Odds Say Rick Pitino Has Real Chance to Be Next Michigan Coach

• Chris Beard is the favorite to be the next head coach at Michigan
• Rick Pitino, who was fired from Louisville in 2017, is among the frontrunners
• LaVall Jordan could be the best bet on the board at +900

The college basketball world was stunned when Michigan head coach John Beilein announced that he’s leaving the program to take the head coaching job with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Now the school has to pivot quickly and find a successor. Who is the best bet to succeed Beilein in Ann Arbor?

Michigan Men’s Basketball Head Coach Odds

Pitino in Play?

Louisville fired coach Rick Pitino in October of 2017 as the school was under federal investigation. However, we know that he’s a successful basketball coach, we also know that there’s a shortage of quality basketball coaches, and we know that good coaches get second chances.

Pitino proved he’s still got it as he coached Panathinaikos to a Greek Cup championship.

Pitino proved he’s still got it as he coached Panathinaikos to a Greek Cup championship. The team was stuck in mediocrity when he took over in the middle of the season and he got them back on track. Does he have a bit of a shady background with the pay-for-play issue and trying to get a mistress to have an abortion? Yes.

Rick Pitino is out as Louisville’s men’s basketball coach, a source tells ESPN’s @michaeleaves pic.twitter.com/UMJdHwbkft

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 27, 2017

However, in college sports results often outweigh transgressions.

Beard the Favorite

Chris Beard is coming off a couple of incredible seasons at Texas Tech and would be a natural fit at Michigan. The team has found success in recent years by playing suffocating defense and Beard’s teams are stellar at that end of the floor. His style of coaching would suit the Big Ten well.

BREAKING: Chris Beard of Texas Tech wins Associated Press men’s basketball coach of the year. @TexasTechMBB reached its first Final Four and @CoachBeardTTU got 20 of 64 votes to win the award. @aaronbeardap: https://t.co/pE9zf8YZ3a pic.twitter.com/CEXqWXVtTQ

— AP Top 25 (@AP_Top25) April 4, 2019

The issue is that he just re-upped at Texas Tech, signing a six-year extension at just over $4.5 million per year. Of course, Michigan has the type of budget to surpass that. What’s interesting is that Texas Tech put a poison pill in the contract, making it really hard for Texas to hire him but non-Big 12 teams only have to pay $3 million.

Bet on LaVall Jordan

Although Beard is an interesting name, I don’t think he’s leaving Texas Tech right after signing an extension. And while the legendary Pitino is a possibility, Michigan is a clean program and probably doesn’t want to invite any controversy.

LaVall Jordan says @ButlerMBB won’t shift all its attention to its big-time test against Purdue quite yet: “We’ve got more tests than that — we’ve got finals week coming up first.” pic.twitter.com/f73xWSb21S

— FOX Sports Indiana (@FSIndiana) December 9, 2017

LaVall Jordan, who is the current head coach at Butler, is an interesting name to watch. He is from Michigan and was an assistant under Beilein at one point. He’s a coach that’s on the rise and has had success at Butler since taking over two years ago. Any major program looking for a coach would consider him.

Being a former assistant at Michigan, though, he’s going to have some familiarity with the program. On top of that, he’s known as an excellent recruiter. With odds of +900, sign me up as I can see him being the man that’s the next Michigan basketball head coach.

Pick: LaVall Jordan (+900)