John Beilein(WVU)

[beaverbaseball 10]

Nice article on WVU head coach

 

When Beilein arrives at the Albuquerque Regional for Thursday night's game against Texas Tech, in some ways, he'll be something of the odd-man out among the four coaches. There's Bob Knight, living legend. There's Louisville's Rick Pitino, the movie star. There's Washington's Lorenzo Romar, the next big thing.

 

And there's John Beilein.

 

"He's the coach's coach," says MacDonald, who replaced Beilein eight years ago as Canisius' coach. "John doesn't win the press conference. He doesn't win signing day. He just wins what you're supposed to win: the games."

 

 

 

 

His has been the hardest road to a pedigree-free glory, with thousands of miles of New York State Thruway in his wake, with volleyball and tennis team schedules carved out in his athletic department jobs. He had no mentor to pick up a phone for him, no Five-Star connections to send him on his way. It's been just Beilein, and just his track record

 

 

 

He was always his own boss, and no one in the history of basketball had won 20 games at four different college levels until Beilein had done it. And that doesn't count winning 20 games at the high school level, which he did too.

 

Since Canisius gave Beilein his shot thirteen years ago, though, there's been no stopping him. The nation watched him turn losers into NCAA tournament teams at Canisius, Richmond, and now, West Virginia

[beaverbaseball 10]

By Andy Katz, ESPN.com

 

 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Can West Virginia fans handle any more of this?

 

The Mountaineers have gone from a bubble team a few weeks ago to a full-blown bracket buster by getting to the Elite Eight -- but it hasn't been easy ... or easy on the heart.

 

After winning thrice on consecutive days to make the Big East tournament finals, the No. 7 seed in the Albuquerque region beat No. 10 Creighton on a final fast-break dunk in the first round of the NCAA Tournament last week.

 

Then they took out No. 2 Wake Forest in double-overtime in round two.

 

Then, Thursday night, they outlasted No. 6 Texas Tech 65-60 in the Sweet 16 at The Pit in the Albuquerque Regional.

 

 

 

 

 

All of these wins were capped in the final few possessions, making the Mountaineers the official Cardiac Kids of the 2005 NCAA Tournament. "I think it's good," West Virginia coach John Beilein said. "It's actually good. I don't know how many more games we can win but our kids are used to playing like this and they have fun and react so well."

 

They do because it's ingrained in them from day one.

 

"It's just our mentality," West Virginia junior Johannes Herber said. "We like battling back, being the underdog, fighting adversity. That's what we've been doing for three years."

 

Need a few examples?

 

Tyrone Sally turned the ball over with just about a minute left in the game on an errant pass. Instead of sulking, he raced down court and blocked Jarrius Jackson's shot with 55.9 seconds remaining. The ball went out of bounds. Texas Tech had another shot, four of them to be exact, but never could convert.

 

Finally, the ball was loose and Patrick Beilein, the coach's son, stumbled and found his way to it before he stepped out of bounds. He called a timeout with 30.5 seconds left.

 

"I saw the ball come off and I was actually running to it and Joe Herber was falling down and he actually tripped me," Beilein said. "So I kind of looked funny running over to the ball. I looked down and saw my feet were in bounds and I called timeout."

 

"On my block and Pat just diving in, he could have easily let it go, and that's basically how our season has been -- hard-nosed guys just scrapping and finding ways to win," Sally said.

 

The Mountaineers are a collection of transfers and the under-recruited, devoid of All-Americans. They pride themselves on their grit and tenacity to never give up on a play.

 

"We just are all hard-nosed players," Herber said. "We're not all gifted athletically. So we have to make it up with hustle."

 

Mike Gansey, the St. Bonaventure transfer, talked after the game about how the players know everything about each other, even down to who their girlfriends are.

 

But are they ready to call themselves a great team?

 

"We're not one of those powerhouses like Duke or North Carolina yet," Beilein said. "We like to be under the radar. We got hot at the right time."

 

West Virginia becomes only the sixth No. 7 seed to reach the Elite Eight since the field expanded in 1985. None of them has ever advanced to the Final Four.

 

That's just yet another mountain to climb for the Mountaineers.

 

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/ncaatourney05/news/story?id=2021022&POLL201=20000000

[beaverbaseball 10]

Posted: Thursday, Mar 31, 2005 - 11:17:14 pm EST

By VICKI SMITH

Associated Press Writer

 

 

 

 

MORGANTOWN (AP) - Fans say West Virginia University basketball coach John Beilein deserves the two-year contract extension he won Thursday after leading the Mountaineers to their best season in more than four decades and turning around a team that was in trouble just three years ago.

 

"They say this team has no stars but in my opinion, Coach Beilein is the star of the team," said WVU senior Mike Jones of Pittsburgh, referring to the team's ensemble performance in the NCAA tournament. "He's brought them together, brought the fans together, assembled the coaching staff. He deserves all the credit."

 

Beilein, who took WVU to the Elite Eight, will remain in Morgantown through the 2011-12 season under the new contract. His base salary will be $700,000 a year, with annual increases of $20,000. His previous contract was to expire after the 2009-10 season.

 

At a news conference Thursday afternoon, neither WVU President David Hardesty nor Athletic Director Ed Pastilong would divulge the details of bonus incentives included in Beilein's new deal.

 

 

 

"John wanted to be with us, and we very much wanted him to be with us," Pastilong said. "It's a good marriage."

 

Hardesty said the contract includes provisions that would now make it "costly" for another school to try to lure Beilein away, but he did not elaborate.

 

Beilein was out of town Thursday on a recruiting trip and planned to travel to St. Louis to watch the Final Four. In a prepared statement issued by the university, he said he and his staff are grateful for the opportunity, "and we hope that our success will continue."

 

The Mountaineers finished the 2004-05 season 24-11 after losing to Louisville 93-85 in overtime in the NCAA regional finals.

 

It was the team's best showing since Jerry West's 1959 squad went to the national title game.

 

WVU had a school-record eight wins over nationally ranked teams this year and finished as runner-up in the Big East Tournament.

 

In his 27 years as a college coach, Beilein has won 502 games. He took over the Mountaineers in April 2002 after coaching five seasons at Richmond, where he compiled a 100-53 record.

 

At the time, the WVU program was in turmoil. Longtime coach Gale Catlett had quit in midseason, and WVU hired Bowling Green's Dan Dakich as a replacement. But Dakich quit eight days later after discovering a possible NCAA rules violation.

 

An internal investigation eventually concluded three unidentified players had accepted free meals, lodging and transportation before signing to play for the school. The players had roomed with WVU athletes and eaten at a campus dining hall in June 2001.

 

Pastilong declared four athletes ineligible to play but immediately asked the NCAA to reinstate three who had committed lesser infractions. Only point guard Jonathan Hargett, whose amateur status came into question, did not return to the team.

 

Hardesty said he has received phone calls and e-mails from alumni nationwide who have been energized by the team's success.

 

"Grads all over the country have bragging rights, and that will help build a backdrop for fund-raising," he said. "John Beilein's own persona and the kind of program he's built represent what we want to be known for nationally."

 

The announcement cuts short rumors that Beilein would leave.

 

His name has been mentioned as a possible replacement at Virginia.

 

Pastilong said that should help recruiting because prospective players will know they're entering a stable program.

 

http://www.bdtonline.com/articles/2005/04/01/sports/04beilein.txt