John Beilein

John Patrick Beilein (born February 5, 1953) is an American professional basketball coach who currently serves as the Senior Player Development Advisor for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Before being hired by Detroit, Beilein served as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He went on to attend Wheeling College (now Wheeling University) where he competed on the school's basketball team from 1971 to 1975 and served as team captain during the 1974–75 season.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1975.

After graduating, Beilein returned to Western New York where he began his coaching career at Newfane High School in 1975.

He remained there for three years.

He served as the coach of Erie Community College from 1978 to 1982, Western New York's Division III Nazareth College in Rochester, New York for the 1982–1983 school year, and Le Moyne College from 1983 to 1992.

Le Moyne was a Division II contestant in the Mideast Collegiate Conference (MCC).

He has been recognized as conference coach of the year five times: in 1981 at Erie Community College, in 1988 at LeMoyne, in 1994 at Canisius, in 1998 at Richmond, and in 2014 at Michigan.

In addition, Beilein was the seventh of only ten coaches to have taken four different schools to the NCAA Division I tournament.

He is known for his attention to details, focus on fundamentals and knack for developing under-the-radar players.

Beilein is also widely respected in collegiate sports as one of the cleanest and most rule-abiding coaches.

Beilein went on to earn a Master of Science degree in education from Niagara University in 1981.

Beilein has never served as an assistant coach; he has held head-coaching positions throughout his career.

Beilein first applied to coach Division I basketball at Canisius in 1987, but he was not hired.

During his time at Le Moyne, he held annual coaching clinics that welcomed coaches and athletes.

Beilein was named the 1988 MCC Coach of the Year, when his team finished as co-conference champions with a 21–5 regular season record and number 14 national ranking.

The team tied with Gannon University with an 8–2 conference record.

Although it was Beilein's third 20-win team at Le Moyne, they had never gone to the NCAA tournament before.

The team captured the conference post-season tournament after receiving a first round bye.

As the number three seed, they faced the number one seeded California University of Pennsylvania in the NCAA Division II Eastern Regionals.

They lost their first-round game to fall to a 23–6 record, but won the consolation game against Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.

The MCC disbanded following the 1990–1991 season.

In Beilein's final season at Le Moyne, the team was an independent team unaffiliated with a conference.

The team was scheduled to join the New England Collegiate Conference for the 1992–1993 season.

Prior to joining the Cavaliers, he coached the Michigan Wolverines (2007–2019), West Virginia Mountaineers (2002–2007), Richmond Spiders (1997–2002), Canisius Golden Griffins (1992–1997) in NCAA Division I as well as the Le Moyne Dolphins (1983–1992), Nazareth College (1982–1983) and Erie Community College (1978–1982).

Beilein has won 754 career games at four-year universities and 829 games altogether, including those at the junior college level.

Beilein's overall career wins counting the time spent in Cleveland is 843 games.

Beilein was the only active collegiate coach to have achieved 20-win seasons at four different levels—junior college, NCAA Division III, NCAA Division II, and NCAA Division I. At the time, Beilein was one of only six active Division I coaches with 700 or more career wins at all levels.

He has a 26–13 career record in the NCAA tournament, with championship game appearances in 2013 and 2018, as well as a 13–6 record in the NIT.

Beilein was raised in Burt, New York.

He is the eighth of nine children of a millworker and an apple farmer.

His mother's cousins were the inspiration for Saving Private Ryan, and two of his uncles (Tom and Joe Niland) were lifelong basketball coaches in the Western New York area.

Beilein attended DeSales High School in Lockport, New York.

In a poll conducted by CBS in 2017, Beilein was voted the cleanest coach in college basketball, gathering 26.6% of the votes vs. the next highest candidate's 10.5%.

Beilein's first Division I head coaching position was at Canisius, a hometown school of which he had been a fan.

He turned around the school's losing program and helped it earn two National Invitation Tournament (NIT) bids and one NCAA tournament appearance in five years.

Next, at Richmond, he reached the NCAA Tournament once and NIT twice in five years.

He moved on to West Virginia, where his teams reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament twice, and also twice went to the NIT, including one championship.

At Michigan, where he became the school's winningest coach, he won two Big Ten regular-season championships, two Big Ten tournament titles, and in the NCAA Tournament twice advanced as far as the national championship game.