John Beilein receives Bob Frederick Sportsmanship Award

Submitted by Raoul on

To say this award is well deserved would be an understatement. Congrats to Coach Beilein!

NCAA press release: Michigan’s Beilein awarded Bob Frederick Sportsmanship Award

The NCAA Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct has selected University of Michigan men’s basketball head coach John Beilein to receive the 2013-14 Bob Frederick Sportsmanship Award. This honor recognizes his demonstrated history of sportsmanship while leading the Wolverines.

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John Beilein, Bob Frederick Award

John Beilein, University of Michigan, Bob Frederick Award recipient (Photo:AP)

 

In nominating Beilein for the award, Michigan Associate Athletics Director Brian Townsend noted Beilein’s work as chair of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Ethics Coalition.

The Frederick Award, first presented in 2009 to honor the late Kansas and Illinois State athletics director, is awarded annually to an NCAA member institution coach or administrator who exhibits a lifelong commitment to sportsmanship and ethical conduct, leading by example and promoting positive fan involvement in and out of competition.

“I am certain there were many other coaches who deserved this award, however, I am truly honored to have been chosen for the Bob Frederick Sportsmanship Award," Beilein said. “I want to thank Fred Smith and the NCAA Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct for selecting me. I will continue to do all I can to live up to the high standards of sportsmanship and integrity that Bob Frederick represented so well during his time in college athletics.”

Through Beilein’s work with the coalition, he was an integral part of maintaining and improving all aspects of the game of men’s college basketball by emphasizing sportsmanship.

Townsend also touted Beilein’s efforts to reshape the culture of the Michigan men’s basketball program both on and off the court.

Beilein led Michigan to the 2013 Men’s Final Four that ended with the Wolverines being the national runners-up to Louisville. It marked the first time Michigan had reached the Men’s Final Four in 20 years. As a testament to his character, Townsend noted how Beilein’s peers, former players, administrators and college basketball fans rooted for him to win the national title because of “the integrity and class” Beilein has displayed throughout this coaching career.

Beilein has been a college basketball head coach for 36 seasons, compiling a record of 701-412. He is 150-94 in seven seasons at Michigan.

Beilein also devotes time to the St. Louis Center, which is a facility that administers to the emotional and spiritual needs of adults and children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Motts Children’s Hospital and Big Brothers Big Sisters of America Inc.

“John is a wonderful choice for the NCAA’s Bob Frederick Sportsmanship Award,” said Michigan Director of Athletics Dave Brandon. “He represents the University of Michigan and the college coaching fraternity with great honor, and meets all of the established qualifications for this prestigious award.”

Raoul

August 28th, 2014 at 4:13 PM ^

Speak for yourself. There were many (myself included) who wanted no such thing.

Also, an interesting photo choice by the person running the U-M basketball Twitter feed:

Blueroller

August 28th, 2014 at 3:58 PM ^

Beilein is my favorite Michigan coach of all time (football and basketball). I was around in the 70s and I know I'm taking Bo's name in vain. It's more of a personality preference, a very different but equally effective way of going through life. I felt this way well before the Final Four run. Almost from the beginning, Beilein struck me as an incredibly fortunate hire. Congratulations to him on yet another in a long line of well-deserved accolades.

COLBlue

August 28th, 2014 at 5:36 PM ^

Coach Belein might want to give an assist to Nik Stauskas on this one - remember how Nik restrained him in the second half of the game at Michigan State?

charblue.

August 28th, 2014 at 7:14 PM ^

quoted in this story, is a former Michigan football player, a linebacker who played briefly for the Cincinnatti Bengals, and then came back to Ann Arbor and coached the Pioneer High School basketball team to its last state tournament championship with Lavell Blanchard as it star. Of course, Lavell, a wonderful guy, played at Michigan. From Pioneer, Brian went on to coach at Ohio University. 

And now, apparently, he's back at Michigan as an associate athletic director. That's a full circle experience. 

I know Brian from afar, and he's a very nice guy and he was a very good coach. He used to pretend that he knew how to referee basketball. And he used to work games as a referee at Michigan sports camps in the summer. Good thing he stuck to coaching, teaching and administration, let's put it  that way.