Coaching Candidate of the Day
- Who is he? The current coach of West Virginia who sports a career record of 548-318. He has taken LeMoyne, Canisius, Richmond, and West Virginia to the NCAA tournament. He is in the NIT this year with a young Mountaineer squad, but before that reached the Elite 8 in 2005 and Sweet 16 in 2006. He has posted a winning record in 26 of his 29 years as a head coach.
- What style does he run? Beilein favors a spread offense that stretches the defense out and makes them defend the entire court. His Mountaineer squad plays at a slow pace (63.3 possessions per game which is only slightly faster than Michigan this year at 62.7). They are very efficient on offense, however, scoring 1.131 points per possession to ranked 15th best in the nation. They allow 97.6 points per possession on defense which is 71st in the nation. This is the 3rd year in a row that WVU has ranked very highly in offensive efficiency and not nearly so high in defensive efficiency. And in a major departure from Amaker ball at Michigan, they rarely turn the ball over, only on 16.9% of possessions this season which is the 9th lowest rate in the nation. If putting the ball in the hoop efficiently is your passion, Beilein is your man. If you believe in tough nosed defense, maybe not so much.
- Why would he come to Michigan? Well, WVU is still small time when it comes to basketball. It's a lot easier to recruit high end talent to Ann Arbor than it is to Morgantown. Michigan also might actually pony up some $$$ and exceed his $700,000 or so annual salary for the Mountaineers.
- Why would Michigan want him? He's a likeable guy that has won everywhere he has been. Turning WVU into a respectable basketball program is a tougher job than he'll face in Ann Arbor.
Labels: Michigan Basketball
posted by robert paulson at 3/19/2007 07:43:00 PM
2 Comments:
He would be a great coach. As would Lowery and Marshall. Poeple may say that they want someone who has won at the big level, but that's irrelevant. Winners win. Period. Look at Lowery and Marshall. They are at small mid majors who never won much, especially Winthrop. They recruited the best you can get at that kind of school and cooked it into strong tourney runs. Think of what they (and Beilein) could do with Michigan level recruits. Happy days will be here again.
I agree. Michigan still carries a big name in college basketball. Even as one of the worst programs in the Big Ten, they are on national TV frequently. Throw in a fertile local recruiting ground and all you need is a good coach. Win some games and you'll be nearly guaranteed top 10 recruiting classes.
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