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It hasn’t been a happy marriage this time around for John Beilein.
While he has worked his way up the ranks from Newfane High School to Erie Community College to schools like LeMoyne and Canisius to West Virginia and finally Michigan, the honeymoon between the 12-year Wolverines coach — Ann Arbor the place where he staked his career the longest — and the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA didn’t just get to a rocky start — the marriage might ultimately be annulled before a full season is out.
Founded rumors have been swirling after Beilein and the Cavaliers headed into the NBA All-Star break with a 14-40 record — the second worst in the league. Now, seemingly mutually, the franchise and coach are potentially looking at parting ways midseason.
These tweets from ESPN NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski say it all:
Sources: Beilein left for the All-Star break weighing his future as coach — including the possibility that he's coached his final game, league sources tell ESPN. He has yet to make convey a decision, but there's been conversation w/ management about the option of a prompt exit. https://t.co/L5LVVyLiu4
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 17, 2020
Beyond that, The Athletic’s NBA insider Shams Charania, along with Kelsey Russo and Jason Lloyd, flesh out the story a bit more. ($)
It’s noted that, regardless of whether or not a change comes midseason or not, the union between Cleveland and Beilein is not for long.
Cavaliers coach John Beilein is not expected to remain as head coach beyond the end of the season, league and team sources have told The Athletic. The terms of the separation, and the exact timing of it, are not yet known, but momentum is building toward his exit.
Several factors have come into play around the Cavaliers and Beilein in regard to his job position leading to the potential end of his tenure before the end of the five-year contract he signed in May — including the team’s on- and off-court struggles and the personal toll his son’s resignation at Niagara in October has taken on him — league sources said.
No matter how it shakes out — whether he departs now or later — it’s a shame, given Beilein’s coaching tenure, not just in Ann Arbor, but literally every place he’s been. He’s taken every college program he’s been with to new heights, or at least restored the luster to a Michigan program that was decades in the doldrums.
With all of the controversy he’s had to endure thus far in the NBA, given his career track record, Beilein deserves to go out on his own terms. Hopefully, it’s not one that ends abruptly and in shame, as most coaching changes tend to.