buh-buh-buh-beilein
i was talking to a friend of mine about this, and he asked me a question which i could not have even conceived considering my current emotional state:
beilein is widely regarded among the most innovative of all coaches in college basketball. he has enjoyed success at every stop, and at each stop he moves on to a higher level.
now, i think UM is really the ceiling of college football...
but is it possible that UM is just another step for beilein on the way to better things? i hope not. i have this 'feeling' that this is the perfect job for beilein. a place where he can build and maintain a top 5 program, a place from which he can retire.
thoughts? any chance we lose him to a more established program?
December 6th, 2008 at 11:04 PM ^
A big reason why Beilein came here was the possibility of recruiting players that would never come to WVU, and to make an even bigger splash on the national scene than he did there. So no, it seems doubtful that he'd leave. The only scenario I could picture would be one in which he and Bill Martin were feuding, but that seems far-fetched.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:05 PM ^
Funny you should post this. Someone posted this over at Rivals a little over an hour ago:
"1. My buddy works in the admissions office with Beilein's daughter. She told him that Beilein wants this to be his last job. The whole family came out to Ann Arbor.
2. This isn't really a tidbit, but it is certainly evidence that Beilein loves to party. We were tailgating for a 3:30 game, and at about 8am Beilein drove by in his Navigator, started honking his horn and waving. We got the thumbs up. It was awesome."
December 6th, 2008 at 11:12 PM ^
he can build a national power here and he knows it
his alma mater is wheeling jesuit so he's not going there
his X's and O's are about as ill-suited for the NBA as you can get, so even if he wins national championships thats not a possibility.
so i don't think so.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:44 PM ^
...football, but basketball doesn't seem to run the coaching carousel like football does. Aside from guys like Huggins (off the top of my head) most coaches seem to stick around for a while anyway.
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
December 6th, 2008 at 11:55 PM ^
Once upon a time (or at least, for a while there in the early 90s) Michigan was probably a top-ten job in the country. When the Fab Five was in town and the national championship was only a couple years earlier, Steve Fisher was probably the envy of coaches at places not named Duke, UCLA, or North Carolina, or such.
Point being, I'd like to think that even though that's not the case any more, Beilein will make it so again. That's your best-case dream scenario.
That being said, coaching is a sordid world. You never know.
December 7th, 2008 at 12:22 AM ^
There aren't a lot of programs that are obviously better than Michigan in basketball. Yes, the last 10 years have been really bad, but let's not get too caught up in the recent past.
Michigan has made at least one final four in every decade since the 1960s. So it's not just the Fab Five era in which we were considered great.
And while Dick Vitale is a bit of a nut, he does always say that for the Big Ten to be great nationally from a psychological stand point, both Indiana and Michigan need to be leading the way.
Are we UCLA or Duke, no, but we are one of the bigger names out there, even taking into account the horrible last ten years.
Some UM B-Ball history:
NCAA Champions
1989
NCAA Regional Champions
1964, 1965, 1976, 1989, 1992*, 1993*
National Invitational Tournament
1984, 1997*, 2004
Big Ten Champions
1921, 1926, 1927, 1929, 1948, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1978, 1985, 1986
Big Ten Tournament
1998*
December 7th, 2008 at 12:49 AM ^
Michigan basketball = Alabama football.
Not QUITE the same in terms of being one of the true bluebloods like Alabama is in football, but the situations are similar. Traditional power is one of the premiere programs in the country, gets in trouble with the NCAA, and little brother comes along to take over for a bit while big brother toils in probation and mediocrity.
Alabama's got their man in football, and has reclaimed the state from their little bro.
Michigan will soon do the same to theirs on the hardwood. The free pass that Izzo and Michigan State have been operating under in the state of Michigan for the past 10 years is over.
December 7th, 2008 at 2:49 AM ^
I remember hearing him say something along the lines of:
"Before I took the job I thought of Michigan as a great school. It was amazing to me when I got here that recruits didn't really know of the Fab Five, and didn't think that Michigan was a premier basketball school." (all paraphrased, if anybody has the quote that'd be cool)
So it sounds like he is well aware of the great history Michigan has. Perhaps he would leave, but I think in his mind he is at a premier school. Maybe not the absolute best school (would that be Duke, UNC or UCLA?), but up there with the best.
There are other things that seem to indicate he wouldn't leave for another job.
Hearing basketball analysts talk, he has proven to everybody that he is a great coach. So probably not an ego thing to prove that he can coach at good schools.
He's getting a little up there in age, so stability would be very nice for him. Plus, Michigan's 401(k) has great matching.
December 7th, 2008 at 7:42 AM ^
I don't see Beilein leaving. As other people have said, there aren't a ton of better programs out there. I could only see him leaving if UCLA, Duke, or UNC came calling, but those are all pretty stable programs. Michigan can recruit nationally, especially when they get a bit of success again. And he's not exactly a spring chicken. I'm sure he's looking for some stability at his age.
December 7th, 2008 at 9:07 AM ^
Yeah....it's easy to forget now, but in 1995 when Izzo took over, MSU was U-M's little brother in basketball too. Not by as big a margin - MSU has that 1979 championship - but Michigan had generally accomplished more. Izzo came in and did a terrific job just at the same time Ed Martin was working his magic and everything flip-flopped. If Michigan basketball is sort of a less illustrious Alabama football, then MSU basketball is like a more successful Virginia Tech or LSU football. VT needed Frank Beamer to put them really on the map the way Izzo did for MSU.
December 7th, 2008 at 3:26 PM ^
like i said, i sort of also had the impression this is the type of job he will finish at. im very encouraged regardless.
December 7th, 2008 at 5:13 PM ^
so convinced that Michigan is a final stop for all coaches. Before the disasters that were Ellerbe and Amaker, Michigan was a successful program under the coaches of Johnny Orr, Bill Frieder and Steve Fisher. But BOTH Orr and Frieder took jobs at other schools, Frieder to Arizona State (likely due to not getting along with Athletic Director Bo Schembechler) and Johnny Orr to Iowa State. IOWA STATE!!!! Orr's bio at Michigan from wikipeadia:
Shortly afterward, Orr moved to the University of Michigan as an assistant under Dave Strack, and was named head coach in 1969. His 1973-74 team made it to the Elite Eight in the NCAA tournament and Orr was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. In 1976, Michigan was the NCAA tournament runner-up (to the undefeated Indiana Hoosiers) and Orr was named National Coach of the Year. Orr remains the winningest coach in Michigan history with 209 wins and only 113 losses.
Orr joined the Iowa State Cyclones in 1980. The move came about when the Iowa State Athletic Director called him to inquire about Orr's assistant, Bill Frieder. When Orr learned how much Iowa State was willing to pay Frieder, Orr negotiated the job for himself (Frieder then succeeded Orr at Michigan). In Orr's fifth season in Ames, he led the Cyclones to their first NCAA Tournament berth in 40 years. /end wiki bio.
As far as I know, Orr had no prior connection to Iowa State (he went to Illinois), where he finished his career.
Unlike football, coaching in college basketball seems to have a lot of movement, some of which seems just incomprehensible.
I hope Beilein stays, but stranger things have happened.
December 7th, 2008 at 5:14 PM ^
"They're paying him how much?!?!? GET ME TO AMES!"
December 7th, 2008 at 5:25 PM ^
in football.
But I just realized, where it seems that most Michigan football coaches finish their career at Michigan (Carr, Bo, Elliott (sort of), Oosterbaan (also sort of) Crisler, etc.), who was the last men's BBall coach to end his career at Michigan?
I think it would be Dave Strack in 1969! All other subsequent coaches were either fired or left for other schools.
December 7th, 2008 at 5:31 PM ^
That's a little misleading, since Fisher, Ellerbe and Amaker were all fired, so you're only talking about two guys leaving. Fisher would have stayed to the end if he could have, and there's no particular reason to believe otherwise for Ellerbe or Amaker, either. As for Orr, he coached in an era when we massively underpaid all our coaches (Bo included), so when ISU offered a big payday, he knew it might be the only one he'd ever get.
Frieder, meanwhile, ran a loose ship as far as NCAA compliance goes, and became concerned about Bo becoming the new AD in 1989. Bo obviously was a stickler about respecting all the rules.
Beilein is well-paid and is hardly considered an NCAA scofflaw. I really don't see him leaving.
December 7th, 2008 at 5:48 PM ^
right on as far as I know. I was in Ann Arbor during his tenure, and I was not too upset when he left as I feared NCAA sanctions. I wouldn't doubt that what sank Fisher was just a continuance of what was going on under Frieder.
However, we really have no idea whether Fisher would have finish up at Michigan or not (given my impressions of Fisher, I do agree with you he likely would have finished his career there), but to extend that to both Ellerbe and Amaker is really quite specious.
[As for particular reasons regarding Amaker, if he was successful at Michigan, coach K retired, and Duke came-a-calling, you don't think he wouldn't think twice about it?]
There have been a lot of coaching moves that I just haven't understood at the time. For example, Saban's move to LSU was to get out of the shadow of Michigan in in-state recruiting. At the time, LSU was an also-ran of the SEC and always had been. It seemed a lateral move. Lute Olsen, basketball coach at Iowa, left for Arizona, at the time also an also-ran of a program in their conference. [Is it me, or does it seem there is a trend towards warmer climate schools?]
Do I think Beilein will remain at Michigan? Yes it is likely, but far from definite.
December 7th, 2008 at 6:44 PM ^
to my knowledge Frieder never had a single NCAA violation or investigation at Michigan.
December 7th, 2008 at 7:22 PM ^
Lots of programs are never investigated by the NCAA. That doesn't mean they're all clean. The NCAA's powers are very limited, so it basically takes fluke occurrences (like an SUV rollover accident) for investigations to occur.
December 7th, 2008 at 7:26 PM ^
Yes, I do think Amaker would have left for Duke if offered, but that's the only school I think he would have left us for. He and his wife (who had a fairly important academic position - LSA's dean of students, I think) were pretty settled in here.
Fisher definitely wanted to finish his career here. There's no doubt about that. He was very happy in Ann Arbor and sent his kids to UM.
As for Ellerbe, I admittedly have no idea, but given how lucky he was to get the job (having just been forced out at Loyola of Md), I don't think he was looking to jump ship quickly.