The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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22 THE WOLVERINE JUNE/JULY 2019 BY JOHN BORTON J ohn Beilein won 278 games, more than any coach in the 103- year history of men's basketball at the University of Michigan. Those fit nicely into the eye-open- ing 829 victories Beilein accrued as a college head coach. But it's what he did at perhaps his final college venue — leading up to his departure for the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers — that has many calling him the greatest coach ever at Michigan. "He will go down as the best coach in Michigan basketball history," ESPN analyst and TheWolverine.com contributor Tim McCormick noted. "He accomplished a great deal." Before Beilein's arrival, Michigan hadn't experienced March Madness in a decade. The program that made NCAA runs from the days of Ca- zzie Russell to Phil Hubbard to Glen Rice to Jalen Rose and beyond had become irrelevant when basketball matters most. Then came Beilein, a hire by athlet- ics director Bill Martin, with the help of a search committee on which Mc- Cormick served. "We did a lot of talking about char- acter and ethics, and the things Mich- igan stands for, as a top priority," McCormick reminisced. "We also discussed style of play and wanted someone we were sure could build a program that had sustainability. "I had just recently broadcast a couple of John Beilein's games. When you go to their practice, you watch the way the players play, the way that he teaches. I remember the con- versations that I personally had with him, before games, at shoot-around practices. "I just thought that John Beilein was exactly what Michigan wanted and needed." The sheer numbers proved the pre- science of Martin, McCormick and all those who stood by the hire. That might not have been easy through a 10-22 first season at Michigan, while Beilein began putting his program in place and garnering personnel for the future. From then on, Beilein's crews worked magic around Crisler Cen- ter that hadn't been witnessed in 20 years. They reached the NCAA Tourna- ment nine times in his final 11 sea- sons at Michigan. They made a pair of Final Fours, advancing both times to the NCAA championship game. They captured a pair of Big Ten championships, including the pro- gram's first since 1986. They nabbed back-to-back Big Ten Tournament titles in 2017 and 2018, surviving an airplane crash to nail down the for- mer. Beilein produced 18 All-Big Ten picks and nine NBA Draft selec- tions, with potentially a few more being added to the latter category in June. He did it all in a way that left Michigan alums — stung by NCAA probation in the not-so-distant past — proud to join packed houses at Crisler. In an era featuring coaches getting wiretapped and federal prosecutors looking to crack down on cheating in college basketball, Beilein won some- thing else. His peers voted him the cleanest coach in America in a CBS ONE SHINING ERA John Beilein Leaves A Legacy Of Winning With Integrity Beilein inherited a U-M program that had gone a decade without an NCAA Tournament appearance and went on to become its winningest coach with 278 victories over 12 years. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN