Billy Donlon leaving Northwestern for HC Job
Beilein’s first defensive coordinator, who then left for Northwestern to work with Chris Collins, is the new Head Coach at UMKC. The Kangaroos have never made the tournament and play in the new WAC.
https://twitter.com/goodmanhoops/status/1110636872815050754?s=21
I expect he will do an excellent job there. I would suggest that it might be good grooming for him to ultimately come back here at some (hopefully distant) point, but I'm putting all my optimism eggs in the Yaklich basket.
Dont forget LaVall Jordan.
Early returns on Jordan as a HC are...not good.
Terrible year at UWM, but we'll give him a pass because of the situation he stepped into.
But after his Wile E. Coyote first year at Butler, he had a losing record this year in a down year in the Big East. And you know how it seems like Michigan teams get better throughout the year (which is generally the case, even this year)?
Well, check out the downward slope of Butler's performances this year. That is disastrous. If there weren't major injuries, that's the slope of a team that had given up.
It's certainly not over for him. Beilein's third year at Michigan was a disappointing struggle. But the odds are against him being a top notch coach given the data we have. The are probably against him surviving at Butler.
From your title, I thought he was going to Holy Cross.
March 27th, 2019 at 10:57 AM ^
Rich basketball tradition for the Crusaders -- Bob Cousy. Tommy Heinsohn, NCAA Tournament Championship.
Did anyone else not know what UMKC was?
I still don't.
Unaware Moron - Kinda Clownish
Nope. Who isn’t aware of University of Michigan, Kalamazoo City.
University of Michigan/Maryland Kent County?
dammit, 3 replies to this and still no one posted the answer? FINE. i'll do it. i'll be the one to cave and google it, find out that UMKC is university of missouri kansas city, and post it so that others can simply scroll a little further instead of opening up a new window to search.
March 27th, 2019 at 12:02 AM ^
So, in a conference where Dixie State is nowhere near Dixie and Grand Canyon is 200 miles from the Grand Canyon, it’s refreshing that UMKC is in both Missouri and Kansas City. Ok I used to live in KC area and knew this. Oh, there are Wolverines in the WAC. Guess what state?
March 27th, 2019 at 11:30 AM ^
That doesn't sound right.
My old land lady left GR to take a job at UMKC. Then she tried to hose me on my security deposit so I took her to small claims court. I won, and sadly that counts as one of my greatest life victories
Got my post graduate degree there. Who wouldn’t want to go to a school whose mascot is a kangaroo?
MeanJoe
I knew, but I lived in KC for 3 years.
March 27th, 2019 at 12:25 AM ^
Initially my mind placed an F between the K and the C making it UMKFC, the University of Missouri Kentucky Fried Chicken. I need to go on a diet.
HALOL
We need to give all 3 of our assistants raises.
I see you edited -- smart of you, but I will agree with the initial sentiment.
Yaklich >>> Donlon
The WAC is one wacky conference. Based on that alone UMKC sounds like a bad gig. Other than Chicago State the other schools are scattered across the West, from Brownsville, TX to Seattle. Their good news is that Dixie State is joining soon. That's one school whose location I would have never guessed. (Leaving it out for those that want to try.)
https://wacsports.com/sports/mbkb/2018-19/standings
Only reason I know who and where Dixie State is, is because they just very recently had a player die at practice
I read your post and thought cmon man don't be ridiculous, that can only be in a handful places.
Googles Dixie State. Oh, ok then.
Where's andrewG when I need him?
He's leaving Northwestern to go to UMKC? That's WAC!
Have to appreciate the guy who finally got us playing some Defense. NU had a top 25 defense per Kenpom this year, so seems like the Donlon effect is working. Glad he was able to get a head coach job somewhere, and glad we've got ourselves coach Yak
Yep, Donlon is a good defensive coach. I'm glad that he did a good enough job that Beilein was convinced he needed another one to replace Donlon.
And Yaklich is a GREAT defensive coach. So I'm glad Donlon left, ha. Everyone won.
Don't get wrong, I'm very happy with Yak. I think he gets the most out of his players, but the comparison seems a bit unfair. Yak has 3 starters that are Michigan's best defenders in many years. Northwestern's personnel doesn't compare. I'm afraid that we'll criticize the next guy in two years after Teske and Simpson have graduated and Yak is a HC somewhere.
It’s a fair point that we have small sample sizes and success in these areas is personnel dependent but the progress we saw in some less savvy defenders last year and the continued philosophical emphasis seems to be ingraining a culture of defense. That and recruiting with defense in mind and being able to play positionless basketball on both ends should help keep the team defending well whenever Yak gets poached
I'm certainly not comparing Michigan's roster to Northwestern's roster and declaring Yak the winner.
I'm comparing Donlon's 2016-17 Michigan roster and its performance (ok overall, came on at the end of the year) with Yaklich's 2017-18 Michigan roster and its performance (3rd defense nationally) and declaring Yaklich the winner.
Donlon had a veteran talented group here at Michigan that included Zak Irvin and DJ Wilson who are also amongst Michigan's best defenders. But that team was kind of awful in the middle part of the season (partially due to bad 3 point luck). They did do better later in the year, but they finished as the 69th best defense and allowed 99.2 points per 100 possessions (adjusted) per kenpom.
Yaklich inherited MAAR, Wagner and increased Robinson minutes and turned them into the third, THIRD! best defense in the country. With Moe Wagner and Duncan Robinson playing the majority of minutes at the 4-5!!
Yes, swapping Walton for Simpson and Matthews for Irvin combines for a big defensive improvement but we also downgraded from DJ Wilson to Wagner/Robinson and still improved by nearly 10 points per 100 possessions.
That is remarkable.
It will be interesting to see what Yaklich is able to do without Simpson and Matthews. There will almost inevitably be some step back, but I would bet Michigan will remain a top 10ish defense as long as he's here.
Those are fair points.
I just think there was a big difference between the situation Donlan walked into at Michigan and the one Yaklich found. Donlan was starting from the ground floor with a team not used to emphasizing defense. Yak benefited from the year his players spent with Donlan as well as some personnel upgrades. He inherited some defensive minded players. Although Wilson was a good defender, I'd say MAAR was Donlan's only rotation player that had that mindset
That being said, I was also extremely impressed with the job he did with Robinson. I wouldn't trade Yak for Donlan or anyone else, but I also think the defense would have improved a lot if Donlan had stayed.
March 27th, 2019 at 12:55 AM ^
The point you make about building off Donlon's foundation is an excellent one. Hard to tell how much of what Yaklich inherited can be attributable to the head start he received.
I think Robinson is the bellwether here though. He was a veteran player that played one season under Donlon and was a liability all season. Yak was able to deleverage him as a defensive liability and got him to play better individually. Maybe something just clicked or his effort went up as a senior facing the end of his career, but Yak's impact seemed on another level.
There is a lot to be said about Simpson and his leadership keeping guys accountable too. Those in the program credit him a great deal for elevating the whole teams defensive effort.
So it will be interesting to see how Yak's defenses do without Simpson. If they remain elite, we'll have our answer about Yak's impact.
WAC still exists?
Crack is WAC!
March 26th, 2019 at 11:27 PM ^
University of Maryland has a Kansas City campus? I can't wait to see them beat Virginia!
March 27th, 2019 at 12:47 AM ^
Good luck Coach!
I'm sure not working with Chris Collins will be a nice change for him