Michigan rewards assistant coaches with raises, contract extensions

Since being hired as the head coach at Michigan in 2007, John Beilein’s teams have won 21 games or more in four of his six seasons at the helm. In addition to the team success there’s been plenty of work done with individual players as well, a credit not only to Beilein but his staff as well.

Thursday it was reported by Brendan F. Quinn of MLive.com that assistants Bacari Alexander, Lavall Jordan and Jeff Meyer have been given contract extensions and raises. According to the story the contracts will run through the 2017-18 season.

Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon was highly complimentary of the assistants, making note of the part they played in the transformation the program made following a disappointing 2009-10 season (15-17 record).

“I couldn’t be more pleased,” Brandon said of the new contracts for Alexander, Jordan and Meyer. “I think the world of John, but one of the things that he did as a leader, coming off of that 2010 season, is he took a hard look at his staff and made significant changes and brought in Bacari and LaVall and really created a staff that works together so well. They trust one another. They understand one another. They feed off one another and compliment one another in a way that’s truly special.”

For the second consecutive season Michigan will have to account for the loss of the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, with Nik Stauskas being a lottery selection in the NBA Draft, and they also lost key contributors in Jordan Morgan and Glenn Robinson III (Mitch McGary, too).

But the Wolverines have some talented players returning to Ann Arbor, led by guards Caris LeVert and Derrick Walton Jr., and their incoming recruiting class has been praised as well.

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