Back in May of 2019, the Cleveland Cavaliers made John Beilein their head coach. Here is a synopsis of Beilein’s lengthy college coaching career.
Beilein became as a junior college head coach in the 1978-1979 season, leading Erie to four winning seasons in four years, posting a 63.6 percent win rate.
In the 1982-1983 season, Beilein moved to Division III school, Nazareth, leading them to a 20-6 record.
Beilein spent the next eight seasons of his coaching career at Division II school, Le Moyne. At Le Moyne, Beilein had seven winning seasons, bringing a pair of conference titles and 163 wins in 257 games.
For the 1992-1993 season, Beilein moved up to Division I Canisius where he led the Golden Griffins to the NIT in his second season at the helm. In five seasons at Canisius, Beilein took the Golden Griffins to the NIT twice, including a trip to the semifinal in 1994-1995, and to March Madness in 1995-1996. Beilein won 58.9 percent of games at Canisius.
In 1997-1998, Beilein coached the Richmond Spiders to the second round of March Madness, engineering an upset win of the 3rd seeded South Carolina Gamecocks. Beilein never reached the tournament with the Spiders again, but he posted four more winning seasons and a pair of NIT berths. In 2001-2002, Richmond made the quarterfinal of the NIT. In five seasons, Beilein won 65.4 percent of his games. He also won a staggering 70 percent of conference games.
For the 2002-2003 season, Beilein went to Morgantown to coach the West Virginia Mountaineers. Despite a poor season, the Mountaineers improved dramatically and made a postseason tournament in each of Beilein’s last four seasons. In 2003-2004, West Virginia advanced to the second round of the NIT. In the 2004-2005 season, Beilein led the Mountaineers to a seven seed in March Madness. The Mountaineers won a close game over Creighton before beating two-seed Wake Forest in double overtime. In the regional semifinal, West Virginia beat Texas Tech by five, putting them in the elite eight. In the elite eight, West Virginia lost to Louisville in overtime. Beilein took the Mountaineers back to the tournament in 2005-2006, winning a pair of games and going to his second career sweet 16 appearance. In 2006-2007, West Virginia gained a one-seed in the NIT, turning it into an NIT championship. During his time at West Virginia, Beilein won 63.4 percent of his games.
Beilein made the move to Ann Arbor to coach the Michigan Wolverines. After a horrific 10-win, 22-loss campaign in 2007-2008, Michigan made the tournament in 2008-2009. After a down year in 2009-2010, Michigan made the tournament in eight of nine seasons, winning a pair of conference titles and a pair of conference tournament titles. Michigan booked trips to a pair of final fours, although they famously lost to Louisville in 2013 and Villanova in 2018. Beilein posted three 30-win seasons at Michigan, totaling 278 wins in 428 games, a 65 percent win clip.
Beilein finished his college coaching with 754 wins, posting 64 percent wins.
While Beilein cannot expect to win 64 percent of his games in Cleveland in his first season, Beilein has been known to develop talent and develop programs. Over the course of his tenure in Cleveland, Beilein should get the most out of talented young players such as Collin Sexton, Darius Garland, and future first-round draft picks.
