Here we go again.

For the past 10 years, the only thing more predictable than Izzo making the Final Four about every other season is his name being thrown into the mix as a candidate for every high-profile coaching job in the country. Less than two months ago, it was reported Izzo was offered the largest contract in NCAA basketball history with Oregon, and at the end of the 2008-09 season, MSU faithful were fretting that the future hall of fame coach would be leaving the frigid winter weather of East Lansing for the always sunny Arizona.

This isn’t the first time the NBA has come calling either, as the Atlanta Hawks offered Izzo a five-year, $15 million deal the summer after MSU’s 2000 National Championship.

So, if no school or franchise has been able to lure the Iron Mountain, Mich. native away from Spartan Country before, why would this time be any different?

Well, to answer my own question in the simplest way I can — it won’t.

Money makes the world go round, and for most coaches, it’s also the determining factor in where they want to work. However, if Izzo is waiting for someone to offer him the right price, then he must have some very high demands.

According to the Detroit News, Izzo makes about $2.5 million per year, plus performance incentives. Kentucky head coach John Calipari brings in just a shade under $4 million, making him the highest paid college coach in the country.

If Oregon was serious about giving Izzo a contract even bigger than Calipari’s, that would mean at least a 60 percent pay increase for the MSU head coach.

It’s not known what Izzo would make if he did indeed bolt for Cleveland, but I can’t imagine it would be more than the $4.5 million Brown was supposed to earn next season, meaning he could have made just as much, if not more, by going to Oregon to coach the college game he knows so well.

Putting financials aside, just looking at the situation in which the Cavaliers find themselves right now should be enough to alleviate any Spartans fans’ worries about Izzo bolting for Cleveland. Although nothing is certain, many NBA experts believe LeBron James, arguably the best player in the league, has played his last game as a Cavalier. If that is the case, Cleveland is a team left with a pretty bare closet; no superstars, no player to build a team around, nothing.

Izzo has gone on record saying the challenge of the NBA is something that interests him, but coaching for the Cavs would be more of a suicide mission than a challenge. Cleveland is not the type of place that will draw in blockbuster free agents with its grandeur or nightlife, so chances are Izzo would not have much to work with next season without James. Even the most successful college coaches have struggled in the NBA, and going to Cleveland would just be setting Izzo up to fail like so many before him.

If James does decide to remain a Cavalier, the organization has shown whose team it will be, and it won’t be Izzo’s. With the firing of Brown despite winning 127 games in the past two seasons and being named NBA Coach of the Year last year, Cleveland made it clear that if LeBron doesn’t like you, then you’re gone. I highly doubt Izzo would be on board with letting one player control most aspects of the team, when he is without question the top dog and has complete control over his program in East Lansing.

Speaking of being the top dog, Izzo has set himself up for a chance to be one of the best college coaches of all time, and leaving the college game could put an end to that. With six Final Fours in the last 12 years and a national championship under his belt, Izzo is already talked about as possibly the best active coach in the country. However, another national championship or two while continuing to dominate the Big Ten Conference and Izzo could approach best of all time status.

In spite of all the reasons for Izzo to stay, he will be talked about for the Cleveland job and probably almost every other job to open up in the future. As MSU athletic director Mark Hollis told The Associated Press in March, that’s “part of the deal when you have the best college basketball coach in the country.”

But fortunately for MSU fans everywhere, the right job hasn’t become available for Izzo to leave. Don’t be surprised if it never does.

Jeremy Warnemuende is a State News sports reporter, he can be reached at warnemu3@msu.edu