Busting Brackets
Fansided

Big Ten Basketball: Ranking the head coaches for 2018-19

By Bryan Mauro

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 12: A general interior view of the empty court during the semifinals of the 2011 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse on March 12, 2011 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 12: A general interior view of the empty court during the semifinals of the 2011 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament at Conseco Fieldhouse on March 12, 2011 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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SAN ANTONIO, TX – APRIL 02: Head coach John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines looks on in the first half against the Villanova Wildcats during the 2018 NCAA Men’s Final Four National Championship game at the Alamodome on April 2, 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
SAN ANTONIO, TX – APRIL 02: Head coach John Beilein of the Michigan Wolverines looks on in the first half against the Villanova Wildcats during the 2018 NCAA Men’s Final Four National Championship game at the Alamodome on April 2, 2018 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /

2. John Beilein

John Beilein has built the Michigan Wolverines into a perennial power on the College Basketball landscape. Every coach in America aspires to accomplish what coach Beilein has accomplished as a head coach. In the last 8 years Michigan has been to 7 NCAA tournaments, two final fours, 2 regular season championships and have won 2 conference championships. That is quite a resume and that is only the tip of the iceberg for Beilein.

Entering his 27th season as a head coach, it is safe to say the coach is going to be a first ballot hall of famer. His jobs have ranged from small conferences to power five jobs and he has had a mixed bag of results at each stop. As the saying goes, Beilein has gotten better with age. The longer he has been at Michigan the better his teams have been each year. His run of dominance began at his first power 5 job, and since then he has been one of the best coaches in the country.

The coach got his start in 1992, his first foray into the coaching ranks came at a small school in Buffalo, New York. Canisius College does not have very much basketball tradition at all. They have not made the NCAA tournament since the 1995 season which was the first tournament that Beilein made as a coach. After Canisius, the head coach moved on to the Richmond Spiders of the Atlantic 10 conference. The coach was able to guide Richmond to the tournament in his first year with them. It was his only tournament appearance with the Spiders.

It was not until Beilein moved to his first Power 5 job at West Virginia that his career took off. With the resources and budget of a big school, it enabled him to go out and recruit a different type of player. He had the appeal of the Big East and a generally good basketball program to lure kids to. Beilein makes his living coaching teams who live and die by the three. When his team is struggling, there is not many better who can make in season adjustments to always place his team in a position to win. He knows his team and their abilities and weaknesses better than any coach in the country.

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