As a sports fan in general and a basketball fan in particular, I have been reading the saga of Billy Donovan with interest. Mr. Donovan, head coach at the University of Florida accepted a job with the Orlando Magic of the NBA at a salary of $5.5 million per year for five years. His contract with the university would’ve paid him $3 million per year over the same time period. Then Mr. Donovan had a change of heart, wants to switch gears and go back to his old team. If you do the math he is leaving $12.5 million on the table by going back to college coaching. Apparently, after dumping the university he had a change of heart and wants to go back to the old flame.

Being a humble public school employee I can’t even wrap my mind around the idea of $25.5 million dollars, an amount that would fund a public school education for thousands of students for a year or pay the salary of hundreds of teachers. This would probably be my equivalent of giving up $20,000 a year. I can understand Billy’s emotions. There is not a single job in my professional career that I have left that I didn’t feel sadness and regret at leaving. Not one. In that I feel very lucky. Never have I had to grouse about my job or dread going to work.

It sounds like Billy’s head and heart came into conflict and I can relate a little with that, albeit on a different stratosphere of the financial spectrum. He is giving up a huge pile of money even though he won’t exactly be a pauper at only $3 million per year. What is the lifestyle difference between $3 million and $5.5 million anyway?

What do you do when you have a job you love that does not reward you financially as well as a prospective new job, but is one you truly love? You have a responsibility to your kids and family to be financially prudent and maximize your income to the greatest extent possible, but there is something to be said for following your heart….both in love and in your career. So far in my career I’ve been able to fall in love with every job I’ve had (of couse, Joan thinks I fall in love with every woman too!). So I know that I can be happy in more than one place. Right now I’m floating around in the educational ether without assignment, ready to fall in love with yet another job. At this point I don’t have to answer the question….

At what price happiness?