Kornacki: Beileins Recall Win No. 1 on the Night of Win No. 800
11/7/2018 10:38:00 AM | Men's Basketball, Features
By Steve Kornacki
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- While walking down the Crisler Center corridor from the press conference to the locker room after the 800th win of his college basketball coaching career, John Beilein was asked about a game nearly 40 years ago to the day, when he got win No. 1 as a 25-year-old head coach at Erie (Pennsylvania) Community College.
"I was in such a survival mode going into that game," said Beilein. "It was so different from being a high school teacher and coaching a team of all new guys, and I was just thinking survival. 'Are we going to win one game this year?'
"But we didn't just win one game. We went 20-15. We lost our first game to St. Clair Community College from (Port Huron) Michigan and then we beat Villa Maria College (of Buffalo). But we started out 0-1, and I was thinking survival."
Beilein, who raised Big Ten Tournament championship and Final Four banners with his University of Michigan team prior to beating Norfolk State, 63-44, Tuesday night (Nov. 6), even remembers the date of that first victory in 1978, which was preceded the month prior by one of the most important dates of his life -- his wedding day with Kathleen.
"It was Nov. 19," said Beilein, a smile crossing his face as he briefly entered a time machine. "It was six weeks after we'd gotten married on Oct. 14.
"And this is what I remember about that game. She and her parents came by me after the game, and I walked right by them in the locker room. And my mother-in-law said, 'Are you and John already having marital problems?' And (Kathleen) said, 'No, that was just a game night. He's in game mode.' That's how this woman has stuck with me.
"That's a great story -- one I thought I'd forgotten. We'd gotten married in Lockport, New York, and took a three-day honeymoon to Fort Lauderdale because we had to get back for practice."
I asked John if he'd had a chance to tell Kathleen anything after the hoopla of the 800th win, which included a public address announcement and the unfurling of a banner between both benches: "800 WINS! CONGRATS, COACH B!" His photo and the magic number were posted on the overhead video board as well.
"I saw her and hugged her and that was it," said Beilein.
But he did not walk past her. So, that's progress. He laughed when that was pointed out.
John and Kathleen Beilein (maize sweater) celebrate with staff and families after U-M won the 2018 NCAA West Regional.
By chance, a few minutes later, Kathleen walked through and we had a chance to discuss their trip through 800 wins together. She couldn't recall at first John's story about walking past her and her parents that night 40 years ago after win No. 1. But the mention of it jogged her memory, and a smile crossed her face as she began recalling it.
"Game mode" has become a way of life for the 30-some and even 40-some games in seasons such as last year's 33-8 journey all the way to the NCAA championship game, which was lost to Villanova and coach Jay Wright, who along with his wife are close friends of the Beileins.
"That's just the way we are," said Kathleen. "I know him so well and that he's intense, and that's fine with me to know right where he is. That's why it's been great all these years. John and I are a team, and the way we have worked all these years together, I understand him and he understands me, and we've been able to do 800 wins. It's awesome and kind of blows my mind.
"I've only missed games when we had the little ones (now four grown children with three grandchildren) or I was in the hospital having our family and just couldn't be there. I've probably seen over 700 of them, for sure."
What has sharing it all together meant to Kathleen?
"We've been able to do it and been blessed along the way," she said. "We have a beautiful family and have kept it together, and I'm proud of him and the way he's done it more than anything.
"I know what he's done is for a love of the game. It just means it's his life, and we don't know any different because it's my life as well as his life. We just seem to be a good team. It's a long way from Erie. You don't see that today, and we appreciate it more because of where we've started from. We never forgot where we came from, and that's a testament to John and the way he lives his life and how we choose to live our life and family.
"Be appreciative of those who have helped you along the way, and you've done it through hard work and have always done it the right way."
He's done it with more than 200 players, maybe even 300 players. And he's done it with one wife, who said her parents kept coming back to the games and quickly realized the focus required of their son-in-law on game days. She said the five years at Canisius, which brought them back home to Buffalo, were special because their families could be so close and the grandchildren could be spoiled on a daily basis.
John won everywhere they went -- from Erie to Nazareth to LeMoyne to Canisius to Richmond to West Virginia and, finally, 11 years ago, to Michigan, where he's also the winningest coach in Wolverines history with 249 and yet another milestone win just one victory away.
Milestones keep coming when you keep winning, and there are only five current coaches with more than 800: Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Bob Huggins, Roy Williams and Cliff Ellis.
With 249 victories leading the Wolverines, Beilein is the program's winningest coach.
Beilein, 65, had successful double-bypass heart surgery in August, not long after talking to the Detroit Pistons about their head coach opening and deciding he was where he wanted to be. Assistant coach Saddi Washington was the interim head coach until Beilein was able to return in time for preseason practices. Kathleen has been taking him to rehabilitation three mornings each week, and he's beginning to look as strong as ever.
Shon Morris of the Big Ten Network interviewed Beilein on the court after the win, and the entire team lined up behind their coach to congratulate him and share the moment.
"Coach B didn't really want to talk about it," said forward Isaiah Livers. "He just wanted to celebrate our victory. All I said was, 'Congrats, Coach.' But celebrating it is all worth it because he's a really great coach.
"He started at Erie, and now he's at the University of Michigan. What he talks to us about is his path. He's so appreciative of what he's been able to do. He's probably the most grateful coach I've ever been around."
Center Jon Teske added, "He's a great coach and an even better guy. He teaches us so many life lessons, and to be able to play under him is something special."
Life and basketball have always gone together, and now the Beileins are having a circle-of-life experience. Their son, Patrick, coaching at the same LeMoyne where Dad's career really began taking off, led the Dolphins to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight last season and is at 91 wins and counting. He was born in 1983, the same year Dad began coaching at LeMoyne.
What goes around has come around for the Beileins, who count on one another and keep counting the wins.
