John Beilein is done with the Cleveland Cavaliers a half-year into a four-year contract. The former Michigan coach isn’t alone in college coaches who failed to make it in the pros. It happens, over and over.
Basketball: John Beilein
The Cleveland Cavaliers are 14-40 and that will be the final record for their coach of the first half of the 2019-20 season, John Beilein.
John Calipari
John Calipari was 72-112 as a coach in the NBA. His Nets made the playoffs in 1997-98 and were swept. After his failure in the NBA, he returned to great success at the college level.
Mike Dunlap
Mike Dunlap was 21-61 in his one season with Charlotte. Before the NBA, he was head coach at Metro State in Denver (1997–2006) and assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets (2006–08). He served as associate head coach at the University of Arizona (2008–09) and the University of Oregon (2009–10), and was interim head coach and associate head coach at St. John’s University (2010–12). He is now the head coach at Loyola Marymount.
Tim Floyd
In 1998, Tim Floyd, left Iowa State for the head coaching job of the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls won the NBA championship in the previous season, so Floyd was replacing Phil Jackson and had a team that no longer was with Michael Jackson, Scottie Pippen and others. Hey lost 190 games in four seasons with the Bulls. He was fired 25 games into the 2001-02 season, becoming the HC of the New Orleans Hornets in 2003. In NOLA he was able to push the team to a 41-41 record, but, was let go after one season. Overall, his mark was 90-231.
Leonard Hamilton
Leonard Hamilton left the Miami Hurricanes for the Washington Wizards in 2000. He went 19-63 and was fired after his only season.
Fred Hoiberg
Fred Hoiberg was a disaster as head coach of the Chicago Bulls. He left Iowa State for the Windy City and wound up embroiled in turmoil and with an 115-155 mark before being dispatched.
Lon Kruger
The Atlanta Hawks plucked Lon Kruger from Illinois in 2000. He lasted 2 1/2 seasons before being fired after guaranteeing that the Hawks would make the playoffs, and that if they did not then season-ticket holders would receive a $125 refund. They didn’t make the playoffs in any of their seasons under Kruger. His final mark: 69-122.
Mike Montgomery
Mike Montgomery left Stanford for the Golden State Warriors. He lasted two seasons and was 68-96, going 34-48 twice.
Rick Pitino
Rick Pitino had regular-season success as Knicks coach in 1987-88 and the following season, going 90-74. He went back to college before returning to the NBA with the Boston Celtics in 1997. Bad career move. Boston failed to make it to .500 during his seasons with the Celtics. He finished with a 102-146 record at Boston, with his NBA coaching career ending in 2001. Overall in the NBA: 192-220
Roy Rubin
It would be almost impossible to explain what the 1972-73 Philadelphia 76ers were. They hired Roy Rubin from Long Island University to start the season. He went 4-47 (.078) before being replaced by Kevin Loughery, who was a player coach. The team finished 9-73. It is almost impossible to believe how awful this team was.
Reggie Theus
When former Sacramento King Reggie Theus was hired as the head coach for his old team after a few successful years at New Mexico State University, the Maloof brothers (owners of the Kings) guaranteed him three years. He lasted a season and a half before getting fired, with an overall record of 44-62.
Jerry Tarkanian
Jerry Tarkanian was a championship coach at UNLV but flamed out as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs in 1992. Tarkanian left the team with a 9-11 record following a dispute with owner Red McCombs.
Football: Butch Davis
Butch Davis decided to leave the Miami Hurricanes for the Cleveland Browns in 2001. He lasted three-plus seasons and went 24-35. There was one 9-7 season. However, he was not able to recreate his college success in Cleveland.
Lou Holtz
Talk about a bad fit. Lou Holtz was a country guy and he was wooed to New York to coach the Jets. He went 3-10 in 1976 before heading back to college at Arkansas
Chip Kelly
Chip Kelly is a classic example of a college coach who made a giant error in leaping to the NFL. He did have a pair of 10-6 seasons with the Eagles after bolting Oregon. However, they were quickly forgotten with a 6-9 mark in 2015. Then, Kelly went to the 49ers and was 2-14 in 2016. Overall, he was 28-35.
Bobby Petrino
Bobby Petrino left Louisville for the Atlanta Falcons in 2006. He did not last one season, fleeing to Arkansas with the team 3-10.
Nick Saban
Nick Saban is the ultimate college coach. A legend, one of the best of all-time. However, his time with the Miami Dolphins was unsuccessful. He was 15-17 in two seasons from 2005-06 before returning to school.
Greg Schiano
Greg Schiano left Rutgers, where he was considered a savior for an awful program, for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Schiano lasted from 2012-13 and finished with a mark of 11-21. He’s back at Rutgers now for a second run, trying to turn around a bottom-feeder program in the Big Ten.
Steve Spurrier
Steve Spurrier was a fabulous coach at Florida. So, Dan Snyder assumed the success would transfer to the NFL and Washington. Wrong. He was coach for 2002-03 and finished with a 12-20 mark.
Hockey: Ned Harkness
Ned Harkness was a college coach, mainly at Cornell University, where his star goalie in 1970 was Ken Dryden, who helped the Big Red win the NCAA Championship. So, Detroit management thought the Big Red boss could help the Red Wings. Didn’t happen. A 13-0 blowout loss to the Maple Leafs in Toronto on Jan. 2, 1971, was the last straw. Players signed a petition stating they wouldn’t play another game for Harkness and gave it to GM Sid Abel. The GM wanted to fire Harkness, but Wings brass sided with Harkness. Abel resigned in protest, and Harkness was promoted to GM, concluding as coach with a 12-22-4 mark. Minor league coach Doug Barkley replaced Harkness behind the bench.
