As the FBI investigation into recruiting violations hammers various schools across the country, Michigan basketball head coach John Beilein lays into violators.
Beilein spoke to the media at Big Ten media day in Rosemont, Illinois over the past week and a half. Inevitably, his question and answer sessions with the media turned toward recent headlines surrounding recruiting scandals at other universities.
Kyle Austin of MLive initially reported on Beilein’s comments to the media and subsequently provided context to the situation. He quoted Beilein as saying, “If people are breaking the law, if people are committing felony crimes in our business, then get them the heck out of our business, if that’s what’s happening.”
“If people are breaking the law, if people are committing felony crimes in our business, then get them the heck out of our business, if that’s what’s happening.”
Part of Coach Beilein’s initial presser can be seen in the clip below:
Michigan’s coach continued his hard stance later in the week, as reported by Andrew Kahn of MLive. His attitude toward recruitment rule breaking is tempered by the requirement that someone be proven guilty before being judged.
Beilein made his stance clear with the media. He stated, “For those that aren’t clean, we need to get them out of the game. We need to get them out of this thing so that we can proceed and run all the programs the right way,” Then clarified, “But I’m not going to accuse — people need to be proven guilty first of all. But if they’re proven guilty, they can’t be showing up on some other coaching staff — ever. Pretty simple.”
“For those that aren’t clean, we need to get them out of the game. We need to get them out of this thing so that we can proceed and run all the programs the right way. But I’m not going to accuse — people need to be proven guilty first of all. But if they’re proven guilty, they can’t be showing up on some other coaching staff — ever. Pretty simple.”
Nation, what are your thoughts regarding the respected coach’s stance? Should violators of recruitment standards face a lifetime ban from basketball?