, it would have been all basketball, all the time. He didn't need to get involved with the front office if he didn't want to.

But without a guarantee from -- or even a conversation with -- LeBron James, jumping to the NBA didn't make sense.

So Izzo decided to return to East Lansing, a place where thousands of students chanted his name during an on-campus rally. A place where "We Love Izzo" signs began popping up all over town. Izzo is arguably the most popular man in the state of Michigan. Izzo is Michigan State basketball.

This may have been Izzo's last chance to get to the NBA. When discussing his future, he has always said things like "never say never." At the presser yesterday, Izzo said "I'm pleased to say I am here for life at Michigan State."

I get the feeling he means it.

And while he may never get the chance to fulfill his dream of coaching in the NBA, he can spend the rest of his career overseeing a program that has become one of the top five in the country on a campus, town, and state that adores him.

Not a bad consolation prize.