With the Cleveland Cavaliers hiring John Beilein out of Michigan, we thought, who were the most interesting college-to-NBA coaching hires?
College coaches don’t normally translate well to the NBA and you can basically say that about any sport.
College coaches have a latitude their pro counterparts don’t have in terms of controlling a player’s life. One of the main reasons as to why college coaches can’t seem to pan out in the pros is because the same devices they use to win on the collegiate level, are not the same at the pro level.
Given the recent history of college coaches who flamed out in the NBA, it was odd to see the Cleveland Cavaliers reach into the college bin and come away with Michigan’s John Beilein. The team signed him to a five-year deal to bring the post-LeBron Cavs back to contender status.
There’s no telling how Beilein will perform in Cleveland. Will he be an outlier like Brad Stevens? Or, will he join the graveyard of college coaches who just couldn’t pan out in the NBA?
Those questions begged the question: Who was the most interesting college coaching hires in NBA history? We did some digging and came up with five coaches who had a ton of promise, but either flamed out or became an interesting exception in the sad history of college-to-NBA transitions.