Exit John Beilein. Seriously.
I don't even know what to say man. I have stared at this tweet for five solid minutes trying to figure out how someone hacked Woj's account:
Michigan’s John Beilein has agreed to a five-year deal to become coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 13, 2019
Woj then followed that up with a confirming tweet, but we are all asleep and will wake up in 10 minutes and be like "whoah what a weird dream"
Talks escalated over the weekend, with a deal reached on Sunday, league sources tell ESPN. Beilein informed his administration on Monday morning of his decision to make leap to NBA, and is telling his players now. https://t.co/qH749G3c3d
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 13, 2019
Brendan Quinn has confirmed it as well. John Beilein has left a program he turned into a national power to work for Dan Gilbert on one of the worst teams in the NBA. "Stunned" doesn't quite cover it. I just keep typing the start of sentences and deleting them. Reality is no more I am a salad potato
Wish him luck, but good lord why Cleveland? I mean, he'll make it work but of all the spots in the NBA to coach that feels like a dumpster fire. Like, go coach in Phoenix if you want a team figuring itself out.
let the perry watson era begin
I have no words. Just shocked.
Maizen must be thrilled...
i've been saying for years that there's nobody i'd rather have as a head coach.
i guess that was true, because now i can't think of a single coach that i want to take his place.
also - maizen? i'm sending a pre-emptive "go fuck yourself" your way.
So, Harbaugh to the Raiders is still in play??
Interesting....this guy is an MSU alum....is this Steinbrenner all over again? He couldn't have taken Tiny Tom instead?
Gilbert tried to hire Izzo previously.
Tom Gores is also an MSU alum. Both MSU NBA owners come after a mid 60s Beilein in successive years.... Yeah something is going on.
Michigan should be the school with the alumni network to mess with Sparty not the other way around.
I wonder if Izzo could coach the Dolphins. I mean, they are trying to tank already...
Now JB can pay his players as much as Kentucky.
And UNC, Duke, Kansas, Memphis, LSU, Arizona...
Gawd. I could go on forever here, but fuck it.
No, the NBA has a salary cap
Take a breath then go after Brad Stevens aggressively.
Indiana fans consistently say this. It's a awful take when they say it. It's a worse take from a Michigan fan.
Stevens is a very successful NBA coach already, that still will have a very strong roster next year. If, for whatever reason, he lost that job, he would have the pick of almost any open job, NBA or otherwise. Outside of extremely rare instances, like all the Harbaugh things that quite miraculously led him back to Michigan, it would take way, way more to get Stevens back. It ain't happening.
Billy Donovan is also incredibly unlikely, but he is more realistic than Stevens if we're going "successful former college coach currently in the NBA".
This is a Sparty troll job on the level of Buckeye job Steinbrenner did with Henson.
The real project needs to be finding a replacement for Warde Manuel. The one thing he could hand his hat on was keeping Beilein. Not so much now.
yes, fire everyone. that's always a good idea.
DRACARYS!
Other than not being the cancer his predecessor was, Manuel has done zero to improve the athletic department.
If the issue Beilien had was the state of basketball recruiting, then Warde needed to bring the resources of the AD to fix the situation. Instead of rolling over and letting the bag droppers in basketball and football continue on, he should have made an announcement that we will be openingly paying players starting 2-3 years in the future. Taken the issue to court to ensure we are on the up and up. And then unleashed the money cannons and buried the Bamas, Clemsons, Kentuckys and Dukes.
But instead we played nice and lost out basketball coach while the bag droppers will keep doing their thing.
Michigan has probably the two most influential athletic directors in the history of college athletics -- Yost and Canham. Warde hasn't lived up to that legacy.
just so i'm clear - in response to john beilein's increasing frustration with other programs paying players, warde manuel should have...let me make sure i'm reading this right and....yup. warde manuel should have announced that we were paying players, and more than the programs that are pissing beilein off in the firs place.
gotcha.
The frustration would be playing at a disadvantage to the programs that are willing to pay players while its illegal. Go fix the rules and make paying players legal by doing it in the open and bringing the legal team to codify it. That's fixing the problem.
I'm not advocating the bad dropping approach. I'm advocating being a leader and fixing it.
Apparently Beilein doesn't mind the players getting paid, he's going to the NBA, last time I checked they pay their players. yup.
I am not sure fixing college basketball recruiting and the NCAA is really in the job description of the athletic director. Your expectations may be a bit unrealistic.
Actually yes, I would love this. Put the Fab 5 banners back up and say “Hi, NCAA? This Michigan, just wanted to let you know we don’t give a flying fu¢k what you think anymore. We are going to do what we think is right for our players and that is to pay them what we think the’re worth.” *mic drop*
Hackett was a cancer?
When? T? F?
We're going to find out how seriously Michigan liked winning in basketball. We have more money than anyone else. Promoting the assistant rather than trying to hire Marshall or Beard (let alone Donovan or Stevens) will say a lot.
It's unclear that Marshall is actually looking to leave Wichita given that he's turned down P5 jobs before. Also, the program has also slipped since it went into a tougher conference, which may not be the best sign for moving up even further. Beard just played for a national title. Getting him to leave at this point is probably as big a pipe dream as getting an NBA coach to return to college (and I can't remember the last time an active NBA coach left for college).
My head tells me that there is a less than 0% chance Beard would leave TTU to come here and I would never allow myself to even dream of it, while my heart tells me that would be the perfect hire and a boy can dream, right? Pretty please?!
Hiring the sexy coach is difficult at the pedigree schools - the usual suspects with no competing football or pro teams (we know who they are). We have very little to attract one of your names, so the assistant route is probably our only move.
I'm not even going into a serious discussion on paying players at this point.
Who cares how much Michigan likes winning in basketball... until they are ready to sell the collective souls of the athletic department... winning long term isn't really an option. A coach like Beilein was a once in a lifetime get...
Sadly you're not going to beat the MSU's (rape enablers) the SEC and ACC teams who just pay players families under the table long term. It is just not possible if you want to even maintain any level of clean.
You're not going to consistently beat the biggest cheaters running a clean program but, at least in basketball, you have a better shot of winning any given game than in football.
Beilein got us to 2 championship games and we were in it late v. Lousiville. His record is only slightly worse than the cheaters in the tourney and that's a hell of an accomplishment.
Given that he was in talks with the Pistons just a year ago, it's not shocking that he was looking to test himself at the highest level of basketball. That being said, going to a franchise with a terrible owner, no real chance at top free agents, and seasons that generally topped out at first-round losses before some kid from Akron showed up is a bit surprising.
You realize that describes the Pistons as well? Except for the kid from Akron part.
The Pistons job that he turned down? Considering I'm not a Pistons fan, I'm really not sure of the point you're attempting to make here or how it detracts from mine.
...that's a real bummer man
You’re a saint.
Humor is my coping mechanism.
Woah....
Cool to see that Beilein and Stauskas will be reunited though (ducks)
It's May... I wish I could just brush this off and get on with my life but this one hurts
You know why this is such a kick to the balls? Because we all literally LOVE this man.
+1
Underrated comment.
This exactly. Love this man like I've loved no other Michigan head coach since Bo.
Warde Manuel is doing a great job...
this has nothing whatsoever to do with warde manuel.
Retention is a big part of his job.
WHAT THE ACTUAL F DOES THE STATE OF DISGUSTING F**KING OHIO HAVE ON MICHIGAN DAMN IT THIS IS WAR I'M LOADING UP THE GUNS LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
This makes zero sense.
My initial thoughts on this are below:
The Cavs have said they were looking for someone who was a good teacher to work with young players. JB certainly qualifies as that. At age 65 or so, not sure why he would want to expose himself to the aggravation of the NBA, but I would guess he probably tripled his salary and has it guaranteed for five years, so his family is absolutely set for life and the lives of his children and grandkids. Still stunned that this happened.
Let's not forget who Dan Gilbert is. Here is his open letter when Lebron left in 2010:
http://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=5365704
How Beilein could work for this piece of work is stunning.
It's called $$$$$$$$$, and LOTS of them.
But not only that, because I think that Coach B's surgery/health scare made him realize that if he was ever going to get to the NBA, the clock was starting to work against him.
Look at his age it was now or never, and I'm sure it was an itch he always wanted to scratch. I imagine he'll be very good at it too, because unlike 95% of successful college basketball coaches he wasn't dependent on recruiting better Jimmies and Joes than the other guys.
He deserves it, that's for sure.
I'm not even mad about this. Just disappointed.
I mean, I wish him luck and am grateful for all he did for the program. But Cleveland? The Cavs? At age 66?
It's like a fever dream that I can't awake from.
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