https://mgoblog.com/diaries/duncan-rules-defensive-picture-pages
Seems to be rumors both ways (Yak getting a big offer along with possibly only Washington to stay on).
Washington interviewed and there hasn’t been a lot of the talk or any chatter about how he fits into an assistant job working for the guy who also interviewed and got the job he wanted. Plus Washington is further along in the head coaching track than Yaklich.
I definitely think it would be best to keep Yaklich and re-secure Jalen Wilson’s commitment. Need to add/keep talent, especially an obtainable talent this late in the calendar.
I am pretty sure they are willing and will (or have) made that big of an offer to Yaklich. Even if we have Yaklich for two years, it is worth it because it helps the coaching and recruiting transition.
It is not always about the money (but a lot of times it is), and if Michigan has made an big offer to keep him and he doesn’t want it, then it is what it is. It would probably be a slam dunk everywhere else, but since it is Michigan, every little thing has to be a challenge and sweat out.
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John, if it were me, I want to keep both. There are so many reasons to keep Yak. He is an outstanding defensive coach, and he’s on a fairly fast track to be a head coach. If we want to keep Jalen Wilson, and there is no reason I can see that we wouldn’t, Yak would be important in that quest. Saddi Washington is an outstanding assistant who will also be a head coach someday, perhaps fairly soon. Saddi is exactly who I would want if I were in Juwan’s shoes. He is infinitely loyal. He is an assistant on whom one could rely for great advice, especially one who hasn’t coached yet at the college level. He is a good teacher, as is Yak, and he, too, is a good coach and a better person. It is certainly, and rightfully, Juwan’s choice and his decision with Warde’s support, but if it were me, I’d sure want to keep them both.
I’ve said elsewhere, I’d find what will motivate Yak and offer that to him. If it’s more money, we should certainly have that to offer. If it’s a title, that’s really pretty easy. But for both of these guys, if you want them to stay, find out what motivates them and offer them that. And if either, or both, don’t want to be here, then you’re better off without them. You really are.
I’m about 99% sure Saddi really wants to stay, to be at Michigan, and to help form a bridge between the illustrious and incredible Beilein era and the exciting new Juwan Howard era. For the life of me, I can’t imagine that Yak wouldn’t want to be part of that, as well. So, again, if it were me, I’d keep them both. But it’s Juwan’s decision and his alone, with Warde’s support and counsel. I would expect us to know the outcome within just a few days.
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I want both back as well. It is very rare to have these type of top tier assistants to retain in a coaching change.
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This plus if both stay I still think we have a shot at Wagner.
I maintain that yak will be gone next off season for a head coaching gig. Can’t imagine Washington more than 2-3 years away from same fate.
Both guys can steady boat for recruiting class this year and next and transition next years team. We lose 3-4 guys and juwan has his first real class and starts to bring in more of his guys
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Yes, I feel like Wagner has to be Plan A target. I have no doubt that Beilein will tell him as well that this is the place for him. I truly feel deep down the family wants him here.
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I really don’t get the whole fascination with Yak right now. He’s a good coach and very well may be on the fast track to a head coach but he wasn’t interviewedanywhere besides Michigan for the head coaching job and only one other team has been after him as an assistant. We were saying the same thing about Donlon when he left and he hasn’t had any job offers since he left has he? Over the summer Saddi was the head coach not Yak. Also Saddi I think is a pretty good X&O guy as well. IIRC he was the one that set up the game plan for state last year and destroyed them.
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Donlon is the new HC at UMKC in the WAC. That’s probably a worse job that the one Yak has now.
I think losing Yaklich is a big blow. Is there a single college defensive co-ordinator type assistant you’d rather have here? How bad were some of the Beilein defenses before he got here?
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He would have been here a year or two more if JB had stayed. He was very valuable under JB because JB was not a good defensive coach. Howard was in charge of the defense at Miami and they were consistently in or around the top 10 in the league on that end of the floor. Yaklich would still be valuable under Howard, but not nearly as much as under JB. Love Yak and hope he’s successful if he leaves but our team next year and Howard’s tenure being successful aren’t going to hinge on whether Yak stays or goes IMO.
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Losing Yaklich would only be a big blow if Howard wants to run a defensive system similar to what Yaklich runs. If Howard has a different defensive philosophy, then it might be better for the program if Yaklich is not retained to reduce philosophical friction on the staff.
I have no knowledge of what systems Howard will look to install, so I have no knowledge if retaining Yaklich is a good move or an eh move.
Edit: I personally think Yaklich did an excellent job overseeing the defensive strategies the last 2 seasons and I personally would continue those strategies, but I’m not personally the head coach
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How many college coaches employ a defensive coordinator like Yaklich? I thought his role was quite unusual in the college game. I’d expect plenty of others to follow Beilein’s example given the results.
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I think most here expect Washington to return. His contributions have led to numerous wins. He is an excellent recruiter.
Yaklich has shown himself in short time to be an excellent recruiter and defensive coach.
I think most feel Yaklich is still at the assistant level and has a chance to be a head coach in a few years. The fact that so few teams are after him is why people feel it is best to stay here.
I think most moved on pretty quickly from Donlon after people began to realize Michigan upgraded with Yaklich. Donlon left for Northwestern because he apparently had a family/childhood connection to the area.
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It is absolutely a worse job. He saw the boat was sinking with pal Chris in Evanston, and left for the first and only head coaching job he was offered.
More generally (obviously not referring to your comments here, swinawer), Donlon and Yaklich are not even comparable. Donlon improved Michigan’s defense somewhat in his lone year here, and Northwestern’s D got worse in the two years he was there. Some people here are really undervaluing the magnitude of Yaklich’s accomplishments here.
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I will add that to suggest Yaklich is somehow redundant because Howard was a defensive specialist as an NBA assistant is misleading at best.
Howard’s focus on the Miami staff was defense because that’s the role they needed him to fill, not because he was some sort of defensive mastermind.
Howard is the head coach, and it’s his decision who he wants sitting on the bench with him next season. I hope Yak will be one of those guys. I hope he is at least offered the chance to stay, and if he decides Texas or somewhere else is a better option for him (I don’t think it is), so be it.
Yak has been a very good recruiter who is very popular among the players as well.
As far as Howard’s decision Re: Yaklich, a lot will depend upon how much freedom he is willing to grant, and whether he sees the value in continuing with the same defensive principles that have had Michigan as a top-3 defense each of the past two years.
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Just tell me we will hire a coach who is an offensive wizard and I am good with Yak or someone else. Our offensive efficiency seemed to be going in the wrong direction for 3 years. Maybe that is more of a sign of Simpson and Matthews… That said, maybe the defense was due to those 2 as well. I would love to have Yak back, however, I am more concerned with who is driving this offense forward. It is the biggest hole we have now without JB.
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Dylan, what do you think the chances are that Juwan will have a coaching/support staff put together by Thursday’s press conference?
What are the odds that whatever defensive system Howard wants to run is more effective than Yaklich’s has been? Also, from an eye test perspective, I loved the way we hedged hard on pick and rolls and how seamless the rotations picking them up were.
Even against Texas Tech in the tourney, their offense played at the level of the 220th best offense, and they went 9/10 from the FT line and profited from a healthy number of turnovers from us and not having to take the ball out of the basket after made buckets very often (which basically always hurts efficiency), so it was probably a little bit worse than that even.
Even if he can make us a very good defense, say 15-25th ranked on Kenpom without Yaklich, that’s a massive downgrade from the 2 Yaklich years, and there’s no reason to think our offense will be as efficient as it was during the pre-Yaklich years.
I’m optimistic about Howard, but I don’t know if people here have really reckoned with how difficult it is to have a top 5 offensive or defensive unit and we’ve had one 5 of the last 7 years (and one of those years we finished 30th on O when our best offensive player by a good distance, Caris Levert, got hurt 15 games into a year he was throwing up 50/44/80 splits and a damn near 3-1 A/TO ratio, so not sure how high we’d have ranked, but I’d guess top 10 at least).
I kind of doubt Howard comes into the job with a set offense and defense that he wants to run.
On the other hand, I don’t see him taking a hands off approach either. I assume he wants to work with the players, see what they know and what they’re capable of doing. There must certainly be things he believes in and that he doesn’t. Maybe he’ll be happy running the same defense. The difference is that he’s not likely to just hand over the defense to Yak like Beilein did.
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We’re probably 15-25th with Yaklich and without Charles Matthews.
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