Cavaliers part ways with John Beilein, JB Bickerstaff promoted to Head Coach role

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Beilein began his career as a high school coach in Newfane, NY

Falling in line with earlier reports that the Cleveland Cavaliers were in talks about letting the former Michigan State coach go, the Cavs have finally provided the final word. The franchise has negotiated a financial settlement to take care of the remaining money from the 2019-20 contract, and has promoted associate head coach J.B. Bickerstaff to the full-time head coach role for the ailing squad.

Story filed to ESPN: After a brief and tumultuous tenure, John Beilein is leaving as Cleveland's coach. Associate HC JB Bickerstaff will be elevated to head coach. Beilein's expected to say goodbye to staff and players on Wednesday upon team's return from All-Star Break.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 19, 2020

Beilein's rookie year as NBA coach did not go anywhere near as planned, with Cleveland finding themselves at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a miserable 14-40 win-loss record.. Beilein failed to implement collegiate offense into the league, struggling to cope with a barrage of losses and a glaring lack of restraint in the locker room.

The multitude of losses attached to a rebuild in Cleveland proved too much for Beilein to handle, and often resulted in public and private outbursts with players.

Beilein's 40+ years of experience in coaching college teams was expected to play a major role in the player development of the young Cavs core. However, he ended up losing more games with Cleveland this season than he had in his three years at Michigan combined.

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