Say No To Izzo

As John Paxson begins his search for a new coach to replace Jim Boylan, he's already had talks with Rick Carlisle, an interesting name has popped up as a possible candidate for the job. According to Yahoo! (musn't forget the exclamation point!) Sports, Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo has emerged as somebody the Bulls are interested in.

When reached on Tuesday night, Izzo told Yahoo! Sports that he hadn’t been contacted by the Bulls, but sounded willing to discuss the job with them.

“I’m not counting out any (job openings) because you can’t,” Izzo said. “College or pro.

“I go back and forth on (coaching in the NBA),” he continued. “I still think it’s the ultimate level. There is something about it. I look at it and say, ‘It’s a real challenge.’ But I love what I do too. I go down and look at what the Pistons (coaches) do in preparation and I think, ‘That’s insane.’

“But I look at what I do in terms of recruiting and I think, ‘That’s insane.’ ”

Let me make this is as clear as I possibly can, just in case John Paxson happens across The Balls in the next few hours: NO.

Tom Izzo is a fantastic college basketball coach that has done wonderful things in his time at Michigan State. Though I'm trained to hate the Spartans thanks to their rivalry with the Illini, I have all the respect in the world for Tom Izzo. That doesn't mean I want him anywhere near the Bulls.

Have NBA general managers not learned their lesson yet? Have they not seen what happens when college coaches try to adjust to the NBA?

I mean, Paxson need not look past the very organization he works for to find an example. Do you remember Tim Floyd, whom Jerry Krause hired out of Iowa State to take over after firing Phil Jackson, or have you repressed all the memories from those dark years in Bulls history?

If you've forgotten Floyd, maybe you remember Rick Pitino in Boston. Or John Calipari in New Jersey. Illinois' own Lon Kruger in Atlanta?

All of them failed.

There's a huge difference in trying to mold young impressionable 18-year old college students into what you want them to do than it is to mold young multi-millionaire 18-year olds in the NBA. It's an adjustment that most college coaches can't make.

Now maybe Izzo is the one college coach that would be able to make the adjustment, but frankly, I'm not interested in any experiments right now. I want a coach who I know can already do the job. So please, say no to Izzo.