Is Beilein the best coach in Michigan basketball history?

Obviously a reach, but how big of one?

Its a reach if you have short arms ! I think he been doing very good . the offense looks Sweet and when they exacute WWWOOOOWWW

I said that 2 years ago so my answer is yes.

Quite a difference between football and basketball huh? Team loses McGary and just keep plugging along.

I wasn't old enough to compare him to Fisher, but going by strictly results, it's hard to beat Fisher. 3 National Champioship game appearances including a National Championship. That being said, Fisher never won a Big Ten championship, Beilein has one.

I think by the time Beilein is done, their accomplishments will be comparable. Then when you consider the state of the program when each came/left, I say yes.... Beilein is the best coach in Michigan basketball history.

MgoBlue wrote:

Quite a difference between football and basketball huh?  Team loses McGary and just keep plugging along.

Were you following Basketball Beilein's third year? The year we he had Jr. Manny Harris / Sr. DeShawn Sims returning? Michigan started ranked 15th and went on to go 15-17, finishing 8th place in the Big Ten.

It's been a process. A lot of people wanted Beilein fired after that 3rd year because he wasn't landing big recruits, his team was underachieving, his players did not develop, and the program regressed.

Hind sight is 20-20 but it is obvious now that he had to re-establish Michigan basketball again. Recruiting has really picked up the last couple of years. The results are showing now.

Michigan football is still a destination for top players. Hoke needs to win and win fast.

Not a VERY LONG "reach" at all. Considering what he picked up, and what's so warmly cradled in his arms now, I can't think of a U-M hoops coaching superior to him...

Give credit to his assistants too. Coach B is great but I think he has some great assistants too.

LaVall will most likely be a head coach somewhere next year.

Bacari could very well be coaching elsewhere too. The players love his crazy antics. He would be a big loss. I was surprised to see he is only like 37 years old. Definitely a good candidate to become a HC somewhere.

Fisher should not be considered because he obviously had no control over the program, helping to disgrace the University. I loved 1989, but that was Freider's team. No coach has been better than Beilein. Only Johnny Orr comes close.

Beilein should be getting the reputation as a good two and done coach, in the good sense of the term. That is, someone that takes marginal or second round NBA talent and turns them into first rounders.

The progress the players make between their first and second years, speaks for itself and should attact the attention of many top "non one and done" prospects.

Last year's run helped get the attention of major recruits, even if it didn't translate into commitments for next year's class. It will probably take a couple of years for Beilein to establish his reputation for the long term.

Here's my subjective review on the notable Michigan coaches since I have been following them:

Dave Strack- I think he put Michigan on the basketball map when he got local star Bill Buntin, joined by Chicago Carver HS's Cazzie Russell a year later. Along with Oliver Darden, Larry Tregonning and George Pomey, they were extremely talented and reached a national stage two straight years but could not close the deal. Didn't follow up that very well though and the team was not really relevant the rest of his run though he had some good players but not enough of them.

Johnny Orr- First guy to make us consistently competitive, a really good recruiter and the teams were fun to watch but he did not stress defense and that prevented us from reaching our potential.

Frieder- great reciter and knew X's and Os but he was so tightly wound- it rubbed off on his teams who underachieved. I don't think we win in 1989 if Bo had not fired him.

Fisher- The best all around coach to that point but as noted above, I DQ him from consideration as Number 1 because of his lack of stewardship of the program.

John Beilein- Hands down #1 IMO. Teacher. leader, Xs and Os, has a system but not inflexible as the personnel varies. I was sold on him after hist first tough year when I saw how he handled it and again after his 3rd year when after having finally taken us to the tourney in Y2 we disappointed , but he remained calm and kept working. Loved Manny but he wasn't the most coachable player.

The way guys have developed is unlike what I have seen at other schools. Not too proud to make changes in his assistants for the good of the program. Like was said above, I wish he was 10 years younger. On top of it all he is a really nice guy (one brief personal experience plus what others have told me).

'shoes

Sound diagnosis, Shoes. I also DQ Fisher because, in dWoody's words, "He had no control over the program". Whilst dwoody may have been referring specifically to the Ed Martin chicanery which precipitated the catastrophic NCAA penalties, I'd take it a step further and note that Fisher also had nowhere near enough control during games; the send (and last) season the entire Fab Five played for us, 1992-93, by the latter 5 weeks of the season at the latest, that team was completely out of control; Fisher had almost no authority (or so it seemed) of the goings-on on the court (as well as, it was borne out, off it).

Of course it's tough to completely damn the coach who led us to our only NCAA crown (and Shoes, if you polled 10,000 basketball junkies---Michigan and non-Michigan alike---I'll lay you odds 9,800 of them agree with you and I that with Frieder staying on, we do not win that title).  But I felt, within a couple of years thereafter, that he was simply "The right man at the right moment"---for that six-game spell. Loy Vaught noted that Frieder was "Uptight", and "Frazzled at times", but "Coach Fisher, he's so cool." (SI quote)

And further---we lost only one essential ingredient of that team, though a giant one: Glen Rice. Terry Mills, Rumeal, Vaught, Sean Higgins
and Demetrius Calip were all a year older. Yet they flat-out loafed through much of their encore (1989-90) campaign, damned near lost to S.Illinois in the NCAA opener, then were utterly toyed with by Loyola Marymount. You could see Fisher had allowed them to rest on their laurels.

Enough about S.F.  I agree 100+ percent with you that, as U-M coaches go, J.B. takes the cake.

Shoes, your point about Manny reminds me of a pretty significant moment in Beilein's Michigan tenure. The Iowa game in year two, we were a bubble team who hadn't made the tournament in a decade. We were in a dogfight at lowly Iowa and Beilein benched Harris in the second half, I believe it was because he wasn't running the offense. We ended up losing that game, with a MAJOR assist from the refs. I remember many fans saying Beilein cost us a shot at the tournament and some saying he should be fired right there. Some also supported the decision. I was pretty impressed by that. He showed the team that there was no special treatment, everyone had to follow the rules and we really jelled after that and made the tournament anyways. I think it was probably better for Harris in the long run too. It's great that we have a coach who is not only good at what he does but is also a solid person.

While we are on topic....

"Ranking the top 25 X's and O's head coaches"
http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/jeff-goodman/post?id=849

1. Tom Izzo
2. John Beilein
3. Rick Pitino
4. Bill Self
5. Bob McKillop
6. Stew Morrill
7. Mike Kryzewski
8. Billy Donovan
9. Rick Byrd
10. Kevin Stallings
13. Bo Ryan
14. Tom Crean
16. John Calipari

(top 10 plus a couple other notables)




We, quite literally, have one of the best coaches in the country and we have him locked up for the next 5 seasons.

Awesome. I always thought JB was a top tier coach in CBB but didn't know he would be that high. Nice.

Surprised Bo Ryan didn't make that list though.