File this under the category of obvious.
Michigan owes John Beilein all the money it can muster. Perhaps now more than ever.
The Free Press confirmed the Detroit Pistons have expressed interest in Beilein for their vacant coaching position, meeting first about the job within the past two weeks in Los Angeles. They've now met at least twice.
The interest is real. The Pistons' motivations are obvious: They're interested in one of the game's best teachers. Beilein's motivation? Only he knows.
Either way, this is Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel's opportunity to leave no doubt about how much his department cares about men's basketball — a program that delivers banners and rings and does so because its head coach brought it out from underneath a pile of rubble to make it so.