The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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where are they now? appearance against Louisville. Lee is the man who helps keep the players focused on their studies in addition to scheduling meetings, making sure they get where they need to be on time and act like Michigan Men. Having been through the wars himself, Lee is the perfect man for the job, Vogrich insisted — an older brother to the Michigan basketball program. "He's been through it all, kind of like [former captains] Zack Novak and Stu Douglass," he said. "He's been through the ups and downs, a great mentor, leader and person. We all love him … he makes sure we're always organized and scheduled, fires us up before games and puts things in perspective for us, tells us where we've been and what we're about to do. He's just a great mentor." He also has the makings of a great coach, one of the reasons Beilein approached him to help get his foot in the door. Had it not been Beilein and Michigan, he said, he might not have pursued the opportunity. But the coach convinced him he'd be a natural for the position, and the opportunity to learn from him, as well as assistants Jeff Meyer, Lee has rejoined the Michigan basketball program as an administrative specialist. photo by per kjeldsen Bacari Alexander and LaVall Jordan, was too good for Lee to pass up. Lee hopes to be in coaching five years from now, hopefully in some capacity at his alma mater. "That's the reason I took this opportunity here at Michigan," he said. "Being able to learn under a coach like John Beilein and his assistants is a tremendous blessing. I'm hoping to follow in their footsteps. "Coach B. is a fantastic coach, and I always tell people he's an even better person than coach. His ability to accept and recognize that seasons are a process — that as a player you're going to have ups and down and have to accept the process — that's the biggest thing you have to grasp as a coach. "Coach does that better than anybody I've been around." And Lee has embraced Beilein's principles as well as anyone. If and when he advances in the coaching ranks, he fully plans to employ the same philosophy, tactics — and yes, X's and O's — he learned from the man who has become his mentor. He's well on his way, Beilein said. "Right n o w, day‑to‑day, he is one of the most important parts of our staff behind the scenes with our players, in all kinds of ways," Beilein said. "I