Report: Cavaliers to name Michigan's John Beilein as coach
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the Cleveland Cavaliers have found their next coach: John Beilein.
Michigan’s John Beilein has agreed to a five-year deal to become coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 13, 2019
Woj is reporting that the Cavaliers are giving Beilein a five-year deal.
Beilein, 66, has coached Michigan since 2007, but he has a long track record of success in amateur basketball. He’s coached at every level imaginable (high school, junior college, Divisions I, II, and III), always as a head coach and never as an assistant, and has been able to win everywhere he’s gone. He’s coached four D-I schools (Canisius, Richmond, West Virginia, and Michigan) and taken all of them to the NCAA tournament. He’s been to the NCAA national championship game twice (most recently in 2018) and won one NIT championship.
New Cavaliers coach John Beilein is 1 of 6 coaches with multiple national title game appearances this decade, joining Roy Williams, Mike Krzyzewski, Jay Wright, John Calipari, and Celtics coach Brad Stevens. pic.twitter.com/JIIk1NDU3I
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) May 13, 2019
He has an overall 754–425 record at the college level and is the winningest coach in Michigan history. While the hire hasn’t been officially announced by the Cavaliers yet, Beilein sent a heartfelt thank you and goodbye tweet from his Twitter account.
Thanks to everyone at the Univ of Michigan for their incredible support these last 12 years. Our fans , alums , leaders, players and students are AMAZING It has been a heck of a ride and I hope you enjoyed our teams and staff as much as I did !Go Blue Forever ! #GoBlue
— John Beilein (@JohnBeilein) May 13, 2019
Beilein is replacing Larry Drew, who was named head coach after Tyronn Lue was fired. Lue, who had coached the Cavs since 2016 and led them to a championship, was fired in October 2018 after the Cavs got off to a 0-6 start. Drew was originally going to be named interim coach, but was named head coach at Drew’s insistence. The Cavs parted ways with Drew when his contract expired at the end of the season.
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