Should I be worried about Coach B getting NBA offers?
Anything think NBA teams will toss some cash at Coach B this offseason?
He's known as the great teacher of the game, he's just never had NBA-level talent. Well he has that talent now and its flourishing. If we win the B1G or go to FInal Four or something, I could see some crappy NBA team (read: Wizard) tossing him $6 mil a year and saying give it a shot.
The fact that the only times he's ben at NBA games he's probably had to buy a ticket, maybe that's a count against him.
Success breeds this. I guess we could also worry about some bigger-name hoops program (on the level of Kentucky, UCLA, Kansas, UNC, etc.) making him an offer, but none of the super-famous programs are likely to have openings anytime soon, AND, I guess that just goes with the business. You can't stop offers (see: TAMU offer to Bo), you can only hope to convince the guy to stay (see: Bo saying no to TAMU). I mean, an asteroid could hit him in the head, it's just a risk of life.
But I'm wondering if anyone thinks the NBA might see him as a viable coach at their level.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:28 AM ^
No.
/endthread
January 18th, 2013 at 10:29 AM ^
January 18th, 2013 at 10:29 AM ^
No probably not, he spoke in Bacon's class and seemed to be dedicated to the college game. I dont take him for the grown man baby sitter type..
January 18th, 2013 at 10:31 AM ^
He's not that young, and can you see him wanting to deal with NBA egos? Particularly when a GM determines what kind of talent he has to work with anyway.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:32 AM ^
You do realize the prototypical NBA coach is just a guy they grab from the video room who the players hate the least, brush up a bit, and throw on the sideline ala Erik Spoelstra, right?
January 18th, 2013 at 10:56 AM ^
Erik Spoelstra knows more basketball than anybody on this blog has forgotten.
Oh wait, it is easy to coach superstars, right Mike D'Antoni?
January 18th, 2013 at 11:01 AM ^
You hit the nail on the head - players hate playing for D'Antoni. Abhor it.
NBA "stars" in this era want a coach they can be buddy-buddy with, who doesn't piss them off, who throws them out there to let 'em play.
January 18th, 2013 at 11:06 AM ^
tell me you don't believe that. Nobody says buddy-buddy like, um, Greg Popovich?
I guess it is a good thing that Spoelstra does not have to game plan against other supremely talented players, like say, Kevin Durant, in a seven game series.
Come on man, some of the best basketball coaches in the world coach in the NBA.
January 18th, 2013 at 4:06 PM ^
but when it comes to NBA coaches, does Popovich strike you more as the rule, or as the exception?
I think NBA coaches can be pretty neatly cleaved into basketball gurus who superstars don't necessarily care for, and players' coaches who aren't necessarily that savvy on X's and O's. I think this dichotomy is what makes someone like Phil Jackson so legendary: he was the rare bird who was able to be both.
January 18th, 2013 at 7:13 PM ^
Phil Jackson isn't a basketball guru. The guru was his assistant, Tex Winter.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:32 AM ^
January 18th, 2013 at 10:32 AM ^
Don't Panic!
January 18th, 2013 at 11:20 AM ^
disagree.
PANIC!!!
January 18th, 2013 at 10:39 AM ^
Probably safe to assume Coach B is not headed to the NBA
What you should really panic about? This could be Coach Bacari Alexander's last season in AA; Got to believe Coach A's going to get a HC job in the not to distant future.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:44 AM ^
This is what concerns me, though I think it's just the price of having good assistants. Matta has lost a ton of guys over the years.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:47 AM ^
Hate to lose him and he can stay as long as he wants....but looking towards the future, would we prefer a guy who hasn't been a head coach from within the program stepping up and taking over when Beilein is done (hopefully way down the road, but again, he's not 40), or a guy from the tree who's left and gotten some head coaching experience (and success of course) coming back to take over a bigger program? The one problem with crappy coaches followed up by a good coach who cleaned his own house is we haven't had a lot of long term coaches who are really ready for the big time to step in. The tree has been pruned so much there aren't many branches. Now I'm sure Brandon will want to conduct a search (if HE'S still around by then) and look at some hot names. But it'd be nice if one of those hot names was a guy who coached here like Bacari.
January 18th, 2013 at 11:02 AM ^
Need to get back to the good old days. Dave Strack was replaced by assistant, Johnny Orr, who was replaced by assistant, Bill Frieder, who was replaced by assistant Steve Fisher.
January 18th, 2013 at 11:17 AM ^
January 18th, 2013 at 11:55 AM ^
I considered Ellerbe, but he hadn't really coached in any games with Fisher, so i happily left him off my list even though he was an assistant of sorts to Fisher.
January 18th, 2013 at 12:05 PM ^
January 18th, 2013 at 11:59 AM ^
Technically true, but not really accurate. Ellerbe was an assistant under Fisher for, IIRC, zero games, total.
Ellerbe, fresh off a terrible stint at UMd-Baltimore County, I believe, was elevated to HC after being on campus for only a few months after Fisher got shown the door as the Ed Martin scandal came to a head. It's not like Ellerbe was a longtime assistant who took over. Brian Dutcher was the far better option, but was shown the door with Fisher, as well.
January 18th, 2013 at 1:08 PM ^
Dutcher was not an option -- he wasn't "shown the door," but he was passed over because he was around for the entire Ed Martin timeline.
But the other reason... our AD at the time, who will remain nameless, was 100% intent on hiring a HC who had the same color of his skin. Look at whom he interviewed for the job. The other obvious candidate was Cazzie Russell, who was like a NO BRAINER to hire. Cazzie was a very successful HC in the D-League or something. But our high-morals AD decided, he wasn't going to pull a guy from his team right at the start of a season because it would break the guy's commitment to his team. (Even if, in Cazzie's case, it was just a contracct with a D-league team; not a promise to some kid's parents.) Anyway, our wonderful AD left himself with no options -- he wanted (a) guy of particular color who (b) did not have a job at the start of a basketball season. Criteria (b) sort of, you know, eliminated any one with, you know, actual basketball coaching talent. And we end up with a guy who's now in the construction industry. (Criteria (c) would have been, willing to take job after it was clear sanctions were on the way. That probably eliminated everyone besides Ellerby and Cazzie.)
Ellerby - maybe the SINGLE WORST HIRE by ANY BCS-conference team in EITHER revenue sport?
January 18th, 2013 at 1:15 PM ^
That's what always bugged me. If Ellerbe had been a longtime assistant and knew the players and had recruiting ties to the area, sure, promote him. But he was a total newcomer. If you're going to promote him, you may as well hire an outsider - one with an actual good record.
January 18th, 2013 at 1:26 PM ^
At the time, the University was more concerned about sending the message that they had severed all connection with Ed Martin. Ellerbe fit the bill in that regard.
January 18th, 2013 at 1:43 PM ^
For interim he made some sense because he had the least ties to anyone. For head coach there was a whole world of programs out there that had no ties to us that would have been a clean start; and a better coach.
But we won the Big Ten Tournament, and Goss was a managerial idiot.
January 18th, 2013 at 1:42 PM ^
Kinda led us into trouble.
Not that I think we'd have any problems like that from someone who coached under Beilein.
January 18th, 2013 at 1:29 PM ^
Bottom line, somebody is going to pull out the head coaching chair for Bacari before too long. Let him go out into the world, hone his coaching chops and then return to helm the Wolverines when JB is ready to hang up his spurs. As for a replacement, I suspect that Beilein's talent judging acumen extends to coaches as well as players. We'll be fine when Bacari leaves to take the top job somewhere.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:59 AM ^
I was actually going to say if Beilein did go to the NBA it would open the way for Alexander to be our head coach!
January 18th, 2013 at 10:43 AM ^
Coach Beilein seems to me like a career college coach if there ever was one.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:55 AM ^
I concur. I think Coach B is as close to Coach K as anyone I can think of at the moment, at least on the big-time college basketball scale. It seems as though he loves teaching and mentoring young men.
January 18th, 2013 at 11:03 AM ^
Except Beilein isn't a demon that plays bridge with Satan on Sundays, like Coach K.
January 18th, 2013 at 11:04 AM ^
January 18th, 2013 at 11:17 AM ^
Tom Izzo.
January 18th, 2013 at 11:26 AM ^
so the quartet is Izzo, Saban, Satan, & Coach K
January 18th, 2013 at 11:30 AM ^
Saban plays the Friday afternoon football game. Or is Satan himself. One of the two.
January 18th, 2013 at 11:28 AM ^
And John Calipari.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:46 AM ^
Beilein has said in several interviews - most recently here in a Rivals article - that Ann Arbor is his last stop. To quote him directly:
""I love rebuilding programs. I wanted to do one more, and the University of Michigan ended up being that choice."
January 18th, 2013 at 10:49 AM ^
January 18th, 2013 at 10:47 AM ^
He seems too grounded and comfortable in his own skin. He's doesn't desire the attention of toying with NBA jobs or the need of winning at the "highest level" to validate himself.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:47 AM ^
but this would be extremely unlikely. This team is showing everyone that he can coach to his player's strengths which is desirable. He doesn't need the 1-3-1 regardless of talent level. Also, NBA owners and GMs prefer coaches that have some NBA level coaching experience. Coach B is a career college coach and I think he prefers it that way.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:55 AM ^
January 18th, 2013 at 1:48 PM ^
I know it was said for effect somewhat, but Chuck Daly once said the trainer on the Pistons knew more about coaching an NBA team than any college coach out there. Just different animals. (And Daly was a successful assistant and head coach in college before becoming an NBA assistant).
January 18th, 2013 at 2:32 PM ^
P. J. Carlesimo certainly made an impact in the NBA. Grabbed it by the throat, you might say.
Or maybe I have that backwards.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:48 AM ^
January 18th, 2013 at 10:48 AM ^
...Coach B is not. And thank the Lord. He needs to leave here to go one place only: retirement.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:48 AM ^
If he were 15 years younger maybe. Not sure a 59 year old coach is going to get too many looks. Plenty of younger NCAA guys may have a future in the NBA- but no need to worry about him making the leap.
Nor for that matter should we even worry about him taking another NCAA job- it looks like we have our coach until he retires
January 18th, 2013 at 10:50 AM ^
You know, down in Cornwall, we very rarely had milk bottles. The milkman came 'round with a milk churn in the morning and ladled it out for us into jugs. We stood at the door with jugs and he ladled the milk out into jugs for us. He seldom might have had a Tizer bottle but that would only be at Christmas, of course. You couldn't have Tizer at any other time but Christmas.
January 18th, 2013 at 10:57 AM ^
I have no idea why anybody would want to be anywhere near an NBA job. The coaches get abused, the refs get abused, etc. I understand the coaches get paid, but man the longevity of a career there is so minimal. Same with the NFL. You could be a god for decades on a college campus making 1M a year or get paid 3M a year and be killed for every thing in the media and fired after 2 years... I just don't get it.
January 18th, 2013 at 12:20 PM ^
...of NBA & NFL head coaching gigs is probably the hope to get fired and then spend a year or two getting paid for doing nothing while the contract runs out. It's really the only way a coach can get a decent vacation.
Half-joking on this.