The Mystery: D1 Coaching Star Now A Upstate NY High School Coach

Patrick Beilein was a shooting star in the collegiate coaching circles. He was a standout basketball player at West Virginia and his father, John, was a collegiate coaching legend, as well as having a stint leading the Cleveland Cavaliers of the NBA. The younger Beilein was beginning an ascent of his own in the coaching ranks by leading the Division II LeMoyne Dolphins to 3-straight NCAA tournaments. Patrick Beilein's "dream" came true when he was named the head coach of Niagara University's hoop team in 2019. 16 days prior to the start of the Purple Eagles season, without ever coaching a game, Beilein resigned.

“It has been a lifelong dream of mine to become a Division I head basketball coach but, unfortunately, that dream must be put on hold. Personal reasons I can no longer take lightly have led me to step away from my dream job," Beilein said in a statement quoted on usatoday.com.

Two years later, still enshrined in some mystery over his sudden departure, Beilein returned to the sidelines for the Syracuse Stallions of the TBL (The Basketball League), not quite a Division I job but a coaching job nonetheless. This past July, according to Lindsay Kramer of syracuse.com, Baldwinsville High School athletic director Chris Campolieta contacted Beilein to see if he would be interested in coaching at the high school level. The former West Virginia hoop star decided it was another good move in the right direction.

People may never know why Patrick Beilein stepped down from his "dream" job at Niagara. However, the reasoning may have been as simple as "it was personal." We all go through things in life that others may deem to be "scandalous" but, in fact, it ends up being nothing more than people reading into an everyday problem. I don't know Patrick Beilein but while working in Division I athletics at UAlbany, I heard nothing but positives about him. My understanding is he is a tenaciously hard worker that cares about the success of his student-athletes. And, he knows the game of basketball inside-out. What's in the future for Patrick Beilein?

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“It’s hard for me to look forward to what may come available. But I think this will help me a lot,” he told syracuse.com. “Sure, you want to be at the highest level. But that will come in time if I do go to that path again. But you just want to be happy with what you’re doing every day. Whether it’s high school, that’s perfectly fine for me. Or college. Or the professionals again.” Everybody deserves a second chance and hopefully the Baldwinsville Bees will lead Patrick Beilein back to his dreams.