Wheeling, W. Va. - On Wednesday, the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame announced its nine members of the Class of 2022. Among the men inducted was former Wheeling University Men's Basketball Player John Beilein ('75), who amassed over 850 wins in his collegiate coaching career while serving as Head Coach for four different universities. Joining Beilein in the Class of 2022 are Jim Calhoun, Richard Hamilton, Jerry Krause, Lon Kruger, Larry Miller, Frank Selvy, Jimmy Walker, and Roy Williams.
Beilein came to Wheeling College in 1971 and was a four-year member of the Men's Basketball team. He served as a Role Player for the Cardinals teams in the early 70's and was the team's captain for the 1975 season. During his time with the Cardinals, the team combined to go 66-54 and were the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Association (WVIAC) Runner-ups during the 1974-1975 season. Beilein never reached the 100-career point mark over his four seasons, but helped produce some of the best seasons in school history during the early 1970's. He graduated from Wheeling College in 1975 with a degree in History and went back to Western New York where he served as Head Basketball Coach at Newfane High School for three seasons.
He would get into the collegiate coaching ranks in 1978 when he was named Head Men's Basketball Coach at Erie Community College from 1978-1982. He also spent time at Nazareth College (1982-1983) and Le Moyne College (1983-1992) before breaking into the Division I Coaching ranks. His first Division I Head Coaching job came with Canisius from 1992-1997. While with the Griffins, he led the team to the MAAC Tournament four times and helped the school reach the NCAA Tournament as the #13 seed in 1995 for the first time since the 1957 season. He would then be named the Head Men's Basketball Coach at Richmond, a position he held from 1997 to 2002. While in Richmond, Beilein had a 100-53 record over five seasons. He made his second trip to the NCAA Tournament during the 1997-1998 season.
He would then make the third stop of his coaching career when he was hired as Head Men's Basketball Coach at West Virginia University prior to the 2002-03 season. He made two more trips to the NCAA Tournament with the Mountaineers and led them to a 104-60 record over his five years at the helm. Prior to the 2007-08 season, Beilein was hired as Head Men's Basketball Coach at Michigan, where he built the program from the ground up. He spent 12 seasons with the Wolverines and took a team that had not made the NCAA Tournament in six years and took them to two National Title Games, Two Big Ten titles, and Nine NCAA Tournament appearances.
Beilein would then try his hands at the professional ranks when he was hired as the Head Coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 13th, 2019. He coached 54 games with the Cavs before stepping down and joining the Cavaliers front office. He currently serves as the Senior Advisor for Player Development for the Detroit Pistons, a position he accepted on June 2nd, 2021.
Beilein is no stranger to Hall of Fame Honors as this will be the 12th different Hall of Fame that he is a member of. He was inducted into the Wheeling University Athletic Hall of Fame back in 2015 for his lifetime achievement as a college basketball coach. Beilein is the first Wheeling University Men's Basketball player or coach to be inducted into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame.
