Yaklich Out, Washington In
We've got another Expected To tweet that hovers between news and not news, but this one is not about a foregone conclusion so here it is:
Sources: Texas' Shaka Smart is expected to hire former Michigan assistant Luke Yaklich as an assistant coach. Was the Wolverines' defensive coordinator over the past few seasons.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 29, 2019
Brendan Quinn confirms the previous tweet and has Howard's first assistant hire:
Per sources, U-M assistant Luke Yaklich is indeed headed to Texas. Not official, but in the works. First reported by @JonRothstein.
— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) May 29, 2019
Additionally, Saddi Washington, I am told by sources, will be retained by Juwan Howard as a member of the U-M staff.
DeAndre Haynes remains tbd.
Losing Yaklich sucks for a couple different reasons. Michigan was 3rd and 2nd in defensive efficiency during his two seasons in Ann Arbor, and that was all his show. Some of that could be chalked up to Yaklich walking into two of the best defenders Michigan's ever had. But three-fifths of the starting lineup in 2017-18 was Moe Wagner, Duncan Robinson, and Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman. None of those guys were plus defenders individually. Wagner had a 2% block rate!
Also Yaklich was the primary recruiter on Jalen Wilson and getting him back in the fold is a longer shot now.
[After THE JUMP: transfer talk]
Retaining Washington is good. Ace noted on the podcast that before he came to Michigan he worked with guards, not bigs, so he's not as much of an overlap with Howard as he appears at first blush. Program continuity is a very good thing given what John Beilein left behind.
Multiple outlets have reported that Howard is likely to hire a former college head coach. Quinn:
Regardless of what Howard decides to do with U-M’s current staffers, he’s expected, according to multiple sources familiar with the situation, to hire a former college head coach to serve a two-part role as an associate head coach and consigliere. In one way, shape or form, all coaches polled for this piece mentioned the need for, as one put it, “someone who’s been there.”
From a current high-major head coach: “Having a former head coach or folks that know lay of the land is important. (The) college game is so different with rules, compliance, recruiting politics, game rules, officiating.”
From a former mid-major head coach now working as a high-major assistant: “He’s going to need a really experienced staff because he’s coming in cold. No AAU experiences and no high school experience. He’s gonna need direction.”
That latter paragraph is wrong. Howard's four sons are all prospects at some level: Juwan Jr played for WMU and Detroit from 2010 to 2015; Joshua is going into his senior season at Brown; Jace is a 2020 prospect; Jett is a 2022 prospect. He knows some guys. The rest of it… yeah, accurate. Howard's eyes are going to bug out of his head at a call some time next year.
So the staff is going to be
- Saddi Washington
- Former Head Coach
- Deandre Haynes/Howard Eisely/Other Recruiter Person
Plus an analyst or two or, I dunno, seven.
BONUS ROSTER STUFF
Michigan has been mentioned for a sit-one play-one transfer:
Seventh Woods is getting closer to picking a new school to finish his college basketball career.
According to the Columbia native and former Hammond standout, three schools have risen to the top of his list, and one of them is the hometown Gamecocks.
In addition to South Carolina, he also is considering Gonzaga and Michigan, which just hired former Fab Five member Juwan Howard last week.
Woods played about a quarter of UNCs minutes last year, putting up an 84 ORTG largely because he had a 38 TO rate. Ace did some fiddling on Torvik and Woods had the worst TO rate amongst high-major players who were on the floor at least 20% of the time by three full points. His previous two seasons were actually worse, with 74 and 77 ORTGs and TO rates >30. It's difficult to believe Woods would be able to help Michigan, especially since he has to sit out next year.
They have not been mentioned for another sit-one play-one transfer but Rutgers's Eugene Omoruyi is worth the roll of the dice if Michigan is so inclined. He announced a transfer on instagram late last night. Insult to injury:
“Rutgers will always be a special place to me. But with that being said, I have decided to transfer, and have asked Coach Pikeil and the coaching staff for my release from the program. Thank you.”
Rutgers had just scheduled a game in Toronto, Omoruyi's hometown!
Omoruyi is a rough-and-tumble 4-man who led Rutgers with 27% usage. His 47/31 shooting splits aren't great but have to be taken in a Rutgers context. Fewer than half his attempts at the rim were assisted. Almost a fifth of his shots came in the last 5 seconds of the clock. Delete a few points of usage, hopefully of the desperate variety, and Omoruyi is probably a decently efficient player.
Michigan's not going to fill up this year so I'd be happy to take a swing on a fifth year version of Omoruyi. Just speculation at this point.
what with rutgers being rutger, what are the chances rutger tries to restrict an in-conference transfer?
I doubt they would want to risk reprisal.
They can't anymore. With the transfer portal he didn't even have to ask for his release. Programs can no longer put restrictions on where a transfer goes.
Fencing the garden, I guess
Poop. It is looking more and more like Michigan will enter this season down three scholarship guys and with some massive holes in the wings rotation. Unless Howard can pull a late rabbit out of the hat we are going to need some massive improvements from Brooks, DDJ, Johns and/or Nunez.
I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a couple of those to step up significantly ... I'd bet on Johns as most likely.
Yak leaving may be okay I'm the long run, but it seems to point to a rough next year. The offense and defense will now presumably be at least somewhat different, and there will be transition costs with that. And, given the players who are coming back, maintaining the defense seemed like the best chance of repeating at least some of last season's success.
I generally agree, but simply by returning Simpson and Teske, I don't see a massive drop in DEFF.
Yeah, it won't fall off a cliff in the Wile E Coyote year. I do think the defensive numbers will regress, not because of defensive play but offense. We're going to turn the ball over more next year and that means we're going to give up more fast break points.
"But three-fifths of the starting lineup in 2017-18 was Moe Wagner, Duncan Robinson, and Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman."
Do people not know that Duncan Robinson did not start last year? Livers started the majority of the season. Yes Robinson go more minutes but he did not start. This bugs me. I've seen it numerous times on this blog. I know it's a nit pick.
The point is that Michigan had the 3rd best defense in all of college basketball with three average to minus individual defenders playing starter minutes, i.e. the majority of team minutes.
That's what matters to the discussion. And that's the point about Yak's effectiveness.
Sure, they should have said "three fifth's of the effective starters in 2017-18 were..." but whatever. Irrelevant technicality. Robinson played more minutes and finished games which is more important than starting anyway.
Livers started the majority of the season. Yes Robinson go more minutes but he did not start
Does it really matter?
I was hoping Michigan wasn't going to slide much without Beilien until Howard gets his feet under him. That is out of the question now. Without Yaklich and Wilson (no hope without Yaklich) they will take a hit for at least 1 year. I hope its not longer.
Would rather have kept Yak over Washington but alas, let's hope for the best.
Yep. This was a baffling decision. Big fail in Howard's first real test. Hoping for the best, but man, we just lost a top 5 offensive coach and now a top 5 defensive coach. And what's left is whole bunch of dunno.
Not sure how this qualifies as a fail for Howard without any knowledge about the decision and circumstances yet. As has been mentioned elsewhere, they could have offered him a good deal, but there can be sour grapes for being passed over for the HC job.
You may end up being right, but at this stage this is a claim with no factual basis.
Yaklich's wife (I think we're all fans) indicated that they were very interested in remaining. There was no sign of any sour grapes.
JFC, people. That is NOT what she said, or implied. She said they have/had options, and wouldn't make a decision until all had been considered. That means absolutely nothing, it merely left the possibility of return open, which would have been stupid to do otherwise.
I really, really wish people would twisting things to fit their desired narrative, in all facets of life. It's just not helpful to anything at all, ever.
A number of commenters claimed that Yaklich was made a good offer to stay but left because he was disgruntled after being passed over for the head coaching job. His wife's comments clearly indicated otherwise.
Examples?
Numerous commenters in other Yak related message board threads and other forums, the commenter to whom I replied, maize-blue, cbs650, footballguy...
I disagree that it is a big fail. Yak was redundant to Howard. He recruits Chicago and he's a defensive guy. Both strengths for JH. Washington has a lot of contacts in the state of Michigan because he has been coaching in the state of Michigan for so many years.
This was a smart decision on Coach Howard's part.
How exactly is this Howard's fail? To my knowledge he didn't tell Yak to take a hike. Yak just chose to take another offer. This is a bad take.
Yes. This is the correct professional move for Yak on multiple fronts-not the least of which is that it improves his chances of moving into a HC position when Smart gets whacked next year. And regarding Texas, there is a lot of outstanding raw physical talent down there...a lot of opportunity for a good coach-would be an excellent place to cut your teeth on the HC gig.
So, you're assuming that Coach Yaklich was forced out?
Perhaps he decided he'd prefer to spend a year in Austin instead of spending a season reporting to the guy who beat him out for a job he wanted?
Based on the various reports that came out, it sounded like he had the option to stay and elected not to take it.
I think I read somewhere UM offered more money? I think Yak just wanted out.
Why are you making this about Juwan? It sounds to me like Yak decided to leave on his own.
I don't see this as a fail on JH's behalf given the timing of JB's departure and maybe a moderate case of Yak feeling unappreciated. How many of us would want to hang around after being passed over for a promotion in favor of an "outsider". If this is any kind of failure then I would say its a program failure. JH will have plenty of opportunities to succeed or fail in recruiting players and staff but this one is not on JH.
Hiring your own mentor is what I'd expect of (what I've heard of) Howard and EXACTLY what you should do in these situations. But it takes humility (a truly rare thing these days) to essentially declare in public, "I will learn how this all works, but I don't know what I'm doing so I'm going to hire someone who does."
Heck, at Michigan's defensive ranking last year, I'd pull Teske and Z aside and ask them what Yak taught them.
That's why I don't think they'll be a big defensive drop off in year one ... Z and Teske have had Yak yelling in their ear for the last few years and I think they've internalized the lessons enough, and with Z's leadership qualities ... (shining bright sunshine on despair)
Right, but my point is beyond next year, it's not like 100% of Yak's knowledge just flew the coop. . . assuming Howard is humble enough to ask his players to teach him.
Regardless of how next year goes, hell, if I was inheriting the #2 defense in the country, I'd at least ask the guys in the trenches what they're doing.
Really surprised/disappointed in the Yak decision, with the qualifier that we don't know whether Juwan really wanted him back and/or whether Michigan couldn't or wouldn't match the Texas offer $$$. Assuming that Juwan wanted him back, and assuming Michigan could surely match the Texas financial package, then I am surprised Yak would make a lateral move. Seems disloyal to the kids here, and also seems disruptive to his family. Yak is probably bound to take a HC job somewhere rather soon, so why not continue as an assistant in Ann Arbor? Perhaps he is pissed he did not get the head coach job here. Bummer, but at first glance it looks like another coach making a carpet bagger move and walking away from a good thing.
When Beilein was recovering from surgery and when he got tossed out against PSU, Saddi took over, not Yak. Perhaps, Yak sees this as a promotion from the #2 assistant to the #1 assistant.
I'm sorry to see him go, but even with JB, Yak was most likely only here for another year tops and then off to a mid-major coaching gig. That said, I suspect that a lot of his defensive success at Michigan was due to the high discipline mind-set that was essential to the culture coach B had instilled through the years. I do wonder if Texas' players will be willing to adapt to what Yak will need and expect.
Starting five of X, DDJ or Brooks, Livers, Johns, and Teske.
Backups: Casleton, DDJ/Brooks, Bajema, ????
It's going to be a clunky team.
Not gonna lie. I am bummed about Yak leaving.
Like Beilein, I do think Yaklich is of head coach quality....maybe this move was necessary for him along that ultimate goal.... maybe he thinks its more likely to be successful at Texas and then get a promotion to HC to a Baylor type school. Surely this next season is absolutely critical for him. Combine it with not wanting to be second fiddle here when he thought he should be the head guy, and I can see the move. Oh well.
You don't think this was his choice do you? I'd have hard time believing that Howard wanted him to stay but he chose to leave.
I take this to mean that Howard chose not to retain him. Or at least not to match a Texas offer which is the same thing.
It appears Yak is leaving because he felt he should have gotten the head job. If that is the case, then he wasn't going to work under the guy he was competing with for the job. Also from the numbers I saw, he is taking less money to go to Texas.
Why does it appear that way? Is this just your personal read on the situation, or do you have anything to back that up?
I would have liked Yak to stay, but realistically, once he interviewed for the head job here, that was probably a sign he was gone. You generally don't interview for a position and then accept to be subordinate to the guy they do hire.
And obviously, it also suggests that he has ambitions for a head job sooner or later. So we move on.
Welp, Saddi did. What does that say about him??
Well, I did say "generally" ; ).
Saddi also didn't have many other options, if any. Programs weren't calling him to poach him when Beilein left. They were calling Yak.
That's literally what Saddi is doing. And I give him credit for it.
I think Yaklich is making a poor decision here. Going to Texas is more of a risk than sticking at Michigan.
Omoruyi had a really great game against Michigan last year. If that performance is anything to go off of I'd welcome him to the team.
Today mark's the beginning of the end of JB's Michigan program and it will be buried when X and Teske graduate next year. It will be an odd year as Juwan tries to duct tape his program to JB's program to try and stop the ship from sinking.
Next year will seemingly be a pretty bad year for UM hoops, as the recruiting class this year has been gutted and there will be major holes.
I truly believe that Juwan is going to succeed here, it is simply that it won't happen until year 3 or more likely year 4 with how the roster is coming together and an entirely new staff comes in.
We better learn to be patient I guess.
Lastly, said it in another comment - I have never flipped my opinion of someone so thoroughly and quickly as I have of JB. After he is fired in <3 years from Cleveland and quietly retires from coaching, I wonder if he will realize how badly he fucked up.
Come on - JB is close to retirement age anyway. Do you really think at age 69 he will think he screwed up?
After 3 seasons averaging less than 20 wins/year and losing >180 games in those 3 years, yah, I bet he will think he screwed up.
No one likes to retire a loser.
JB was THIS close to winning a title, having the damn court named after him, getting a statue, etc etc. at UM. He was THIS close to being a God here.
And he chose to flush it down the shitter to take over arguably the worst franchise in the NBA - for what exactly? Glory? Just to see if he could hang? Because JB could be the best damn coach in the league, but they still have a shit roster and are in a city exactly no free agents want to live and play in.
It's over for JB. All that's left for his coaching career is the fat lady singing. I guess getting your ass handed to you for 3 straight years (if you are lucky to last that long) is better than being hailed as the best to ever do it at your last job.
Or he'll just feel that he gave the NBA a shot and it didn't work out, and that's life.
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