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Back in March of this year, Patrick Beilein, son of current Cleveland Cavaliers Head Coach John Beilein, was announced as the new head coach of the Niagara Purple Eagles, a team that had just fired Chris Casey after posting a 64–129 record in six years on the job.
Today, it was reported on Twitter that Beilein will be stepping down from the job before he even coached a game for Niagara:
Niagara head coach Pat Beilein will step down, source confirmed to @Stadium. Assistant Greg Paulus will serve as the interim head coach.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) October 24, 2019
Beilein had just made the jump to D-I after a successful stint as the head coach of the Le Moyne Dolphins, a D-II program.
This move is obviously very unexpected, and no further information has been reported regarding the reason for Beilein’s departure. Now, with only fifteen days before the season begins with a game against Drexel, Greg Paulus will fill in for Beilein.
Paulus is a former Duke guard who spent 2011-17 working as an assistant for Thad Matta at Ohio State before spells as an assistant at Louisville in 2017-18 and George Washington in 2018-19.
UPDATE (11:27 am):
Patrick Beilein has released a statement making his resignation official:
Niagara's Patrick Beilein has released a statement, per his representatives. pic.twitter.com/gBeoLvLJMd
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 24, 2019