saddi washington

How will I know if Practical Jokers is still on air? Reality sinks in.

This cuts deep pic.twitter.com/DsQ05zqnHM

— Joe (@blueandjoe) March 19, 2020

Stop eating pangolins please.

Our coping mechanism is going to be streaming a rewatch of the 2017 Oklahoma State game at 7. If you're okay with having your eyebrows burned off again please join us.

Saddi stays. Western Michigan came open for Saddi Washington, an alum, and Washington turned them down. Sam Webb:

Sources tell The Michigan Insider that Wolverine assistant Saddi Washington has decided to remove himself from consideration for the head coaching job at his alma mater, Western Michigan.

Washington was reportedly at or near the top of the list for the position made vacant by the firing of longtime Bronco headman Steve Hawkins. The decision to remain in Ann Arbor is said to have been largely shaped by an extreme comfort with his current situation. Washington’s salary increased to $330,000 this season (Hawkins’ salary was $385,000), the first season of Howard regime was a success, and the Wolverines have put together a top five recruiting class that could grow even more impressive in the coming weeks.

That's a stark illustration of the gap between the haves and have nots these days. Washington is Michigan's lowest paid assistant and after he gets his obligatory you-stayed bump he'll probably be on par with what Hawkins was making.

Continuity is good, and it's particularly good in the immediate aftermath of a head coaching change. I can't remember exactly where this came from but earlier this year Phil Martelli did tell someone in the media that he intended to get a head coaching gig in the near future; if that happens this offseason it would have been rough replacing two thirds of the staff one year in. It's also nice that Washington wants to stay despite having been hired by Beilein originally.

[After THE JUMP: maybe we can stuff the grad transfer underneath the seat in front of us]

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.

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.

— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) May 29, 2019

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]

These names had been rumored for a couple days and now they are official:

University of Michigan men's basketball head coach John Beilein announced today (Wednesday, May 4) the hiring of Billy Donlon and Saddi Washington as assistant coaches for the Wolverines.

Donlon was just fired from Wright State after a six-year tenure. His axing was controversial, to say the least, after Donlon saw his charges to 22-13 season and 13-5 conference mark, and the conference tournament final. I mean, this is a hell of a resume to fire for a low major*:

Three years after he was named the Horizon League coach of the year and three days after he led his Wright State team to its third 20-plus wins season in four years, a tie for the most league wins by a WSU team and the third appearance in four years in the title game of the league tournament, Donlon was fired as the Raiders’ basketball coach.

Donlon and Wright State had a rough 2015 but the years surrounding it were all 20-win seasons featuring excellent defense considering WSU's place in the basketball firmament. Here are some key stats from his tenure:

Donlon's teams played a high-foul, high-TO style that made them somewhere between respectable and just about as good as a low major can rank—with the exception of 2015. He's never had any shot blocking because of the nature of coaching at Wright State, but three of the last four years he's outperformed a ton of teams. (FWIW, His offenses were universally horrible. That doesn't matter because Beilein.) Donlon looks like the "defensive coordinator" I was advocating once LaVall Jordan left. Beilein:

"I have known Billy for almost two decades, and I love his passion and IQ for the game. He has tremendous experience as a player, assistant and head coach at the Division I level. Improving our defense is a huge goal for us, and defense is one of Billy's specialties."

If he can get Wright State into the top 60 three times in the last four years he's probably pretty good in that role.

The obvious catch is that free throw rate. That is emphatically not how Michigan plays right now, and it's an open question just how much rope Donlon will have to deploy his style of D. Beilein is notoriously persnickety about fouls. Insert hours-long autobench complaint here.

Meanwhile, Washington has been at Oakland for a decade, helping the Golden Grizzlies have disproportionate success in the Horizon League. He almost got a job in Ann Arbor during the last staff shakeup. I don't know much about him other than the fact that Sam Webb believes he'll be an excellent recruiter; unlike Donlon he doesn't have a helpful Kenpom page since he was an assistant.

*[Article states that Wright State pays its assistants less than the rest of the Horizon and doesn't have a full time strength coach; they are mid-major only if that's your term for literally every non-big-time CBB program.]