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The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.cam
Thursday, September 5, 2013 - 7A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, September 5, 2013 - 7A
Beilein riding high
into new school year
By NEIL ROTHSCHILD
Daily Sports Editor
The year 2013 has treated John
Beilein well.
He's working his dream job.
He made the national champi-
onship last season. He has a Big
Ten ring. He's continuing to reel
in the country's premier recruits
to support the two potential NBA
first-round picks that elected to
stay at Michigan. He spent part
of his summer in Russia coaching
the US University Games team.
He went to New York to see his
former star point guard become
an NBA lottery pick. And to top
it off, University alum Stephen
M. Ross has just endowed the
Athletic Department with $100
million.
And after all of that, the best
part of his job?
"Favorite part of the job is
going to the individual work-
outs early in the year and seeing
the progress people have made,"
Beilein said.
Sounds like an upset selec-
tion, but considering how much
Beilein relishes the minutiae -
the process involved in his job
rather than the results - it makes
some sense.
The least favorite part of his
job?
"There's very few things that
I dislike about, you know, living
your dream right now. How can
you not just love every bit of this?"
Yeah, that sounds more like it.
Coming off the summer fol-
lowing the most successful sea-
son of his career, Beilein has
much to be happy about. He
strolled into the Crisler Center
media room Wednesday after-
noon, still seemingly in summer
mode, with a pearly white polo, a
McCallister plays for
Team USA at U-21 worlds
By ZACH SHAW went out on the field I just tried
Daily Sports Writer to control the controllables and do
what I could to put myself in the
After watching the 2012 Michi- best situation possible."
gan field hockey season from the Upon making the team, McCal-
sidelines, redshirt junior midfield- lister and her new teammates
er Ainsley McCallister was itching travelled to the Netherlands for a
to get back on the field. week of practice before the event
The two-year captain didn't in Germany. Learning in a sum-
have to wait long, as she was mer practice setting proved to be
selected to represent the United arewardingexperience.
States in July's Junior World Cup "Surrounding myself with the
in Monchengladbach, Germany. United States team and gettingto
McCallister - the first Wolverine practice with them allowed me to
to participate in the event since learn so much," McCallister said.
2005 - appeared in all six of the "I was able to see strategies, tac-
United States' games, making one tics and other cool things I had
start. The team went 3-3 en route never seen before."
to a program-best seventh-place The competition itself proved
finish. to be even more educational. In
As a longtime participant in their six games, McCallister and
various national team develop- the U.S. squad were exposed to
mental programs, playing for the other countries' completely dif-
junior World Cup squad brought ferent styles of play. McCallister
several new opportunities. One in found herself particularly in awe
particular - an opportunity only of perennial powerhouses Argen-
the top athletes in the sport get to tina and the Netherlands.
experience - stood out the most "Playing them was very eye-
to McCallister: the feeling of put- opening," McCallister said. "They
ting on the red, white and blue and just play at another level that is so
playing for her home country. fast and so skilled. It was very cool
"It was one of the coolest feel- to see a completely different style
ings of my life," McCallister and try to adjust to their level."
said. "When we did the national McCallister carried a smile
anthem for the first time and during the opening week of prac-
we were all lined up, I got chills tice in Ann Arbor, just happy to
through my spine. It's such a great be back on the field once again.
nation and very great to play for She joins a Wolverine team whose
them." expectations are already very
Following her Michigan team- high,since they graduated just one
mates' first-round exit in the senior in the offseason. McCal-
NCAA Tournament during her lister's return will undoubtedly
absence - she missed all but contribute to fulfilling those
two games of last season with an expectations, and the experience
injury - McCallister was forced of competing internationally only
to set her eyes on tryouts for the adds to what she brings to the
national team. Competing among field.
the nation's best gave her little "My eyes have been opened
time to shake off any rust caused even more to how much I have
by her months off. to learn and how much I can
"I came in with no expecta- improve," McCallister said.
tions," McCallister said. "I have McCallister will carry memo-
faith in my ability to play, and I ries of the experience with her for
love the game. But every time I a lifetime.
Michigan coach John Beilein is in the 38th year of doing what he dreamed of doing his whole life.
heavy tan and an ear-to-ear grin.
And lucky for him, it just so
happens to be the time of the
year for his stated favorite part of
his job. With the players coming
back for the school year, he's busy
conducting individual workouts
- with no more than four players
allowed per session two hours a
week - before official team prac-
tices start up Sept.15.
The individual sessions,
Beilein said, would be used to
emphasize individual defense
before team defense becomes
the focus when full-team prac-
tices begin. Aside from that, the
offseason has been about assess-
ing the freshmen, developing the
sophomores and fine-tuning the
two other players on the roster -
fifth-year senior Jordan Morgan
and redshirt junior Jon Horford.
"It continues to amaze me.
We have Jon and Jordan and
then we have the sophomores,"
Beilein said of the returning play-
ers. "I look at them and the one
thing that differentiates these
sophomores is they're prep-
school guys. Spike (Albrecht) has
already turned 21 years old. He's
the only 21-year old alter boy still
out there. Mitch McGary is 21
years old, so they're a little bit
older and I feel that from them,
that they have maturity about
them that we trust."
As for when the new Wolver-
ines' place in the rotation might
become more clear to Beilein,
that might take a few weeks.
"We had that opportunity this
summer to just look a little bit at
(the freshmen). We call (those
looks) the blinks, 'what if' this
and that. But I think in time it
will tell. But having those young
men out there, I think we have
some real versatility again. I
think there's some great possibil-
ities out there given the makeup
of this team in regards to how we
play and who plays."
There was some light shed on
certain players' development.
McGary looks to be "in really
good shape." Indications are
that freshman point guard Der-
rick Walton can pick concepts up
quickly. Sophomore guards Nik
Stauskas and Caris LeVert both
look stronger, though LeVert
had some minor injuries over the
summer
But there are no glaring causes
for concern for Beilein at the
moment. In fact, he's doing pretty
well for himself.
"Thirty-eighth year of doing
what I have dreamed of doing
my whole life - teach and coach.
Thirty-eight straight.... I do love,
love this environment that the
Beilein family is in right now."
i
Green cements spot as No. 2
By LIZ VUKELICH
Daily Sports Editor
In the span of about a week,
freshman Derrick Green has gone
from being a question mark to the
No.2 ball carrier behind fifth-year
senior running
back Fitzgerald NOTEBOOK
Toussaint.
On Wednesday, Michigan
coach Brady Hoke didn't hesitate
to name Green the No. 2 running
back for Saturday's game against
Notre Dame in the wake of red-
shirt freshman Drake Johnson's
season-ending anterior cruciate
ligament injury.
"He's a pretty intelligent kid,
he picked it up really well," Hoke
said, praising not just Green's
running ability, but pass protec-
tion as well.
There were some concerns
with Green's weight heading into
the season opener, but it evident-
ly didn't pose a problem in the
season opener against Central
*Michigan. Offensive coordinator
Al Borges said that running backs
coach Fred Jackson is directly
monitoring Green's weight for the
remainder of the season.
Five different running backs
saw playing time against the
Chippewas, but Green's 58 yards
and touchdown made him the
strongest candidate to back up
Toussaint.
"He carried the ball and didn't
fumble it, number one, that's
huge," Borges said. "Didn't fum-
ble it, didn't make a lot of bad run-
ning decisions. Ran the ball pretty
much where we wanted him to.
He grew a little bit with those
carries.
"He's a pounding-type back.
He's a big strong kid that, I'm sure
they feel him when they tackle
him."
Even with Johnson out, Michi-
gan still has enough depth in the
backfield - enough so that Borges
is considering the idea of having
the backs take on specialty posi-
tions as the season progresses. It
would only be situational, though.
"We'll feature different backs
in different situations based on
what they do best (but) it could
change week to week," Borges
running back
of the day and a film session. Let
them rest, let them watch foot-
ball. Once you get past 1 o'clock, it
moves pretty quick."
NOTES: Senior safety Court-
ney Avery has recovered from
his knee surgery last week and
worked out with trainers this
week. Hoke said he expects him
to be available to play Saturday,
and that he'll probably split time
with sophomore Jarrod Wilson.
... Hoke said the fact that the Wol-
verines have never lost a home
game under his tenure has never
been a point of discussion. ...
Hoke confirmed that senior wide
receiver Joe Reynolds will play
against Notre Dame. Reynolds
was injured last Saturday against
Central Michigan. ... Defensive
coordinator Greg Mattison said
that he doesn't anticipate the
increased noise in Michigan Sta-
dium on Saturday night will cause
communication problems for the
Freshman running back Derrick Green ran for 58 yards and one touchdown last week and was named the No. 2 tailback by Michigan coach Brady Hoke yesterday.
said. "I like a feature back, a guy
that's going to carry the ball more
than the rest of the guys. You'll
see, they're interchangeable in
certain situations."
THE CAMPUS THAT ROSS
BUILT: Hoke met with Stephen M.
Ross on Wednesday morning as
part of an event honoring Ross for
his $200-million donation to the
University, half of which will go
to the Athletic Department.
The money for the Athlet-
ic Department will be geared
toward student-athlete programs,
resources for the athletic aca-
demic center and construction
projects. Last fall, the Athletic
Department announced a renova-
tion of South Campus that is now
expected to reach $341 million. It
will take seven to 10 years to com-
plete.
As a thank you to Ross, the
Athletic Department will rename
it the Stephen M. Ross Athletic
Campus.
"I think it means a whole lot to
the University as a whole when
you look at the $100 million for
the academics and $100 million
for athletics," Hoke said. "It's
pretty significant."
But when the two met, there
was little discussion about how
the money would benefit the
football program. Hoke said the
only thing that Ross wanted to
talk about was former Michigan
safety Jordan Kovacs, a practice-
squad player for the Miami Dol-
phins - the NFL team Ross owns.
A LATE DINNER: Despite the
hype surroundingthe nightgame,
an 8 p.m. kickoff has never been
Hoke's preference - he'd rather
get the game over with earlier in
the day.
But he sees more night games
as an inevitable part of college
football's future due to television
programming.
"I don't know if it's the best
thing for student-athletes because
they are students," Hoke said.
"Especially when you're the away
team and you get home at 3:30 or
4 in the morning, there's a lot of
stress on the guys who physically,
and mentally, they've got to per-
form."
Another less-than-ideal side
effect of playing in prime time?
The players will spend most of
their day playing the waiting
game.
Hokes tries to organize some
structured activities to alleviatej
time spent just sitting around.
"We'll let them sleep in a little
bit," he said. "We'll have two
walk-throughs during the course
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