Reports of John Beilein parting ways with the Cleveland Cavaliers surfaced Sunday night, when ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski dropped a Woj Bomb on Twitter. As the story developed, it sounded like another "college coach can't cut it in the NBA." And it is.
That said, much respect to Beilein. In a span of eight months, he took his shot, he missed badly and he walked away Wednesday from a pile of money. It seems that Beilein, 67, knows who he is.
The leap from the NCAAs to the NBA is a broad and bold one. It is the difference between coaching boys who have dreams and men who are among the greatest athletes in the world. It is the difference between molding wet clay and juggling vases that are worth millions.
Beilein is a terrific molder. He coached at every level of the college game _ from JUCO Erie to Ann Arbor ? and won, won, won. His college record is 745-425 (.640).
He made 13 NCAA Tournament appearances with four Division I schools. He made it to the 2013 national championship game, where his fourth-seeded Wolverines lost to Rick Pitino's Louisville Cardinals. (Or, did they? Louisville was subsequently stripped of the title due to NCAA sanctions. Thus, according to the national sanctioning body, that game was never played. Return the money, then.)
Beilein, unlike Pitino, was once voted the cleanest coach in college basketball. He could flat-out coach the game he loves ? and the highest level always intrigued him. Given his plush place in Michigan, and his advancing age, it took guts to take the Cavs job. Bless him, but he wanted the challenge.
By all accounts, just about every one of Beilein's 245 days with the Cavs was a disaster. The million-dollar vases wobbled when he tried to juggle them. Then, he dropped one. Last month, during a film session, he lost the locker room for good when he called his players "thugs." He apologized but did not exactly own up to it. His players mocked him.
The Cavs were 14-40 as Beilein negotiated his exit. He ended the misery on his terms. May he find peace.
Given Beilein's college record and reputation, a lot of us were rooting for him and hoping, against hope, that his game would translate to the NBA. It was a long shot.
P.J. Carlesimo's leap was probably the most successful ? in longevity, anyway. He's one of those people, like Beilein, who spent his gestation in a rubber bladder with a pebbled-leather cover. After Seton Hall, he had a 20-year NBA run that included stints as a head coach with four teams. His pro record is 239-315. (He may be best remembered for being choked by Latrell Sprewell. Of course, Spree once threatened teammate Jerome Kersey with a two-by-four, so P.J. got off light there.)
The most successful of the leapers might be Florida's Billy Donovan. After his first season in Oklahoma City, he couldn't get a star-studded Thunder team past the first round of the playoffs. Donovan let Russell Westbrook do much of the coaching ? which is not optimal when the postseason beckons.
Pitino whined about a lack of control when he coached the New York Knicks and whined when he had total control of the Boston Celtics. John Calipari tried to run the entire front office, including the business side, with the New Jersey Nets. Pitino and Calipari treated all of their players like walk-ons.
Precious few college coaches can fathom, or deal with, the furious pace of in-game adjustments, especially on defense. Still fewer can manage a roster of thinking adults. Lon Kruger, Mike Montgomery, Tim Floyd ... the list of college washouts at the NBA level is long. Another name was added this week.
