NCAA Basketball: 10 college assistants poised to become head coaches
By Joey Loose
3. Luke Yaklich – Michigan
It’s been a quick rise to prominence for Yaklich in recent years. He spent fourteen years coaching high school basketball in Illinois before getting his chance at the college level at his alma mater in 2013. Dan Muller and Illinois State brought him aboard and he spent four seasons with the Redbirds, assisting in all aspects of the game. His defensive prowess was a big reason John Beilein brought him to Michigan in 2017; he just completed his second season on Beilein’s staff.
Yaklich has already made an impact on the recruiting trail, helping bring aboard 4-star talent like Jalen Wilson, Zeb Jackson, and Cole Bajema. With Beilein’s exodus to the NBA, Yaklich is one of the favorites for the head coaching job. A talented defensive coach, even if Yaklich doesn’t land the Michigan job, he’s going to find himself leading a program very soon.
He has a ton of coaching experience at the high school level, but Yaklich does suffer from a lack of bigtime experience. He’s not an NBA guy and has only spent two years as an assistant at the power conference level. Regardless, his recruiting ability is underrated and he absolutely impacted a Michigan defense that played for the national championship in 2018. To reiterate, if Yaklich is not hired this week by the Wolverines, he is going to become someone else’s head coach in the very near future. Watch out for Yaklich’s defenses; Illinois State has surely shown that they’ve missed him the last two years.