15
Jun
2010
0
 comm

Tom Izzo Turns Down the Cavs: Life Lessons Learned

Posted by Adam Gomez

Spur of the moment, off the cuff.

I’m a Michigan State graduate. I’ve been to every home football game in the last 15 years or so. Watched every basketball game in that time as well. And I’m happy tonight! Tom Izzo has turned down the Cleveland Cavaliers. He will stay as the coach of the Michigan State Spartans, “for life”, as he puts it.

So what the heck does this have to do with personal finance? Well, personal finance spills over into so many different areas of life. Your career, health, family, quality of life, goals….. basically all aspects of your life are intertwined with personal finance in one way or another.

The Izzo Story

Tom Izzo has been the Michigan State basketball coach for 15 years. He’s been to 6 final fours. He grew up and went to college in the state of Michigan.

9 days ago, Coach Izzo was offered an opportunity to double his income from $3 million per year to $6 million per year (guaranteed for 5 years) to be the coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was offered an opportunity to probably coach one of the best players, if not the best, in the NBA. He was offered a shiny new opportunity and had a chance to immediately win an NBA title and be one of two coaches in history to win a championship at both the college and professional level.

He took 9 days to make his decision, and took a whole bunch of grief for it in the media (and from me).

Now, I realize that he has it good in his current job, and a lot of people won’t be able to relate to this. But where I’m going with this is that every one of us has or will be offered ’shiny new opportunities’, more money, more fame, more power, more perks.

The grass is almost always greener on the other side. And what I’ve learned thus far is that new opportunities frequently cross your path that will pull at you. And the money may be better. A lot better. But money and glitz is not everything. There is a whole lot more to life than that. And ultimately, your happiness, your satisfaction, your quality of life will be tested.

I’ve heard so many people jump from one job to the next, one city to the next, one relationship to the next, only to realize later on that the grass was simply greener and the move was one made for the wrong reasons.

So what can we all learn from Coach Izzo?

  1. Money isn’t everything. Turning down a 100% salary increase takes a a lot of guts and money should never be the only factor you consider.
  2. Sometimes all you need is right in front of you. You have to find happiness within.
  3. Don’t make hasty decisions. Take your time, and do it on your terms. Izzo took 9 days, despite the media and fan circus and pressures from both parties.

Life is more than the next opportunity. Enjoy the one you’ve got.

Similar Posts:

Share
« »


Post comment

RSS not configured