In response to people’s accusations that men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo’s pay raise is unnecessary (“Izzo paid too much during tough times,” SN 11/12), it is obvious this person and many others do not understand how important Tom Izzo is to this university.

You don’t have to be a basketball fan to appreciate this or even reap his benefits. Say the university invests - keyword invests - $500,000 a year in Izzo. Being one of the top coaches in the NCAA, we will say he makes the Final Four every other year. The university gains money just from the Spartans being there.

On top of that, more shirts are sold on Grand River Avenue. More students are employed at Steve & Barry’s University Sportswear. Breslin Center sells out for the next decade. More high school students hear about MSU and come here. Better athletes come here. More sports go to championship games, more money is brought in, and the cycle continues.

And for the reader to say the athletes are “pampered (and) unintelligent” is very unintelligent in itself. Someone obviously does not understand how smart and dedicated one has to be to play a sport at the collegiate level.

If The State News, the Psychology Department or Little Caesar’s in the Union brought in millions upon millions of dollars a year they would get the same treatment. I may not be a fan of Izzo or the program, and maybe sometimes I share the same frustrating feelings as others, but when you break it down, investing money in him helps every person on campus.

Peter Antoncic
interdisciplinary studies in social science and psychology senior