Suddenly, Michigan has to find a replacement for arguably the best coach in program history. Expect athletic director Warde Manuel to swing big, as he tries to sustain the momentum that Beilein established during his 12-year tenure.
Here are six candidates to get the job.
There isn't much reason to believe Donovan would leave the Thunder to reenter the college ranks, other than the fact the Thunder have lost in the first round of the playoffs three seasons in a row. Donovan is under contract through 2019-20. But if Michigan wants to make a splashy hire, this would certainly suffice. Before moving to the NBA in 2015, Donovan had a dominant 19-year run at Florida, including back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007.
It wasn't long ago that Jordan was seen as the heir apparent to Beilein at Michigan. He coached under Beilein from 2010-16, helping groom a number of star guards. But he left to become the head coach of Milwaukee and he has since moved to Butler, where he's been head coach for the past seasons. Jordan hasn't had great success at his alma mater, but he has a strong track record and obvious ties to the Michigan program.
Speaking of ties to the program, could Michigan bring back a member of the Fab Five? Howard has been as assistant coach for the Miami Heat since he retired from the NBA in 2013, and his name has popped up in rumors regarding head coaching openings the past couple offseasons. Michigan would have to look past the obvious black mark of the Fab Five era, but it's a relationship that is already on the mend.
We'll list these two together, as the obvious candidates from within. Yaklich joined Michigan in 2017 and has become the brains behind the team's terrific defense. Washington joined the program in 2016 and served as interim head coach following Beilein's heart surgery last offseason and took over when Beilein was ejected last season at Penn State. In either case, this would be the safe hire over the aggressive one.
Who better to replace Beilein than his own son? Yes, Patrick Beilein just accepted the head coaching job at Niagara, but surely he would listen if Michigan came calling. He was a graduate assistant at UM under his dad from 2008-10 and later spent a year as an assistant with the Utah Jazz. He's had lots of success in two head coaching roles, including back-to-back Northeast-10 Conference Coach of the Year honors while at Le Moyne.
A bit of a wild card here, but Fife has been mentioned before as a candidate for big head coaching jobs, most recently at Indiana. He's been an assistant at Michigan State since 2011 after a six-year run as head coach at IPFW, and Tom Izzo has always pushed for his assistants to move up the coaching ladder. Whether Izzo would be on board with Fife moving to Michigan, of course, is a much different matter.