He obviously likes a challenge, Talent pool is much deeper, Not playing 3rd fiddle to Urban & Harbaugh, LA > East Lansing.
Nobody with half a brain would pick Mich St as a job over USC. But i'm just spitballing, he's not even on their radar.
He and the team feed off the 'chip on your shoulder' stuff...we always play better if some slight/disrespect has been granted. He would have never taken a job at MSU in the first place if he had a problem fighting his way to the big boy table with OSU and being constantly slighted by Michigan. We weren't just second fiddle to OSU, ND and UM, we were behind Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisky, Northwestern even when he took the job.
Talent pool is far deeper in Cali, and LA>>>>>EL by 100000000x's, the mayor of East Lansing would tell you this lol. LA is actually my favorite city in the US. But he's not a big city, Hollywood type of cat, he's like Izzo, small town, Midwestern cat.
Again, with that said he'd kill at USC, but y'all don't need a quiet, stern Ohio guy, y'all need a big personality, Pete Carroll, Hollywood type of dude to come.