Beilein, on the Izzo suspension...
From a Mike Rothstein article in annarbor.com:
When Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo was forced to sit out Sunday’s game against Prairie View A&M due to a one-game suspension stemming from a secondary NCAA violation, Michigan coach John Beilein took notice.
The head of the NCAA’s ethics committee, he didn’t seem surprised that a coach, any coach, got caught in the ever-changing NCAA rulebook.
Izzo was suspended because one of the counselors at a basketball camp this year was associated with a potential prospect. In years past, that was not an NCAA violation, but the rule changed earlier this year and is a point of focus with the NCAA.
“I’m sure it was an inadvertent error, and that’s going to happen,” Beilein said. “There’s things changing with the NCAA so often, and in a good way but someone is going to get caught in those things, because the changes happen so quickly sometimes and what was a normal thing changes.
“I’m sure that is what happened up there.”
This is unsurprising to me. Beilein is a good guy; and he has something of a professional interest in the Izzo case, by virtue of his official position with an NCAA basketball ethics committee.
Can anyone imagine Izzo, saying the same about Beilein, if the positions were reversed? I can, sort of. Izzo's not a bad guy; I wouldn't expect it of Izzo, necessarily, and more than anything I'd a expect that somebody as smart and as competitive as Tom Izzo might just elect to say, "No comment." But I wouldn't be shocked, if Izzo stood up for his rival.
Then, we might consider the football situation. Who would stand up and be counted, if, for instance, a Michigan head football coach were accused of some silly NCAA minutiae, particularly when it turned out that the NCAA investigation followed a really screwed-up and false account in the press? Would anybody do that? Stand up for a rival coach?
Well, we actually sort of have an answer to that. There were two mildly "stand-up" guys. Jim Tressel, and Tim Brewster. NOT Mark Dantonio.
Naturally, the larger spin here seems to be: See? Even Michigan's coach agrees that Izzo's okay, and we can all have a good laugh about the Izzo suspension... MSU basketball wasn't "cheating." Michigan football, on the other hand, was "cheating."
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:11 PM ^
Can anyone imagine Izzo, saying the same about Beilein, if the positions were reversed?Izzo might not be such a bad guy, but I have a tough time imagining him as head of an ethics committee.
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:24 PM ^
By the standards of NCAA basketball coaches, I think he is actually quite ethical. There really isn't dirt on this guy, other than this incident. I do not like Sparty, but I have respect for how Izzo runs his program.
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:27 PM ^
but that just makes me hate him more. Not only does he win a shit-ton (pretty sure that's a quantifiable measure) of games. But he does it, you know, the right way. DAMN HIM!
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:43 PM ^
I agree, sadly. But I'm comforted by the scene in Albom's Fab Five book where Izzo misses on Webber and starts crying.
December 22nd, 2010 at 7:59 PM ^
Well, considering Mitch Albom wrote it, who knows if it actually happened. Izzo might have told him he was going to cry, but decided not to.
Sorry to burst your bubble.
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:15 PM ^
more class than to say "should we have a moment of silence" like another coach that wears green.
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:16 PM ^
downvote Beilein for saying "there's things"?
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:16 PM ^
When your the big boy on the block. Michigan is more classy than most programs, with probably the exception of a few blow hards I listen to on here from time to time. Frick em all. I hate em all, state, ohio state, nd, penn state, all of em. Frick em all!!!!!
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:20 PM ^
I've got no problem with Izzo. He runs a great program, and as far as I can tell it's totally clean.
We Michigan fans will need to jump off this persecution train at some point. I'm getting mighty sick of the "look at what the media said! Rabble, rabble, rabble!"
EDIT: Should have read the article first. My point still stands that all the whining about the media is getting really old.
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:28 PM ^
"as the head of the ethics committee, i hereby declare that tom izzo is the least ethical coach in michigan."
or something like that.
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:32 PM ^
IIRC, Tressel stood up for Rodriguez after the violations were announced. If he wasn't wearing those hideous scarlet and gray sweatervests every weekend, I'd really like Tressel as a coach - he's a great guy.
December 22nd, 2010 at 6:54 PM ^
we want a good rivalry
December 22nd, 2010 at 7:59 PM ^
Wheres Ovies arm ! ?
December 23rd, 2010 at 9:46 AM ^
Why are they holding hands like they're getting married?
December 22nd, 2010 at 7:27 PM ^
Let's get the spelling of his name down: as noted in the article itself, it's Beilein. The "e" comes before the "i" both times.
December 22nd, 2010 at 7:31 PM ^
The unnamed players involved in the rape thing, Derrick Nix leaving/rejoining the team, Chris Allen getting booted, Korrie Lucious drunk driving now this 1 day suspension. Its more than we are used to from IZZO. When you only have 12-13 players on a team, that's a pretty high percentage of kids with issues.
On the other hand, it is nothing compared to the Dantonio. He probaby gets a bonus if he keeps the arrest count under 50% of the roster.
December 22nd, 2010 at 9:47 PM ^
irrelevant, all we want to know is what the media thinks of the coach and we'll formulate all reactions based on that.
k thx
December 22nd, 2010 at 10:24 PM ^
I agree. But I also think the media is fickle and is easily swayed by losing. If, however unlikely it seems now, IZZO has a bad season (19-12, out early in the tourney) and a couple more player issues surface... the media could go into attack mode. Blaming his romance with Cleveland or something... Actually, i guess that's just wishful thinking. But then again it can change fast.
December 22nd, 2010 at 10:36 PM ^
I know they play a difficult schedule most years and they have had slow starts before, but they really don't look very good (by MSU standards). They are out of sync and are getting blown out by good teams and pressed by average teams. A lower ranked Texas team took them apart tonight on their home court. Izzo can't be happy that the Big Ten season is about to start.
December 22nd, 2010 at 8:38 PM ^
I respect Beilein, a lot. As sports fans, we naturally try to turn coaches of rivals into villains. I can't find anything about Beilein that I don't like. He's a decent coach and seems like a great guy.
December 22nd, 2010 at 8:51 PM ^
to neg Sparty fan.
December 22nd, 2010 at 9:24 PM ^
That's the adjective that comes to mind with a guy who's won 530 games in his career? Decent? You think Tom Izzo would describe Beilein as a decent coach? Save that back handed compliments for guys who truly are decent. The Oliver Purnells of the world. The Kevin O'Neills. The Dave Odoms and Ernie Kents. Beilein hasn't he killed it at Michigan in 3.5 years, I'll give you that, but he hasn't forgotten how to coach.
December 22nd, 2010 at 11:25 PM ^
For a guy who has been coaching for 35 years.....530 wins/35 is roughly a 15 wins per year average. Using two of your own comparisons:
Oliver Purnell - 394 wins over 22 years: 18 wins per year.
Ernie Kent - 325 wins over 19 years: 17 wins per year.
I wouldn't put the other 2 in the same category.
I'd call all 3 decent, with Ernie Kent having the most post-season success of the 3. They're all good, not great coaches. Take that as a back handed compliment if you will, I was trying to praise the guy.
December 23rd, 2010 at 9:25 PM ^
short of good, but maybe that's just me.
At any rate, JB's 530 wins are limited to his four year college stops, not the CC stuff. His first season with LeMoyne was '83. So 530 wins is in 29 years, not 35. Adjust your 15 wins per year up by 3 and some change.
He's one of only a handful of guys to have taken 4 different teams to the NCAAs. Nearly everyone in the game or close to the game says the same thing about him -- tough to prepare for, great tactician, and fantastic teacher. Kent's post season record (which admittedly I hadn't even looked at until you mentioned it) is actually pretty good. Fair enough, but on the whole pretty equitable with Beilein's. So fine. Let's call Ernie Kent good too. Oliver Purnell's next NCAA tournament win will be his first. I'll stick with decent for him.
December 22nd, 2010 at 11:41 PM ^
Izzo runs a reasonably clean program for a team that competes for titles every year and recruits some of those top kids that tend to bring along baggage. He's not a paragon of virtue or anything, but I respect him and what he's done in EL.
Now Dantonio, he's a douche...
December 23rd, 2010 at 3:04 AM ^
cosigned
December 23rd, 2010 at 9:45 AM ^
and his pimp hand is weak.
December 23rd, 2010 at 11:17 AM ^
Having been a life-long MSU fan (that's probably worth a few negs right ther :), I see Beilein as a good guy who recruits good kids. Big time college basketball is full of dirty guys, but Beilein does it the right way.
I understand people here dislike Izzo because he's an MSU guy and wins. However, Izzo has always been very complimentary about Beilein because he respects him. Izzo is rarely shy about subtely expressing his dislike about how some coaches run their program. He did cry about losing Weber--not becasue of losing him, but becasue of "how" he lost him. It took him years to get over that, and there of plenty of basketball scores to prove it.
However, as far as Izzo and this incident goes, this was a secondary violation. Every program--even Beilein--has had them--and it's a TOTAL sham he was forced to sit a game becasue of it. Especially, when there's guys like Calapari who has never lost a day of work.
It's correct that something is wrong with MSU this year. Stuff happens, and Izzo has earned a lifetime pass from me, so I'm not worried about it. UM basketball, however, is really suprising. Beilein has done an excellent job this year. The way you handled Oakland was extremely impressive. It'll be an interesting season. Good-luck.
December 23rd, 2010 at 10:19 PM ^
I had intended to offer some moderate compliment to the quality of person that Izzo is, even in the face of the NCAA violation. And, as much as anything, I wished to note that Izzo's suspension was much ado about very little.
No, the real point is that our two little friends at our favorite metropolitan newspaper went out of their way, to call Michigan's football progam a "cheating" program, back in early November. And then just a few weeks later, another one of them was declaring, with a straight face, that of course what MSU's basketball program did "wasn't cheating." All just another day's work in the Wide World of Mendacity for them.