John Beilein is moving on from the University of Michigan and is now the new head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, leading to the first coaching search for the men’s basketball program in 12 years and the first major hire between the hoops and football programs for athletic director Warde Manuel. We will keep tabs of the coaching search and the names that emerge here throughout the process and will update this with any information that becomes available as we get closer to a hire. May 13 The first candidate to address potential interest in the job was Alabama’s Nate Oats, who cut his teeth coaching Romulus High School and was hired by the Tide after his work at Buffalo the last few years. He has taken his name out of consideration, but endorsed U-M assistant Saddi Washington, a former pupil of his at Romulus, for a chance at the gig. (247Sports) Manuel released a statement on Monday, saying that he was saddened to hear the news, but promises a “full national search” in finding U-M’s next head basketball coach. (Maize n Brew) May 15 Jeff Goodman from Stadium is reporting Notre Dame’s Mike Brey and Florida’s Mike White are two coaches unlikely to leave their current job for the Michigan gig. Brey’s name has not appeared at all during this coaching search, but White’s had been thrown around some. May 16 Handful of updates posted from Sam Webb, mostly revolving around Billy Donovan and Brad Stevens not being interested, but endorsing former assistants of theirs in Shaka Smart and LaVall Jordan (Michigan Insider, VIP) Interestingly enough, Michigan assistant Luke Yaklich is interviewing for a job on Shaka Smart’s staff at Texas. (Brian Davis) Dick Vitale speaks to Texas Tech HC Chris Beard, who tells him it would take a “special offer” to pull him away from his current job. (Dick Vitale) May 17 A first confirmation of interest from a candidate himself, with Miami Heat assistant (and former member of the Fab Five) Juwan Howard saying the search firm has reached out to him and said AD Warde Manuel is “very interested” in speaking to him about the position. (Jordan Schultz, ESPN) Juwan Howard and Warde Manuel have a meeting planned for Tuesday (May 21st). (Josh Henschke, Michigan Insider) May 20 Manuel is meeting with Providence head coach Ed Cooley on Monday prior to Juwan Howard’s interview on Tuesday for the job. A decision may be coming by the end of this week on who the next coach will be. Both Luke Yaklich and Saddi Washington have interviewed for the job. (Nick Baumgardner, Detroit Free Press) May 21 Ed Cooley has presumably taken himself out of the running for the job, or not been selected (or maybe just used the interview process for a raise), with Providence Basketball tweeting that Cooley is “staying home.” (Providence). Juwan Howard’s interview set to take place on Tuesday in Miami. May 22 Multiple media reports say that Michigan has offered the job to Juwan Howard and that contract negotiations are currently ongoing, though a deal is far from done at this point. It appears Michigan has its man. (Jon Rothstein and Detroit Free Press) Shaka Smart and Texas still reportedly have strong interest in bringing in Luke Yaklich (Multiple media reports) The deal is apparently done with Rothstein saying a press conference could be held as soon as later this week or early next week. Jeff Goodman of Stadium says that Howard will receive a five-year deal from Michigan. Feel free to drop any thoughts or scoops you may see in the comments below!<doc-sep>With the Michigan job suddenly and unexpectedly open, who are the immediate candidates? The Detroit News has a list up that’s probably reasonable at least as a starting point. Best case scenario: Billy Donovan jumps before OKC pushes. Not happening option: Jay Wright. Why would he? Highly unlikely options: Brad Stevens and Chris Beard. Probably too risky: Juwann Howard. It would be intriguing but he has no head coaching experience and no coaching experience in college whatsoever. Possibly might work out better than expected: LaVall Jordan of Butler, and Beilein assistants Luke Yaklich and Saddi Washington. Not happening but everyone has to mention it anyway: Rick Pitino. It’s the first time in a while we haven’t seen a list with a Duke guy on it. It wouldn’t surprise us to see Mike Brey pop up but we suspect he’s pretty happy at Notre Dame. We can’t imagine that Tommy Amaker would come up, since he’s already been there, but we could see Johnny Dawkins getting a call. He would never consider it if his son Aubrey, who started at Michigan, hadn’t declared for the NBA Draft. Leaving your son for the school he left would be...well strange. Who could understand that dynamic? But without him on the team would Dawkins consider it? He might. And he’d be great. It might be worth it to check in on Thad Matta. If he’s healthy enough to coach you really couldn’t go wrong with him. This time of year it would also be smart to see who the most highly regarded assistants are. They have to get a break sometime and most assistants would jump at the chance. And every coach in the world other than Beileien has spent time as an assistant. It would be a major jump and therefore a major risk, but in our opinion, anyone who is hiring should at least talk to Duke assistant Jon Scheyer. In Michigan’s case, he’s a Midwesterner and he’s an absolute winner. He’s young and there are no guarantees, but he’s smart as hell and people expect him to be legitimately great one day. Whoever hires him has a chance of looking as smart as Tom Butters did a few years after he hired Coach K at Duke in 1980.<doc-sep>ROSEMONT, Ill. — Last spring, Warde Manuel told reporters here at Big Ten headquarters that he wanted John Beilein to be Michigan's basketball coach until the day Beilein retired. Beilein's no longer at Michigan, and he didn't retire. On Monday, he chose to accept the head-coaching job with the Cleveland Cavaliers. And that means Manuel's search is on for Michigan's next basketball coach. “I’m considering many different candidates," Manuel said Monday night at Big Ten headquarters just outside Chicago. "I’m taking a lot in right now and seeing who is interested. I have my sense of who I’d like to be interested but I’m also given a sense of who’s interested. People have to absorb the information that there’s a change and think about it, talk to their close advisors, talk to their friends and spouses to figure out if this is something they want to do. "And so I’ve been around long enough to know that in the first 12 hours, you don’t jump at every candidate that throws their hand up. You wait and allow people to think about it and see where the fit is.” When asked about a timeline for the search, Manuel said, "The timeline is I want to get it right." “While I’d like it to be done ASAP, I’m also going to take the time to make sure that we find the right person for Michigan," he continued. While Manuel was in the loop — Beilein first let him know of the talks between him and the Cavaliers at the beginning of May — he was still surprised by the final decision. "I wish him well, but it did hit me by surprise," Manuel said. "I knew some of the conversations had been going on, he was very good about keeping me posted that there were some conversations, some talk going on, some interest in having those conversations. But we’re surprised by the final outcome." When asked if he was prepared for the possibility of something like this happening after Beilein interviewed for the Detroit Pistons' head coaching job last summer, Manuel said, "(I'm) always prepared. Try to be, at least." “You hope to never have to do anything with it," he continued. "But you try to prepare and think about next steps and have conversations around what that would look like and who that may be. But wasn’t hoping to implement any plans.” The difficulty of this coaching search lies in the timing. Manuel said the ideal period for a coaching change is between the middle of March and the middle of April. "A lot of movement has already occurred," he said. "Things have settled down, for the most part. We’ll see where it goes. Have already received significant number of calls and a lot of interest in the potential for this position. “People have settled into their role and where they want to be. Some coaches who’ve had success have moved to other programs at this time, I’m sure that that will weigh on them and their families and the institutions that they’re at." The ideal candidate for the coaching search might remind many of the coach who just left Michigan. Manuel is looking for someone who can "coach and teach," and who has a track record as a head coach, can develop talent without necessarily having 5-star recruits on the roster and possesses a background "beyond reproach." “I want somebody who wants to coach and teach young men," Manuel said. "To drive success on the court and off the court. Academically, we’ve been as solid as well as we’ve played. We’ve had young men with character who have done the right thing. So I want that. "If I can get a proven coach, someone with a track record as a head coach, that’s what I’d like to see. And then I want somebody who can coach, who can develop talent. John did it and this league does it year in, year out without teams full of 5-stars. We develop talent in the league, we’re a tough league that plays hard, so I’m looking for somebody that can develop talent and who can also coach. "And lastly, John has established that you can win with integrity and do things the right way. And given some of the issues that have popped up in this sport, I want to assure that whoever leads our program understands that, has that in their background, where they’re beyond reproach. And so I’ll search for somebody as well and make sure we dot our I’s and cross our T’s around that.” This is the biggest test of Manuel's tenure as athletic director. In 12 years at Michigan, Beilein became the winningest coach in program history, resurrecting a program that struggled to emerge from the shadow of the Ed Martin scandal and resulting sanctions in the 1990s. In many ways, the ideal candidate that Manuel described Monday night resembles Beilein. The difficulty, of course, is finding a like replacement. Manuel believes the job is attractive, and he's hoping to hire someone who can maintain the level of success Beilein established. "I think John has really established us as a top-ten program year in and year out for the last three to four years, so I look forward trying to get somebody in here who can help to continue that level of success," Manuel said. "Now, with potentially losing three starters from this year’s team, even John with all the skills and success as the coach, you’re losing in essence in the two-year period, I think we lost seven starters. "So it’s going to be difficult. Would have been difficult for John anyway, to continue that level of high success. But if there’s anyone (who has) proven that they can develop the talent, it was John, and we’ll look for somebody who can continue to do that.” Contact Orion Sang at osang@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @orion_sang. 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Dan Fife was captain of Michigan’s basketball team his senior year in 1971 while playing for Johnny Orr, then actually talked to athletic director Tom Goss about the head coaching job after Steve Fisher was fired prior to the 1997-98 season. Fife’s son, Dugan, played for Fisher during the Fab Five era, actually starting two seasons for the Wolverines. And Fife’s youngest son, Dane, could be considered a long shot candidate to be the next head coach at Michigan following John Beilein’s departure for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Dane has been an assistant coach at Michigan State the last eight years. “I was stunned,” said Dan Fife of hearing the news Monday that Beilein was leaving Michigan. Beilein was Michigan’s winningest coach (278 wins, 12 years), taking the top spot over Orr, who won 209 games in 12 seasons. Michigan showed some interest in Dan Fife in 1997 after Fisher was fired, but it never led to anything substantial. Fife was coaching Clarkston at the time and would remain there until retiring in 2018 after consecutive Class A state championships. “I couldn’t really (take it),” Fife said about the Michigan job. “That’s when Dane was in high school, and he was supposed to visit Michigan the day Fisher was let go. Dane had visited all the big schools, Indiana, Duke, North Carolina and Michigan State. “I wouldn’t have taken it because of Dane. I wouldn’t want to have Dane to have that type of pressure. I wanted him to be able to go wherever he wanted to go, not just follow me. They never offered me the job. They called me and talked to me, had a talk with Goss, but didn’t know if they were serious or not and I didn’t get too excited about it.” Dane Fife went on to become Mr. Basketball during his senior year at Clarkston in 1998. He went on to play for Bobby Knight at Indiana, then leading the Hoosiers to the 2002 national championship game under current Detroit Mercy coach Mike Davis, earning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year honors. Dane Fife spent two years as an assistant at Indiana under Davis before becoming head coach at Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne for six years (2005-11). He has been Tom Izzo’s assistant for eight years. Dan Fife believes Dane, 39, is ready for another head coaching job. “I would be happy for any head coaching job Dane would get,” “He’s been fortunate to be a young head coach, then to be able to work with Izzo all these years. I haven’t talked to Dane today, but he’s ready for it. He played for Knight at Indiana, coached under Izzo at Michigan State. “Dane knows what he’s doing and he’s paid his dues. I’m sure he has thoughts, but we haven’t shared them. I know he’s enjoyed his time at Michigan State, but his brother played at Michigan and so has his dad. We’d certainly support him if he was offered.” Another young coach with Michigan roots, 44-year-old Nate Oats, issued a statement Monday that suggested he would not be interested in succeeding Beilein. Oats coached at Romulus High before going 96-43 with three MAC titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in four seasons at Buffalo, then took the head coaching job at Alabama. “I think if Nate Oats was able to do it (get the Alabama job), I think Dane is certainly able to get to the next level, but there will be a lot of big names going into this one,” Dan Fife said. “The Alabama thing went so quick.”