Yak Expected to Take Texas Offer
Good point. Yaklich was great, and no I'm not going to try to spin my feelings and say I'm not that sad to see him go because I am, but we forget that there was in fact an asst. coach before Yaklich got here who made our first large improvement on the defensive side...that was so impressive itself. We'll never know but could Donlon have made us a top 20 defense the next year?! Or even into the top 10 as we did? But again, we forget about him and it's a curious past-hypothetical in how would we have done in year 2 with Donlon and/or was Yaklich the guy to truly get us elite?
that godawful NW team last year was 25th in kenpom defense, so probably, but he too was considered a defensive guru.
Meh. Plenty of good assistant coaches out there. On the bright side, maybe we will start making an effort at offensive rebounding.
People are making way too big a deal out of yak. Hope howard goes out and gets a guy who has a history with guards and offense
I hope you're correct, but all evidence points to the contrary.
He's dead to me.
I, for one, do not want to be ‘dead’ to a guy who rides a tiger with no shirt on...
I'm good with this news. Let JH pick his staff. There won't be any awkward staff combinations from day one. Go Blue!
He is picking his staff and the fact he did not pick Yak is a huge mistake. Gift wrapped top 5 defensive coach that other top programs are after and he doesn't pick him? Terrible first move.
I hope Yak enjoys the job search in 1-2 years when Smart gets canned...
Will save Shaka's butt. I would have been happy with Yak as HC. Was hoping he'd stick around but now it's up to JH to find a good replacement.
Could Chris Hunter be an option? Hes been on the staff for awhile now and never seemed to crack the assistant rotation with Beilein.
Shaka again needs another coach to install a great defense he can later take credit for
This is probably the best time for Yak to leave from Michigans perspective. We have Senior Simpson and Senior Teske who can lead the defense for a year while Howard adjusts. I wont expect to see too much of a defensive drop off this season because I know Simpson will be out there trying to prove it was his defense and not Yaks coaching that lead the Wolverines
We should hire an elite shooting/offensive coach
Not surprised. Can’t catch a break. I am sure that rape enabler Izzo will make another Final Four this season.
I can't create a new thread yet, but Quinn is reporting Saddi is sticking around.
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.
It seems like the Howard hire is going to be really bad for this program. I'm sorry but I'm just being realistic. He has no experience coaching. Sizzle over the steak is what bum programs do, not winners.
This comment is literally sizzle. You give zero substance as to why you think Juwan will bust.
Because he has not experience actually drawing up plays and coaching a game. You know that is important in college right? He also has no head coaching experience. That is why I think he will bust. I thought his best shot was just being a recruiter and keeping all the assistants who learned from Beilein. Evidently he is struggling to do that.
If Yak is so valuable , then he would’ve been the head coach.
Sort of based on circular reasoning. If we don't hire Yaklich to be head coach and he leaves then it was automatically the right decision because if he was valuable then we would have hired him to be head coach. That is what you're saying.
Wilton, you were injury prone. That's not M's fault man, let it go.
Eat less chicken Wilton.
He's my favorite. He tries so hard to troll for attention and everybody just ignores him. How bad must you suck to fail at intentionally sucking?
Why can't anyone offer an opinion critical of Howard without being insulted?
On a positive note Saddi is expected to be retained.
I don’t doubt that yaklich is great but our defensive rise also corresponds with having 3 of arguably the best defensive players of beleins tenure at their respective positions including Simpson, Matthews, and Teske. I’m not sure it’s fair to the players to give all of their credit to yaklich.
This really doesn't make sense. To me anyway.
Texas can't possibly be paying more and this will set him back if his goal is to ever be a head coach.
If he spent another year or two at Michigan and produced similar results, he'll be in line for a pretty primo first head coaching gig.
Having the same results at a moribund program like Texas doesn't mean anything really, assuming he can replicate the results with new players new league new head coach.
Maybe they don't like Michigan winters?
Can we stop with the “this will set him back” jargon? In what way is possibly having a stellar defense with a 3rd team a setback on the resumé? He will be fine, another year here or a year at Texas is not going to stop an AD from hiring him. He will likely be a candidate after for a mid-major gig in a couple years regardless. This does nothing but get him experience in another power 5 league.
Yeah, that's just sour grapes. KenPom had Texas' D ranked 26th last year. That's a much better starting point than he had here at Michigan. If he pumps Texas up to a Top-5 defense the way he did here and they surge next season, he'll have his pick of head coach jobs.
Boooooooo!
No mo Luke so go Nook.
Does anyone even know if Yaklich has the chops to coach offense? Was he a defense only guy? JH has been known as a defensive coach. I don't see this as a big deal. Keeping Sanderson was the most important assistant hired. A new coach will get his guys. Simple as that. May even be a better staff.
When UM had Bacari Alexander and LaVall Jordan, many thought the staff couldn't be any better. Then they left and JB improved the staff.
It happens. Nothing to get distraught about.
It would have been nice to retain Yak, but there seemed to be quite a bit of overlap between his and Howard's strengths (recruiting Chicago and defense). Defensively, perhaps the loss of Matthews is a bigger loss, short term, than Yak, and it doesn't seem like Yak is going to stay an assistant coach for long anyway.
It's a new era, time to move on.
ok, so the Yak is gone, what about the Gnu?
Too much smoke to not be a surprise. It was mentioned a while ago that he was talking to Texas. Not sure why he'd make a lateral move though. Supposedly UM made a pretty substantial offer. Probably butthurt because he didn't get more consideration.
Who can blame the guy.... he'll be one year, or less, away from being the next HC at TX.
ouch
While this does suck, you can't fault him for leaving after not getting the UM HC job. He probably got a nice pay bump (on top of the fact that Texas doesn't have state income tax).
What shouldn't be lost in all of this is that Jeff Moss is a troll who thrives on being a media "outsider" while craving the attention his posts give him. This guy goes to great lengths at being a bottom-feeder.
I would do all I could to retain LY - lots of bad signs going on around this program right now.
Yak just salty he didn't get the job. Byeeeeee!