Former University of Michigan Basketball head coach John Beilein is picking up the pieces following a disastrous venture into the NBA that saw him not even finish the first year of a five-year pact with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Numerous factors kept Beilein from achieving the success in the professional ranks that he enjoyed while coaching college athletes, but no single event stands out more than his infamous misstatement during a team film session, during which he allegedly stated his team was playing like a bunch of “thugs”; Beilein was immediately apologetic and said he had meant to use the word “slugs” instead.
And now, a report from The Athletic is alleging that Cleveland players would routinely play music with the word “thug” in the lyrics whenever Beilein was present in order to, as one source put it, to “make light of the situation”.
The report states that the playlist included tracks like “Thuggish Ruggish Bone” by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, “Thugz Mansion” by Tupac and Trick Daddy's “I'm a Thug.”
“The worst part to me was not owning that he said it,” one player told The Athletic.
Beilein's venture into the NBA could not have gone worse, and it seems as though his players were sending a message on their thoughts of their coach if this report is indeed accurate.
– – Quotes via The Athletic Link– –