On Wednesday, John Beilein made it official that he was stepping down as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers after the first half of the season that took its toll on him emotionally.
http://gty.im/1187447286
But rather than just leaving town, Beilein gathered the Cavaliers’ players for an emotional locker room talk.
During the talk, Beilein reportedly explained to his former players that he did not feel like he could make a positive impact by coaching them any longer.
Following the meeting, Cavs veteran Kevin Love spoke to reporters about the meeting, saying he and his teammates respected Beilein for looking them in the eye and owning up to his mistakes.
“It took a real man to do that today,” Kevin Love said. “Seeing him being vulnerable and treating us with respect and empathy, I thought it was super powerful. He came in and we all, I think the players, the coaches, himself, we all talked about some of the successes and failures that we had and talked about how it’s really, really hard to lose in this league.
“So I respect the hell out of him. He walks in, just lays it all out on the line. I’ve had to walk the walk of everything I’ve talked about (in terms of) being vulnerable as a man and being vulnerable in any situation in life and having to speak the truth and it was really ballsy and hard I would imagine. So for him to come in and do that and look us all in the eye and acknowledge that integrity and willingness, that’s big. That’s real man s— right there. Everybody you talk to will say they respected the hell out of him.”
Nation, do you think John Beilein has coached his final game or will he end up landing a job somewhere else?
–Quotes courtesy of Chris Fedor, Cleveland.com–LINK
