8-Sports
8A — Saturday, May 2, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Beilein leaves ‘M’ for Cleveland with an unmistakable legacy
The last time the Michigan
had to replace its head coach, the
program was unrecognizable to
those familiar with the current
Wolverines.
Michigan in 2007 had barely
scraped relevance since the breakup
of the Fab Five in 1993. It hadn’t
made the NCAA Tournament since
1998 — an appearance later vacated
by NCAA sanctions. It lived under
the shadow of the football team and
a group of recruits who had since
been banned from the program.
CJ Lee, a Michigan guard from
2006-09 and current director of
program personnel, was there
when then-coach Tommy Amaker
was fired. Even with Amaker’s
uninspiring record, his firing still
incited some disappointment. After
all, he had helped drag the program
out of its sanction-induced low
point in the early 2000s.
Lee,
though,
knew
the
Wolverines were getting someone
good in John Beilein. Lee went
to high school in western New
York,
where
Beilein
recruited
some of his AAU teammates and
had seen Beilein’s success at West
Virginia. The Beilein he knew of
back then was a coach who ran a
unique offense and a 1-3-1 zone, a
coach with a good reputation but
questions about whether he could
stick at a high-major program like
Michigan.
Twelve years later, when Beilein
left the Wolverines to take the
helm of the Cleveland Cavaliers on
Monday morning, he was a coach
who still ran a unique offense,
albeit one of a different vein, but
had ditched the zone — and ditched
control over his defense, hiring
assistants with greater expertise
in the area. He was a coach whose
reputation had exploded, who
hadn’t just succeeded at a high-
major program but taken it from
no-man’s-land
to
consistent
contender. He was a coach who had
become, in some ways, impossible
to replace — the unenviable task
that now falls on the shoulders of
athletic director Warde Manuel.
“The first couple years, people
were
kinda
wondering,
does
(Beilein) have what it takes?” Lee
told The Daily. “And it just shows
that his ability to morph, his ability
to adapt, his ability to change, his
ability to figure out that place and
figure out his way of doing things
here — it was incredible. And it
worked.”
Beilein got Michigan back to the
NCAA Tournament in his second
year, and the Wolverines have made
it in eight of the past nine years —
with five Sweet Sixteens and two
appearances in the national title
game. His performance surpassed
even
what
could
have
been
considered the best-case scenario.
“It goes without saying, he
brought Michigan basketball back
to prominence,” Lee said. “I would
say he restored the image in the
hearts and minds of a lot of people,
probably in the court of public
opinion. Certainly, coach Amaker
did a great job in his time, coming
out of the sanctions, and then coach
Beilein took it to a level where you’re
back in the Final Four.”
Zack Novak, a Michigan guard
from 2008-12, joined the program
in Beilein’s early days. Back then,
the team was filled with Amaker
holdovers, and Beilein was tasked
with not only developing his
young players, but getting buy-
in from his older ones — a test he
passed with flying colors. Then,
he began to build the foundation
of the Wolverines’ new identity.
Novak saw the beginning of that
foundation, with Michigan’s NCAA
Tournament appearance in 2009.
By the time he left in 2012 — with
a Big Ten regular-season title and a
No. 4 seed in the tournament — he
saw a program that finally stood on
solid ground.
“From day one, when (Beilein
started) recruiting me, the first
step was, get back to the NCAA
Tournament,” Novak told The Daily
on April 13. “But he was very firm
that Michigan should be a premier
program and we needed to build the
foundation to get back to where it
should be. And so, I think from day
one, he had a vision and he had his
guys that bought into the vision.
“And I think you gotta give credit
to a lot of the guys who came from
coach Amaker, who rolled over.
Kind of a difficult situation, right?
Two very different styles of playing.
And those guys easily could have
been cancers on the team and not
bought into the vision, and instead
they did the opposite. And really
set the foundation for what was to
come. Now, with that being said,
I’m not gonna lie to you and say that
I thought we’d be in two national
title games in the next 10 years. I
think it’s gone a bit beyond what the
original vision was.”
From
there,
Beilein
built
Michigan into what it is now, all with
the perception that he runs a clean
program. Beilein is one of the few
high-major coaches who is widely
believed not to cheat. He instilled
his values in every player, from
Lee and Novak until now. Former
Michigan
sports
information
director Bruce Madej remembered
Beilein as someone who always
talked about family and community.
Even as Beilein began to crave the
greater challenge that the NBA
would bring, that community was
what the Wolverines were to him.
In a way, the NBA is a culmination
for Beilein. This is someone who has
never held a permanent position as
an assistant coach, instead climbing
the ladder from high school JV
to community college to Division
II to mid-major to Michigan.
Professional basketball was the one
step he had never taken.
“What has happened to John
Beilein in his life and in his coaching
career has been miraculous, it’s
really been magical,” said Jeff
Neubauer, the current Fordham
coach and a former Beilein assistant
at Richmond and West Virginia
from 1996-2005. “... Who he has
been throughout his life is to take on
a massive challenge — most of them
were places where people didn’t
think he could succeed. So he’s gone
to different schools throughout his
career and done amazing things
over and over. So my speculation
would be that this is his opportunity
to take on another huge challenge,
climb another mountain.”
Now, Beilein is firmly entrenched
as a Michigan legend. No matter
who you talk to, former players,
assistants and people around the
program have nary a bad word to
say about him — as a person or a
coach.
And regardless of what the
future holds, Beilein will always
be remembered as the coach who
brought Michigan back to soaring
heights, the coach who firmly
implanted a new culture and the
coach who did things the right way
— in every sense of the word.
“I tell people all the time when
they ask me about playing for,
working for coach Beilein, is that as
good of a basketball coach as he is,
he’s a better person,” Lee said. “And
I think that, over the last 12 years,
the fan base and college basketball
in general has got to witness an
incredible, incredible human being
who happens to be a basketball
coach on the sidelines, in Ann Arbor.
“And I really hope that they
cherish that. I hope they recognize
how special that is to have the
human being, the coach, the man,
the success. How rare that is, for
it all to come together like that.
So I just hope that people are
appreciative and he is honored
for his time, because he did a
tremendous job.”
Additional reporting by Ethan
Sears
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Coach John Beilein left for a head coaching position in the NBA, leaving Michigan as the all-time leader in wins
ARIA GERSON &
THEO MACKIE
2019 Daily Sports Editors
Manuel’s gamble is the right one to make
ETHAN SEARS
2019 Managing Sports Editor
Warde
Manuel spoke
directly, with
certainty and
confidence.
“We looked
at
many,”
Manuel said.
“Broad scope.
I stand here
today
with
my choice.”
Before
Juwan Howard had stepped
to the podium as Michigan’s
new
basketball
coach
and
before a question had been
asked, Manuel answered the
day’s biggest one. Since John
Beilein left, a coaching search
unfolded and
ended
last
week
with
Howard, there
has
been
a
not-so
subtle
implication of
nepotism that
has come with
the discussion
of Howard.
Howard has
the
requisite
qualifications,
it starts, but would he be in
this position if not for his
association with the Fab Five?
Manuel, who has never had
a hiring of this magnitude
in
his
hands
completely,
must be under pressure from
donors. From regents. From
Jalen Rose and Chris Webber;
LeBron James and Dwyane
Wade.
The
athletic
director
acknowledged
as
much
seconds later, noting Howard’s
resonance with the university,
its fans and its donors.
But, outside pressures being
as they may, this decision was
Manuel’s to make. His choice.
His gamble.
“There’s a whole lot of
bunch of adjectives like that,
that have already been used,
and
that’s
fine,”
Manuel
said. “If I’m gonna take a
risk for somebody, they’ll see
why I took the risk and the
gamble — and all the things
you all say about what could
possibly happen — with Juwan
Howard.”
To be clear, it is a gamble
and it does run a risk of
failure. So would any other.
That is beside the point.
Beilein left the Wolverines
with little warning in mid-
May — when the coaching
carousel
had
already
slowed. The candidate pool,
inherently, was thinner than
it might have
been a month
or two earlier.
And,
even
if
Manuel
had
his pick of the
lot, it would be
impossible
to
hire
another
Beilein.
The
best
coach
in
the
history
of
the
program
doesn’t come around often.
Particularly not when that
coach is Beilein, who ran things
in a way unique throughout
college basketball.
Howard
hasn’t
been
in
college basketball. He isn’t
familiar with a world where
a slip of the tongue can be
a recruiting violation, and
admitted as much on Thursday.
Even without his ties to the
Fab Five, the likelihood that
he
recruits
programs
like
Mac Irvin Fire, the way his
name alone makes heads turn
— that makes him inherently
antithetical to Beilein.
And that is fine.
Juwan Howard isn’t here
to build on John Beilein’s
legacy. He’s here to make his
own. There are no shortage of
basketball reasons to think he
can.
Howard
comes
with
endorsements from Pat Riley
and Erik Spoelstra, two names
that should carry more weight
than his former teammates.
He succeeded as an assistant
in Miami, unequivocally so.
The Heat won titles when they
had the requisite talent, and
outperformed
expectation
anyway
when
they
didn’t.
Howard
was
a
repeated
candidate for NBA job openings
for a reason — he’s developed
a well-earned reputation as
a good basketball mind, and
someone who connects with
players.
There’s also the intangible
— which was on full display
Thursday
when
Howard
stepped to the podium and
wiped tears from his eyes,
needing to gather himself
before he started speaking.
Yes, it’s concerning that
it may take some time for
Howard to get a grasp on the
NCAA’s rulebook. And yes, it
should raise eyebrows that he
answered a question about his
basketball philosophy with,
“Well, it remains to be seen,
fellas, right?”
The rest of his answer,
though, speaks to the qualities
that got him hired.
“But I can tell you this,”
Howard
said.
“One
thing
about me, I’m humble. And
I don’t have all the answers.
We’re gonna try to figure out
solutions together. … Players
have to be active participants
in finding solutions. We will
create this identity together.
And we will have fun doing it,
too.”
All that — the emotion
and
the
attitude,
the
acknowledgements
that
he
isn’t
perfect
and
the
willingness to work on it
— makes it believable that
Howard will put in the hours
to fill the gaps. This is no
reunion tour or nostalgia trip,
nice as those side benefits may
be. Howard was hired because
Warde Manuel thinks he can
win basketball games, first
and foremost.
But don’t get it wrong. This
is Manuel’s gamble. The right
gamble.
ETHAN
SEARS
ALEC COHEN/Daily
Athletic Director Warde Manuel announced Juwan Howard as the new coach
Wolverines’ playoff hopes die in Ohio
COLUMBUS — The No. 4
Michigan football team was just
hanging on.
Even when the Wolverines
went down two touchdowns in
the first half, and even when
momentum favored Ohio State
to begin the second half, they
hung perilously within reaching
distance.
But with just under five
minutes left in the third quarter,
the floodgates broke open.
It came on a punt, just after
Michigan had gone down, 27-19,
on a Buckeye field goal. Ohio State
receiver Chris Olave took a free
run at junior punter Will Hart
and blocked Hart’s kick.
The ball deflected high into
the air and directly into the
outstretched arms of Buckeye
cornerback Sevyn Banks, who
took it untouched to the house.
The Wolverines had finally
wilted, like they have against
Ohio State in 14 of the teams’ last
15 matchups, and from there they
could do nothing right, losing,
62-39.
“It was tough,” said senior
safety Tyree Kinnel. “We try to
stay upbeat throughout the whole
game and trust each other and
stay in the fight. But I remember a
point where it just got out of hand.
Slowly devastated us throughout
the game. All the yards they were
putting up, how easily they were
scoring, it was tough. Extremely
tough.”
The out-of-hand point may
have been the punt, or really any
point after that, but the sings of
impending trouble were present
from the beginning.
Michigan started the game
with the ball and a three-and-out,
and the Buckeyes promptly drove
43 yards for a score immediately
afterward, finishing it off with a
touchdown to Olave.
Olave, who entered the game
with four catches all season,
tacked on another score with
9:08 left in the second quarter,
and Ohio State threatened to
break the game open when wide
receiver
Johnnie
Dixon
III
caught a wide-open touchdown
to extend the Buckeye lead to 21-6
minutes later.
To these opening blows, the
Wolverines had answers.
They scored back with a
fade-route
touchdown
from
sophomore wide receiver Nico
Collins. Then, on the ensuing
kickoff, Ohio State kick returner
Demario McCall simply dropped
the ball and Michigan recovered
on
the
Buckeyes’
nine-yard
line. Junior running back Chris
Evans caught a wheel route for a
touchdown on the next snap, and
despite failing to convert on the
two-point conversion attempt,
the Wolverines were suddenly
down just two.
Ohio State drove down to
Michigan’s two-yard line twice
in
its
next
three
offensive
possessions, but had to settle for
field goals both times.
“We had our opportunities
offensively, and you know, the
defense started the second half
good and held them to a field
goal and got a stop, and we had a
chance,” Patterson said.
That’s
when
Olave
broke
through the Wolverines’ punt
protection,
and
Banks
went
dancing into the endzone.
Junior
quarterback
Shea
Patterson threw an interception
three plays later, and the Buckeyes
scored two snaps after that.
As Kinnel put it, things were
out of hand.
“You know, sometimes you
get desperate in those types of
situations,” Patterson said of
his interception. “Wasn’t really
trying to force it, I was actually
trying to throw the ball out of
bounds. Whoever made that play
made a good play and hit my
elbow.”
One last time, Michigan drove
down the field in an effort to
battle back, and Collins secured
another fade route to chop the
deficit back to two scores.
And then Ohio State wide
receiver Parris Campell Jr., took
the first play on the Buckeyes’
next drive 78 yards to the
endzone.
In the end, the statistics are
hideous
for
the
Wolverines.
They gave up the most points of
any regulation game in program
history. Ever. They allowed the
most yards (567) since coach
Jim Harbaugh and defensive
coordinator Don Brown have
taken over. They gave it all up in
their biggest game of the year.
After Campbell’s run, the
metaphorical
floodgates were
completely obliterated.
Ohio State spent the rest of
the game scoring and breaking
records
offensively,
while
pumping up the crowd and
dancing on graves defensively.
MIKE PERSAK
2018 Managing Sports Editor
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Senior defensive back Tyree Kinnel had eight tackles, four solo, against Ohio State on November 24th, 2018.
“We looked at
many. I stand
here with my
choice.”