DePaul Basketball: 8 candidates to watch for potential HC opening

Luke Yaklich

We could run through a long list of potential names that could pique the interest of the brass at DePaul, but we’re keeping these to reasonable names, usually with some sort of connection. We’re looking next at someone who has plenty of experience not just in Chicago but coaching basketball in the state of Illinois.

Yaklich grew up in north central Illinois and played at Illinois State. He was a high school coach downstate for more than a decade before assistant coaching stints at his alma mater, Michigan, and Texas. Dubbed a defensive genius, he helped lead the Wolverines to the national title game before beginning his collegiate head coaching career at UIC back in 2020. The record isn’t impressive, but he’s led the Flames as they transitioned into the MVC and has a fantastic team for this current season.

Much of Yaklich’s life, especially as a coach, has been spent in the state of Illinois, and he’s really been working the Chicago area since UIC brought him aboard three and a half years ago. Again, the record doesn’t exactly exude confidence, but he’s starting to turn things around for the Flames and the hopes would be a similar turnaround down the line at DePaul. After all, Yaklich was considered one of the nation’s top assistants by many less than half a decade ago.

We’re finished with our look at eight potential candidates for the DePaul head coaching job if it did open up at the end of this season. It’s important again to remember that this is still Tony Stubblefield’s program and no decisions have been made by the Blue Demons. This was solely a speculative exercise because of a dreadful start to this season and his coaching tenure.