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On Tuesday, Tom Izzo and the basketball team were dealing with the dismissal of Chris Allen. Almost 24 hours later, fans were basking in the news that five-star recruit Branden Dawson announced he was planning to play in East Lansing.

Izzo is here for his 16th season as head coach, his 28th at the school, and on this day, there’s no hint of the furor that recently subsided, and no place he’d rather be.

Tommy Izzo reminds me of these coaches I’ve admired through my years on active duty in sports journalism and now on the sidelines. But he reminds me mostly of another coach, who stayed, remained loyal, did not flit from job to job.

Former Lions coach Steve Mariucci told Tom Izzo that he could not make a bad choice between Michigan State and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

It’s only June, so Izzo has plenty of time to recover from an eventful offseason. But his roster has enough talent to cause some experts to predict Izzo will win his second national title.

Let’s imagine things had turned out differently Tuesday at Michigan State. Michigan State today would have been looking for a new basketball coach. And everyone would have wondered if one of Tom Izzo’s old assistants or new blood would have been on a short list of possible replacements.

Izzo’s decision to pass on a reported five-year, $30 million offer from the Cleveland Cavaliers clearly involved a lot more factors than cash.

The coach answers questions from the media about his decision to stay at Michigan State.

It was enticing and agonizing, no doubt about it. And in the end for Tom Izzo, it was enlightening. His nine-day exploration ultimately became something else, and it brought Izzo right back where he began, where he has been for the past 27 years. He’s staying at Michigan State instead of leaping to the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, and he says he’s turning a once-in-a-lifetime chance into a last-in-a-lifetime chance.

To appreciate how different Tuesday night was for the Spartans, think back to the times at MSU when a press conference was called because an important coach was leaving.