Marquette fires Steve Wojciechowski; Possible Beilein destination?
Per the school. https://twitter.com/marquettembb/status/1372965565871063048?s=21
Would seem to check all of the Beilein boxes, and would not be in direct competition with Michigan. Would be a return to the Big East in a place more ready for success than DePaul.
Great fit. Could win big if he gets the players but doesn’t have to quite deal with the same pressure as Indiana.
It's looking like IU might actually get Brad Stevens. Vegas pulled his name.
Why would he leave the Boston freaking Celtics to go to Indiana? Is he going to get fired?
Indiana boy through and through. They will probably pay him 10M/yr.
I didn't think he would (or should) leave the Celtics, but much to my delight they've been having a really disappointing season. Although they are an organization that tends to treat their players as commodities instead of build-around stars and overrates the importance of smarter-than-you GMs all while getting a perpetual free pass from the ESPN set that has heavy New England roots*, at some point push may come to shove and if they want to shake things up they need Jayson Tatum more than they need Brad Stevens.
* - it's possible I may be less than objective when it comes to the Celtics
Stevens announced this afternoon that he is not leaving Boston, and referred to himself as a "Masshole". Will not consider the IU job.
He’s expressed an affinity for Catholic schools, being Catholic himself
That's great.
I also was wondering how many Catholic universities made the tournament this year. The year we were in the final 4, I think 3 teams (minus Michigan of course) were Catholic schools.
EDIT: Sorry, looked it up, Kansas was the team that lost to Villanova that year, so only 2 out of the 4 teams. But still, maybe a good lent, a blessing from the pope, divine intervention, something can help teams get further.
Didn't work for our Catholic football coach....
As for Catholic universities with bball teams, there really are a lot of them. In this year's tourney are:
Gonzaga, Creighton, St Bonaventure, Georgetown, Iona, Loyola Chicago, and Villanova.
Other big names are notre dame (duh), Xavier, St Mary's (just about St. anyone, really), St John's, Marquette, Dayton, Seton Hall, St Louis, DePaul (largest Catholic university in the country, by the way)
Basically the whole of the Big East, minus UConn, also BC.
Also Butler in the Big East isn't a Catholic institution.
But as mentioned, the West Coast Conference -- Gonzaga's league -- consists of all private faith-based schools.
Catholic schools -- Gonzaga, Loyola Marymount, San Francisco, Santa Clara (all 4 Jesuit), San Diego, Portland and St. Mary's
Pepperdine is affiliated with Churches of Christ, BYU (LDS) and Pacific (United Methodist)
Conference is on the rise in basketball. Gonzaga being good is really elevating the rest of the conference slowly but surely
If Beilein took the Indiana or Minnesota jobs, he would be the first former UM head coach in any of the four major sports to be a HC at another conference school after leaving Michigan, at least dating back a century.
I would imagine he would prefer a small school team with a decent history and support, like a Marquette, vs having to be in say Indiana and everything that goes with that. This one sounds like a winner for him.
Now, about DC/DL Coaches:
I would like this more than BeileIndiana.
I think it's funny that if Beilein ends up at either Indiana or Marquette, he will be coaching either DJ Carton or Khristian Lander, both of whom are 5-star PGs that we barely missed out on
So why would someone who is 68 years old want to rejoin the grind of big time basketball? Someone will need to explain this to me.
Because he likes it?
Some guys don't want to retire.
Not only 68 years old, but has earned enough money to be comfortable for the rest of his life, a vacation home in northern Michigan, and an opportunity to be a college basketball sportscaster where he can stay in touch with the game without the pressure of being a coach.
You may think that's fantastic, but he may not. He may simply want to continue doing what he's done for 40 years - coaching. That's his life. If he wants to keep up at that, bully for him.
I don't get that, either. I also don't get why a high D1 school with pressure to win, etc., would hire a 68-year-old coach, even a great one.
As far as Beilein is concerned, yeah, I can see why he'd want to stay involved in the game. If he really wanted to coach, he could do it at a different level. I really wish the NBA had worked out better for him.
I could see him taking a lower level job to get Patrick on his staff, and rehabilitate his career, maybe back home in Western New York. If the coach at St. Bonaventure leaves, that would seem like a fit. Basically what Dick Bennett did at WSU and Dr. Tom at Drake.
Olean is an awful town in an awful area of the country. That hour and a half to Buffalo from there feels like a lifetime.
the guy has been coaching for 45 years. a basketball coach is what he is. AND he didn't exactly quit because he didn't want to do it any more.
nobody - well, practically nobody, obviously - thinks he is done coaching.
We just had two guys run for the hardest job in the country (President) and will be a decade older over the term.
Hardest job in the free world**
The “before and after” pictures of US Presidents is a startling image of what that level of stress does to someone
Stress, or just (mostly aged) 50-70 year old men aging in their advanced years...
Reasonable point except some of the pictures taken two years later are much more youthful. President's seem to get back a few of the years they lost.
What else is he going to do? Sit around and wait to die?
Some people like to travel. Some like to do art or music. Some like to coach basketball. He seems like a guy who would coach until he is unable to.
That would be fine with me. I'd cheer for him!
Yes please. Speaking from Milwaukee as one who has adopted Marquette as my backup team.
I would definitely prefer this to him being at IU. It would hurt to see him at another B1G school.
Marquette would be a fantastic landing spot for Coach Beilein imo.
that one makes a ton of sense.
Jesuits FTW!
Whatever happens, I just hope Michigan doesn't hire Steve Wojciechowski. That's a spelling nightmare.
I had to copy it from the school tweet to be sure. That he coached with K at Duke is an impressive Eastern European stuff.
Speaking of DePaul, there is probably a good book to be written about why a school literally in the middle of Chicago's north side can't be really good at basketball, OR why it hasn't had any real success since the mid-80s.
^This
Feels like they got the choker program label just as their patriarch coach was winding down, then weren’t able to make progress under Joey Meyer. And then they haven’t had anyone since break through.
IMO, it is not entirely JB's decision.
He's getting up in years with a recent heart surgery.
It's like Bill Cowher going to any NFL team that is desperate.
Many GMs don't want to deal with that unless they are just trying to build up for 1-3 years.
Maybe JB and his wife want to enjoy their lives at this point of their lives, you know, silly things like;
travel, enjoying the grandkids, being with family....
JMO!!!
For God's sake. Can we please stop these absurd Beilein coaching rumors and unsubstantiated speculation? He's retired from coaching and has had a lot of health issues. Stop it.
The same people who can’t imagine why Stevens would go to IU are the same people who didn’t believe Harbaugh to Michigan. Stevens is an Indiana guy, and his time in Boston is coming to an end.
My main hope is that Beilein does NOT go to Indiana.
I hate, hate, HATE IU basketball and love Beilein. I don’t want those two paths to cross.