<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">A serious adrenaline rush hits once a college coach such as Billy Donovan receives an outrageous financial offer from the NBA. Michigan State's Tom Izzo remembers the feeling well. It was seven years ago, he had just won a national championship, and the Hawks were offering $16.1 million for five years, about three times what he was making. "There is a rush," Izzo recalled. "You never thought in your life you'd be in a position like that. You're one contract signing from taking care of your family forever. "You'll be coaching at the highest level. It is the top of your profession. People will say you're hired to be fired (in pro sports), but it's mostly guaranteed money, so you're going to get paid. The risk of going is great, but the reward is pretty good. "Anybody who says they wouldn't take a job for money, that's a lie. You have to factor it in if it's a ridiculous amount. (The money) did make me waver, it did have an effect on me. It's a nice thing to say that you wouldn't, but 99.9 percent of the people in the world would do something for the money." Izzo handled his situation with the Hawks better than Donovan has with the Magic. Donovan signed a five-year, $27.5 million contract with the Magic on Thursday, only to change his mind Saturday. He is expected to return to Florida -- where he has won two straight national titles -- once the contract issues are resolved. Izzo returned home to East Lansing and took a day to consider the Hawks' offer before turning it down.</div> Source: The Detroit News
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Izzo handled his situation with the Hawks better than Donovan has with the Magic.</div> That pretty much says it all. I guess I'm in the minority, but I think that college is the top level for a coach, if you're at a major program like Florida or Michigan State at least. In the pro's you're not going to get your own fan section, you're not going the job security, and most of all, you're not going to get the fulfillment that comes with playing an intrical part in the lives of the young players who enter as freshman in need of guidance in life and leave as men. Forget guys like Kevin Durant and Greg Oden; a college job is as valuable as it is because of the guys like Kelvin Torbert and Lee Humphrey (opposed to premadonnas like Kobe Bryant). Well, that and the million intangibles that go along with living in a college town.
