Michigan Basketball: WVU Fan Feeling Bad for an Old Friend

Roger Hayhurst — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 05:46:51 -0400

This morning when I awoke, I discovered that the highly potent, exciting offense of John Beilein had only scored 34 points against the # 1 seeded Wisconsin Badgers. As I was surfing around the message boards, I noticed few fellow Mountaineer fans gloating and exclaiming their happiness concerning Coach Beilein's "failure" in Ann Arbor.

Most of our angst towards John Beilein is misdirected anger about the whole Rich Rodriguez situation. I for one, feel it is unfair to lump together Beilein with RR. The only two things these coaches have in common are: they both once were successful at West Virginia University and now they both are trying to be successful at Michigan.

Coach Beilein left in a very classy manner. We all knew he was talking to U-M and he gave a proper notice. Sure he negotiated his buyout however, I wasn't concerned about the buyout. All of the things that Beilein did right, are all of the reasons that we (WVU fans) are still upset with Rich Rodriguez. Not once did Beilein say WVU was his "Dream Job" or that "He would be here until he wasn't wanted", as did RR said on many occasions.

The Mountaineers had some exciting times with John Beilein. Who could forget Mike Gansey popping 3's all night? Not to forget that every time someone got knocked down, they had just been "Pittsnoggled."

The five years that Beilein was at WVU were great. However, we all knew it wouldn't last. When Beilein left he paved the way for one of WV's own to come home, as we all welcomed Coach Huggs with...well, I guess with hugs.

Coach Bob Huggins has now led WVU through his first regular season, including the semi-finals of the Big East tournament, with a 24-10 record going into the NCAA Tournament as a # 7 seed. U-M will not even be invited to the NIT.

So as a True Blue Mountaineer fan I say, good luck next year Coach Beilein. I for one would love to see you lose to WVU in the Final Four next year. Now, to the Mountaineer fans; be easy on Coach Beilein. I am sure he is feeling enough pressure right now. I am sure we can find somewhere to express our anger... I know of a certain U-M football coach, at whom we could never be angry enough.

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Michigan Basketball: WVU Fan Feeling Bad for an Old Friend