Izzo and Oregon= One Word...Why?

Not to get on our soapbox or anything, but has anyone else seen the "Oregon interested in Izzo story that is making the rounds today? Yes, KEZI-TV in Eugene, Oregon is saying that "Sources tell them that Phil Knight of Nike will enable Oregon to offer current Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo the largest contract in College Basketball."

We give you KEZI's original story RIGHT HERE

Ordinarily we would say this is the point that we call B.S. However, we don't doubt that Knight would be willing to dole out whatever the school needed to draw in a big name coach. No, what we don't believe...for even a minute...is that Izzo would take the job.

((Tom Izzo Coaches//Courtesy: seattletimes.com))

Why? Why would he leave one of the near "Elite" programs, a program that he has put in back-to back Final 4's for a job at Oregon? Sure, in this day and age "Money Talks"...but come on...talk about ruining your credibility.

What bothers us about all of this is part of the story was gleamed off of source information who confirmed that Izzo's name is on a list provided by a search firm. So are probably 25 other head coaches, none of whom are guaranteed a shot at the job.

Izzo, to his credit downplayed the whole thing, telling the 4-letter word that "He's not been contacted." In a lot of Coaching instances, that may mean that "He" may not have been, but it doesn't normally say anything about his intermediaries.

Check out Izzo's comments to Sportscenter this morning RIGHT HERE

Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free-Press added his 2-cents RIGHT HERE

It really concerns us that at the college level both schools and reporters have no problem just randomly throwing people's names out for jobs. We have been on record a lot about how absolutely hypocritical and unfair the whole coaching carousel is to players and we will reiterate that. There should be a rule...a hard and fast one at that stating "No school can have any contact with a coach until there season comes to an end" period. We aren't saying that is the case here, we don't believe for a minute that Izzo would go to Oregon. However the folks in Eugene appear to be delusional enough to think that they will just by a "Big Name" coach and be successful. Yeah, right...good luck with that one guys.

Here is the original report from KEZI-TV...
Steve Andress got to sit at the adult table...