| | Associated Press
EAST LANSING, Mich. -- Michigan State coach Tom
Izzo likely will receive a seven-year contract worth $1.1 million a
year, part of his reward for leading the Spartans to the NCAA
championship.
The deal would boost Izzo's annual base salary of $195,000 to
$267,000, Fred Poston, Michigan State University's vice president
for finance and operations, told the Lansing State Journal in a
story published Thursday.
Other incentives yet to be completed, including a shoe deal and
television and radio contracts, would push the package to $1.1
million, Poston said. Izzo's current contract is worth about
$725,000.
"We're very, very close," Terry Denbow, an MSU spokesman, said
Thursday. He said the contract may be concluded in the next several
days.
MSU officials began reworking Izzo's pay formula after he led
the Spartans to the NCAA title on April 3. It was the school's
first national crown since 1979.
Though the new deal hasn't been signed, the two sides have
agreed in principle to a package that would put Izzo among the
game's best-paid coaches, Poston said.
MSU Board of Trustees Chairman Bob Traxler said he was torn over
Izzo's raise. He said coaching salaries are getting out of control,
but MSU must compete to get the best.
"I don't think we can buck the free market," he told the State
Journal. "The most popular person in the state of Michigan at this
moment is Tom Izzo -- and deservedly so."
Izzo was out of town recruiting Wednesday but said in a
statement:
"This university has done a lot for Tom Izzo . . . I am
grateful for the support that I and the program have received."
The coach's current five-year contract extends through 2004.
Izzo would keep a postseason performance bonus structure that
pays him for success in the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments, Poston
said. This season it was worth $175,500.
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