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The Izzometer
The Izzometer
Jim Meadows
Published by Swampy Meadows
11-18-2010
The Izzometer

BEVERLY HILLS (MI) -- The news out of East Lansing today that MSU had given the Spartans’ basketball Jedi Master Tom Izzo a $500K raise and added in some perks (like 25 hours personal use per year of a private jet) should be perceived as very welcome news to Flyer Fans.

Linky goodness:

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebask...year-in-salary

After weeks of agita worrying about the domino-effect of an Izzo-to-Cavs- BG-to-MSU move last spring, it’s nice to know that UD fans won’t have to go thru that ordeal again for a while.

Can you define “a while” for us, smart guy?

Sure. How about seven years?

Why seven? Because TI has a seven year, rolling contract which renews with a new year tacked on annually. Izzo will turn 56 in January. Seven years will take him to age 63. He and Lupe can ride off into the sunset at that point and never look back.

So what does all of this have to do with Flyer basketball?

Plenty.

It means that the needle on “The Izzometer” has now started to tilt in the direction that would result in Brian Gregory remaining at the University of Dayton for a very long time.

How long?

Let me put it this way: longer than seven years.

Okay, so what the heck is “The Izzometer” and how does it work?

It’s very simple. On the left side of the dial you have Brian Gregory; at the other end you have MSU Associate Head Coach Mark Montgomery.

BG is in his 8th season as Head Dude at UD. He was an Assistant Coach at MSU for a total of nine years over two tours of duty, serving under both Jud Heathcote and Izzo.

Montgomery has been on TI’s staff for ten years, the last four as Associate Head Coach. He played his college ball at MSU. He married a fellow MSU grad, who happened to have been a HS softball teammate of the Younger Swampette.

Despite all of that, last spring the needle on “The Izzometer” was leaning decidedly to the left. Had Izzo departed to coach the LeBron-less Cavs, the general consensus was that Brian Gregory and not Mark Montgomery would be named to replace him in East Lansing.

Today’s news changes all of that.

The indicator on “The Izzometer” right now is somewhere in the middle. And every year that TI remains at MSU it will gravitate a little bit more to the right.

Take it out the full seven years and the needle will be buried to the right -- the position will be Mark Montgomery’s for the asking. He will have been at MSU for seventeen years. How could the university not give him the job?

And BG? He will have been at UD for fifteen years at that point. He will be even more firmly established in the Dayton community, as will his family. Never underestimate the power of two (by then) teenage daughters! Hopefully, by then UD will be his dream job and not MSU.

More importantly, BG will be fifteen years removed from any direct association with Sparty. Realistically speaking, how does Izzo look Montgomery in the eye and tell him “thanks for the seventeen years, Mark, but we’re bringing back a guy who hasn’t been here for fifteen seasons.”

Never. Gonna. Happen.

And to those who would say, “But Montgomery won’t have had any experience as a Head Coach…doesn’t that favor BG?”

Neither did Izzo back in 1995 when Jud hand-picked TI as his successor.

The news out of East Lansing today that MSU had given the Spartans’ basketball Jedi Master Tom Izzo a $500K raise should be perceived as very welcome news to Flyer Fans.

Very welcome news indeed!

That’s it “From the Swamp.”
You can email me at: swampy@udpride.com
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  #1  
By stargeneral on 11-19-2010, 09:19 AM
Very interesting. Good read swampy. Lets hope in 7 years UD will be a bigger program than msu anyway :P
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  #2  
By tirebiter on 11-19-2010, 10:22 PM
I have always had the feeling that UD is BG's dream job, or would evolve into it. I think he would be more happy with a Donoher/Blackburn legacy instead of the Calipari type insatiable climb up some glitzy "ladder" of success. Success is in the heart and soul with BG.

I think BG is a family man, and UD is a great family.
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