The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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JUNE/JULY 2019 THE WOLVERINE 25 the program better than he found it." He also left the players that came through the program different as well. Merritt remains circumspect, men- tioning how much he appreciated Amaker, his first coach at Michigan. Now and in years to come, though, the question he's asked involves the coach just departed. "What he's accomplished in this last 12 years, it's just a joy," Merritt said. "Going back to that culture thing, there's nothing like being able to say that you played for Michigan basketball. The first question you hear now — and it's been 10 years, almost — 'Did you get the chance to play for Coach Beilein?' "I say yeah, I was here his first two years. Just to see all that went into that 10-22 season his first year, to what we were able to do with him. After that, national championships games. "It's just a special thing to say you were a part of Michigan basketball or that you were able to be coached by Coach Beilein, be a part of that pro- gram with the wonderful players. It's something I still cherish." Merritt took it a step farther. Many of Bo Schembechler's former players insist a huge part of their Michigan education involved the toughness, loyalty and other life lessons learned under that football icon. Beilein's players sound a similar note when it comes to pondering their time in Ann Arbor. "I tell a lot of people that I took some hard classes and learned a lot at Michigan as a student," Merritt said. "Rarely do I remember what I learned. But every single day, I draw on that experience, when you line up with 14 other guys and the coaching staff, and you're competing in the summer, in the fall, trying to make a team go. "You're trying to capture the vision that you have, as a team. That's some- thing that sticks with you on a daily basis. I'm still living out my Michigan basketball experience, and a lot of the credit goes to coach John Beilein." ❏ really fun to have them come in and stay the night with us." The Wolverine: You've always been a "builder" throughout your career. A lot of people see this as another challenge similar to the ones you inherited at your other stops. How do you view it? Beilein: "I'm super excited. I see so many similarities, and the great position I was in at Michigan I see with the Cavs. As- sembling the right staff is important. Get- ting [assistant coach] J.B. Bickerstaff was huge for us. I've met him, we talked, and I've known his dad for years. He's just the perfect guy I need at my side right now. "Putting that whole staff together, we examined everything like we did at Mich- igan. From strength and training to devel- opment programs, community outreach, everything. We sort of look at everything and say, 'How do we build this thing one brick at a time?' All these areas are sort of moving us in the right direction." The Wolverine: Iowa head coach Fran McCaffery, a friend of yours, said you loved it at Michigan, but that college bas- ketball had changed so much it helped drive you away from the sport. How much did the game change just in the last 12 years since you were at Michigan? Beilein: "There have been dramatic changes, but many of them very good, too. When I think back, there were the days where you had to call the AAU coach to get the kid to call you. When I was re- cycling my stuff out of my office, I saw my old logbooks. I had to chart every call even if the kid didn't answer. I had to chart it and how much time that took … that was such a great change. "However, if you wanted to, you could text all day long. You were recruiting all day long. Football … I can't even imagine that with recruiting 100 kids. If you're re- cruiting 30 it's never ending. And if a kid answers you back, what are you going to do, leave it there? "There have been other things. College basketball always has done things that need to be looked at and changed. One of the things is the new agent rule. That's something we should probably revisit. Once kids sign with one and are exposed to that — so many of them aren't com- ing back. They're just not going to. A lot of [the agents] are not giving them advice. There are a few that will see it, but with the amount of money on the second contracts, guaranteed money in the second round, it's really hard to get them to come back. "I'm not saying agents are bad, but I think that's one we should revisit. The baseball rule has always been my favorite template with guys going pro, but it's got to be good for both parties. And if the NBA doesn't think it's right for them, that's going to be the battle … and I'm with the NBA now." The Wolverine: How pleased are you with the Michigan program's foundation, and how confident are you that Juwan Howard can continue to build upon it? Beilein: "I just look at our record since we built the practice facility. Put that into a win-loss record … Trey Burke's first or second year when we were first practic- ing there, we got in there at the end of his first year. We won the Big Ten champion- ship, and look at the numbers of those last seven or eight years we've had. "When I think about what Tommy Amaker had to work with, that there would be only two baskets. The court would be set up, but then there were events in [Crisler Arena] where the kids couldn't get extra shots up. It was just incredible how different it was compared to the other ones. "The efficiency now that Juwan's going to have to be able to do his work com- pared to what Tommy had is huge. He'll know how to utilize that. I'm excited for him … [director of athletics] Warde Man- uel had some great, great options to hire as the head coach, a lot of home runs he could have hit. This was one of them." The Wolverine: You received a stand- ing ovation when you came back for the ChadTough fundraising event after tak- ing your new job. What do you want your relationship with Michigan to be going forward? Will you still have a place in Ann Arbor? Beilein: "I'm hoping as long as Michi- gan is okay with it, our relationship with Michigan does not change at all — that I still go to football games, we're around Ann Arbor. If we actually move it will probably not be until next year after next season … if we move. "Forever, I will be Michigan. I hope peo- ple will consider that even though I didn't go to the university, my name will be as- sociated with the University of Michigan because that's the way I want it to be. "The whole ChadTough reception was so good. We wanted that to be about ChadTough, and it was. We don't want to do any farewell type of things. We just want to go and then keep the relation- ship we've always had with everybody … the athletic department, the President, everybody." — Chris Balas