Michigan basketball, John Beilein working on contract extension

ROSEMONT, Ill. — Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel has said he wants John Beilein to finish his career at Michigan and he’s working on a new contract to make that happen.

Michigan’s head basketball coach is both encouraged and excited to work with Manuel on the new pact.

“As a matter of fact we are (talking about that),” Beilein said. “Warde and I have been so busy and apart, but we’re working on that right now.

“So stay tuned.”

Beilein received a contract extension through the 2020-21 season in November of 2015 that pushed his annual pay to $3.37 million. That number had Beilein at No. 9 nationally in terms of pay, per USA TODAY. He was behind Ohio State’s Chris Holtmann ($7.15 million) and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo ($4.36 million) entering last season.

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The 65-year-old head coach, already Michigan’s all-time wins leader, has led the Wolverines to two Final Fours (2013, 2018) that resulted in national title game appearances. He’s won two Big Ten regular-season titles, two Big Ten Tournament titles, advanced to four Sweet 16s and three Elite Eights.

Manuel was with Beilein at the Big Ten spring athletic director meetings in Rosemont. He didn’t speak with reporters Monday, but could be available Tuesday.

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Either way, he’s gone on record about how he wants a long-term deal for Beilein.

“I don’t want John Beilein to coach anywhere else and he knows that,” Manuel said last month. “He understands my feelings towards that. You can take that for what it’s worth.

“I don’t want him to go anywhere else.”

Foreign tour

Michigan will take a foreign trip this summer, as basketball programs are allowed to do every four years.

Beilein said Monday he’s not sure where his team will go, only that it will be in August. More than that, he says it’s coming at a perfect time.

Michigan will bring in five freshmen this season: Forwards Ignas Brazdeikis, Brandon Johns and Colin Castleton, along with guards David DeJulius and Adrien Nunez. This will give Michigan’s staff more time to work with those players.

“We’ll make a foreign trip in August, this is the right year with five incoming guys to have all this,” Beilein said. “We went to Italy four years ago so we’ll pick a place now. That’s going to be good. I can’t wait to get those guys and get into it.

“A couple of those freshmen will have to be ready to play for sure.”

Beilein also said Jon Teske, Jordan Poole, Isaiah Livers and Austin Davis opted to remain on campus during spring to workout with Jon Sanderson and the strength staff.

Transfer options

If Michigan forward Charles Matthews returns to school after testing the NBA draft, the Wolverines will still have one scholarship available for the 2018-19 season.

Beilein said Monday the staff is considering both graduate and traditional transfers, but could also wind up banking the scholarship for the 2019-20 class due to the large size of the 2018 freshman group.

“We’ve been looking at transfers, grad transfers. The transfer thing is real but it could take one away from ’19 and Charles could always come back for a fifth year,” Beilein said. “Welcome to our world. Every (coach) is juggling the same basketballs right now.”

Contact Nick Baumgardner: nbaumgardn@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter nickbaumgardner.

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