Kornacki: Beilein Passes Orr in All-Time Wins
3/10/2017 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 10, 2017
By Steve Kornacki
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The Wolverines hid in the white tiled shower room just off the walkway between the basketball arena and the locker room, awaiting their head coach, John Beilein, and their plans for a sneak attack celebration.
Derrick Walton Jr., one of the stars of Thursday's (March 9) 75-55 win over Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament, wore a wide smile and laughed for joy. This was going to be fun.
Beilein approached the locker room and knew something was up. His players, not even one of them, was in there.
The coach who had just passed the legendary Johnny Orr as the winningest men's basketball coach at the University of Michigan with No. 210, grinned and said, "Where is everyone?"
Just that instant, the players stormed Beilein, cheering loudly and bounding up and down as if on pogo sticks. Then they began rhythmic clapping before several of them chanted, "Two-10! Two-10! Two-10!"
Guard Duncan Robinson sprayed everyone with a bottle of water before some players demanded a speech and the situation settled down.
"I don't know what this is about," claimed Beilein, who smiled and paused to remember all that had transpired in the last 24 hours -- a runway plane crash after a high-speed abort of takeoff, regrouping, consoling, counseling, finally flying out four hours before game time, and somehow playing a whale of a game.
"This is so much bigger than anything like that," said Beilein, who wanted to keep the focus on all the team had accomplished.
Then he immediately changed gears and asked, "Let's do that one more time, but without water!"
"YEEEAAAAAAHHH!" shouted the Wolverines, bounding for joy once again, sans water.
HAIL!! #GoBlue #B1GTourney #HTTV pic.twitter.com/pQBNa8HhVd
-- Michigan Basketball (@umichbball) March 9, 2017
Beilein recalled Orr, who led Michigan to the 1976 national championship game before moving onto a higher salary at Iowa State in 1980, for his players:
"Johnny Orr was one of the greatest coaches and funniest human beings ever ... When I was a young coach and didn't know anybody, he was real nice to me. When I got the job (at Michigan in 2007) he was so good to call me and so proud of us."
So, what did it mean to pass a coach he admired so much?
"I think it's not just passing Johnny Orr," said Beilein. "I just feel so grateful that I've had the administration that I've had. I've had four athletic directors, and each of them wanted basketball to be good and supported us by building new facilities, enhancing the recruiting budget, giving us great academic support.
"I don't think you make it if you don't have the administration's backing. We've had great assistant coaches who help you, and obviously the players -- you don't win without the players. But when I came here the rumor was that Michigan was all about football and didn't really care about basketball the way they cared about football. And I have had incredible support from our administration -- both presidents (Mary Sue Coleman and currently Mark Schlissel) included. They've been incredible."
Wolverines athletic director Warde Manuel had admired Beilein from afar as an athletic director at UConn and Buffalo.
"For a long time," said Manuel, "I followed John's career and watched what he's done at different places with admiration. It's a pleasure to work with him, and have him leading Michigan's program.
"And so I was really happy coming here as the director a year ago that John Beilein was our head coach. He's an unbelievable coach. But more importantly, he's an even better person. And so for me, you put all of those characteristics together, and you sleep well with him, and our other coaches.
"He should be proud of the record, and the players who have played for him should be proud of what they've all achieved together, and his leadership I'm definitely proud of and the accomplishment, the tremendous level of success. He's done it in 10 seasons, averaging 21 wins a season. That's pretty damned good."
His players were so outwardly happy for their coach that it spoke volumes, and I asked the stars of the game what about Beilein enabled him to win more games with the Wolverines than anybody else.
"His attitude," said Walton. "He's a great X's and O's coach, but his attitude puts you in a mindset where you just want to keep getting better. And I think that he is able to adjust to so many styles of game play from opponents -- he adapts fast, and in this game, you've got to be able to adapt fast. And he's been doing it for a long while."
Beilein, 64, has won 761 games in 39 seasons at seven schools, working his way up the ladder one short step at a time before landing at Michigan via West Virginia.
"He's a players' coach," said guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman. "He listens to his players and coaches his players the way they want to be coached. And that means a lot. That's why he's successful."
Beilein took the Wolverines to the 2013 national championship game, and Zak Irvin and Walton joined the fold after that magical postseason run.
"He's done so much for this program," said Irvin. "He's developed players from the time they've been here. You can use me as an example. But he's a great guy, definitely with the X's and O's. He's taken our team to the next level."
Irvin has scored 1,523 points. Walton became the first Wolverine to ever score more than 1,000 points with at least 500 rebounds and 400 assists. Now they're on a mission to carry this team as far as they can in the Big Ten and NCAA tourneys.
But even more than the wins, they value the man who has molded them into a special team.
