Former Canisius coach John Beilein selected to National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame

Courtesy of GoGriffs.com

Nine college basketball icons who collectively impacted the sport as players, coaches and contributors have been selected to the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022.

Making up the Class of 2022 are players Richard Hamilton of Connecticut, Larry Miller of North Carolina, Frank Selvy of Furman, and the late Jimmy Walker of Providence, along with former Canisius head coach John Beilein, Jerry Krause and Lon Kruger.

The Class of 2022 will be enshrined Nov. 20 in Kansas City as part of National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Weekend, which also features the annual Hall of Fame Classic tournament.

Beilein, who was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame last October, served as the head coach of the Canisius men’s basketball program from 1992-97. In his time on Main Street, he posted a record of 89-62 and guided the Golden Griffins to the 1994 MAAC regular-season championship and the 1996 MAAC Tournament title, the only MAAC crown in program history. He led the Griffs to three-straight postseason appearances, including the 1995 NIT semifinal round and the 1996 NCAA Tournament, and five of his former players have been inducted into the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame. For his efforts in rebuilding the Canisius program, Beilein is the only coach in program history to be named the MAAC Coach of the Year (1994), and he was also recognized as the New York State Division I Coach of the Year after that season as well.

Beilein’ 89 career wins as the Griffs’ bench boss ranks fifth all-time in program history, and his career winning percentage of .589 is tops among Canisius head coaches that have served as head coach for 100-or more games on Main Street. He is also the only coach in the program’s 30-year MAAC history to take the Blue and Gold to multiple MAAC Championship Game appearances. For his efforts leading the Canisius program, the Burt, N.Y., native was enshrined into the Canisius Sports Hall of Fame in 2019.

After leaving Canisius, Beilein went on to coach at Richmond (1997-2002), West Virginia (2002-07) and Michigan (2007-19) before taking over as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 41 years as a collegiate head coach, he compiled a career record of 829-468 (.639), recorded 20-plus-win seasons on 23 occasions and finished with a winning record in 35 of those campaigns. Beilein has 20 career postseason appearances — 13 in the NCAA Division I Tournament, six in the NIT and one in the NCAA Division II Tournament. With the nine trips to the Big Dance with Michigan, he is one of 14 coaches to have taken four different schools to the NCAA Tournament — Canisius (1996), Richmond (1998), West Virginia (2005, 2006) and Michigan (2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019). He also served as the head coach at Division II LeMoyne (1983-92) and he coached for one season at Division III Nazareth College.

Details on tickets for the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022 Induction Celebration will be announced soon. For more information on the event, visit www.halloffameweekend.com.