John Beilein’s surprising move from Michigan Basketball to the NBA has started conversations about his character and the morality of college sports. It shouldn’t.
It has only been a couple of days since the Cleveland Cavaliers hired head coach John Beilein away from Michigan Basketball, a move that gives them one of the most well-respected coaches in the country regardless of the level of play.
Beilein had turned the Wolverines into a national power since taking over in 2007, guiding them to at least the Sweet 16 five times in the last seven years. Michigan also reached the national championship game twice in that span, though they fell short both times. He had worked his way to the upper echelon of the college basketball world and was considered one of the game’s truly elite coaches alongside all the other greats.
In that sense, it shouldn’t really come as a surprise that Cleveland was interested in him. What was a surprise was that Beilein, who had spent his entire career coaching in the amateur basketball ranks, working his way from JV high school coach to Michigan, would leave the powerhouse program he helped return to dominance.
The college basketball world reacted to the news with a bit of grief and sadness. Not only has one of the best coaches in the sport taken his talents elsewhere, but Beilein was (and still is) widely thought of as a model coach who did things the “right way.” There were never rumors of potential NCAA infractions around any of his programs nor any inkling of recruiting violations despite consistently doing so at a high level. He was also one of the country’s best at developing the talent he had, routinely turning three and four-year players into coveted NBA Draft picks.
His teams played hard, smart, team-first basketball that was fun to watch.
Yet the reasons for Beilein’s sudden departure have resonated far beyond Ann Arbor and Cleveland. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported, while noting the status of the 66-year-old’s programs, that he had grown frustrated with recruiting and the constant turnover of rosters.
"“Beilein has run model programs in the college, free of scandal and impropriety. In recent years, he’s become increasingly frustrated with the nature of college basketball recruiting and the retention of top players. The impending loss of freshman Ignas Brazdiekis with Charles Matthews and Jordan Poole to the NBA draft dented what might have been a national championship contender.”"
The move, coupled with those reasons for it, has turned into a national conversation about Beilein, college coaching, and the morality of college sports.
There are writers who have mourned Beilein’s move as a loss for college basketball, which is a sentiment I agree with for reasons discussed previously. Others have gone as far as to say that Beilein doesn’t deserve the praise he is receiving because he coached college basketball, and that makes him a bad person.
That is an extreme example (thanks for that, Deadspin) but many have used Beilein’s distaste for the changing nature of recruiting to push narratives critical of college basketball. After all, one of the “good guys” just left because of the direction he felt the sport was heading in.
It’s an easy stance to take. We’ve had a multi-year investigation by the FBI (the freaking FBI!) exposing the corruption and bribery involved in recruiting that sentenced multiple coaches, shoe executives, and agents to jail. That’s one of the very obvious dirty parts of a sport that brings in billions of dollars but doesn’t pay the players or allow them to benefit off their likeness.
*Coincidentally, most of the people taking aim at college basketball recruiting are the same ones getting calling for players to receive compensation, but I digress.*
Those are the two main criticisms of college basketball – illegal recruiting and a lack of compensation for players – and they absolutely need to be addressed.
But using Beilein’s unexpected departure to further previous agendas, narratives, and biases is not what should be happening here.
I admit that I have my own biases when it comes to this. I love college basketball (I do write for a college basketball website, after all) and all its imperfections while acknowledging some things need to and should be changed.
John Beilein leaving Michigan is not an indictment on all that.
He is a 66-year-old man who did not want to recruit and cater to 16/17-year-old prospects anymore, that’s OK. It happens all the time with coaches. Recruiting is a necessary evil in college sports and is often what drives older coaches away from the sport more than any loss of love for the game. There are too many examples to name.
You can argue whether shoe companies being involved at the high school level is a good or bad thing for college basketball (Beilein seems to think the latter), but it isn’t a new thing. It’s been happening for decades now and simply swept under the rug as “part of the game” until the FBI came along and did something the NCAA wouldn’t do by punishing it. Beilein has had to deal with it throughout his coaching career. To think this direction is a brand new thing he’s scoffing at is naïve.
He has simply grown tired with the process and grind of recruiting, which is normal. Beilein is not the first and won’t be the last coach to leave the college game because of it.
And, with the record-setting amount of transfers and grad transfers now, roster turnover is at an all-time high. To recruit high school prospects, recruit transfers, and re-recruit your own players to stay with the program rather than transferring or going pro is a lot – more than what Beilein enjoyed doing at this stage of his career.
There’s also this fact that seemingly gets glossed over – he got a chance to coach at the game’s highest level! That’s pretty cool!
For a guy who started his career as a JV coach, I’m sure reaching the NBA ranks never crossed his mind or was only a distant dream. There are also indications he was interested in making the jump prior to now.
Just last offseason, Beilein was a finalist for the Detroit Pistons job before pulling out of the running. The job was reportedly his if he wanted it, but he opted to return to Ann Arbor. Many thought it was a money play to get a raise and extension from Michigan (which he got) but we now know how serious his interest in the next level was.
To extrapolate Beilein’s decision and apply it to the state of college basketball as a whole is nothing more than a major reach and created criticisms that aren’t accurate.
It is about an accomplished 66-year-old basketball coach who had grown tired with the recruiting process and wanted a new challenge while also fulfilling a dream. It’s a decision about John Beilein, and only about John Beilein.