Jump to content

Hindsight is 20/20- The 2019-20 Texas Longhorns thread


Goo Punch

Recommended Posts

I'm really looking forward to seeing Courtney Ramey next year uber Yaklich's tutelage. He has all of the tools to be one of the best perimeter defenders in the country, and now he has a top flight defensive coach mentoring him. I'm excited. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

🤘🤘 Great Hire CDC... buddy of mine, a huge Michigan fan, is pissed!!

https://247sports.com/college/texas/Article/Texas-Longhorns-Basketball-Shaka-Smart-hires-Michigans-Luke-Yaklich-to-coaching-staff-132464640/

Shaka Smart, Texas officially add Luke Yaklich to coaching staff

ByJEFF HOWE 3 hours ago

Shaka Smart has filled the opening on his Texas coaching staff. The Longhorns made the hiring of former Michigan assistant coach Luke Yaklich official on Friday, giving the 43-year-old defensive wizard the title of associate head coach.  Horns247’s Chip Brown first reported Yaklich (considered one of the top defensive coaches in the country) and his wife had a dinner meeting in Austin with Smart and Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte on Friday, May 17. According to what Brown reported in the May 23 edition of The Eyes of Texas, Yaklich’s deal is reportedly a two-year guaranteed contract with a value of $350,000 per year.

“I’m extremely excited about Luke joining our staff,” Smart said in a statement. “He has tremendous passion for teaching the game and helping student-athletes move forward as people and players.  “His background as a head coach at the high school level for many years gives him a unique perspective in terms of the way he interacts with players,” he added. “Luke is a true teacher. That word gets thrown around a lot, but he literally was in the classroom for nearly 15 years and still thinks of himself that way.  “Luke has a phenomenal work ethic and a consistent drive to help his teams be successful,” he said. “He’s a good fit for our staff because he brings a passion and commitment to all the little things and the details that go into making a program successful. He is not in any way afraid to roll up his sleeves and do whatever is needed.”

Yaklich was always the frontrunner for the staff opening created by the departure of Darrin Horn. A member of Smart’s original staff assembled after he was hired in April 2015, Horn accepted the head coaching position at Northern Kentucky on April 24.  Yaklich rounds out the three-man group of assistant coaches with Neill Berry and Jai Lucas. 

Yaklich’s joined Smart’s staff on the Forty Acres over returning to Michigan underJuwan Howard. A member of the Fab Five who helped lead the Wolverines to a pair of Final Four appearances in 1992 and 1993, Howard was hired away from the NBA’s Miami Heat (where he’s served as an assistant coach since his retirement following the 2013 season) on May 22 to replace John Beilein (named head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers on May 13).  Yaklich was the de facto defensive coordinator for Beilein for two seasons. A former high school coach, Yaklich spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Illinois State before he arrived in Ann Arbor and made an immediate impact for the Wolverines.  In helping Michigan get to the national championship game, Yaklich’s coached the best scoring defense in the Big Ten as Michigan’s 63.3 points per game allowed were good for a No. 8 finish nationally. The Wolverines were the third-best team in the country in defensive efficiency according to KenPom.com in 2017-18 and improved this past season by boasting the nation’s second-best scoring defense (57.7 points per game allowed) while finishing the season No. 2 in KenPom’s defensive efficiency rankings.

Texas finished the 2018-19 season ranked 52nd nationally in scoring defense (66.4 points per game), which was the best finish in Smart’s four seasons on the job. The Longhorns finished a disappointing 93rd in field goal percentage defense last season and ranked No. 242 in Division I in 3-point percentage defense. Michigan finished the 2018-19 season ranked No. 16 nationally in field goal percentage defense and were the sixth-best team in the country defending the 3-point line.

 

Edited by LTtxfan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Burt Macklin said:

Can we fire Shaka and keep him as HC? He won’t have a buyout.

Maybe you're  joking, but my Michigan buddy wanted this guy as their HC when Coach Beilein left....

Believes that when Yaklich becomes a Head Coach, he might have similar success to that of Texas Tech's Chris Beard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, LTtxfan said:

Maybe you're  joking, but my Michigan buddy wanted this guy as their HC when Coach Beilein left....

Believes that when Yaklich becomes a Head Coach, he might have similar success to that of Texas Tech's Chris Beard.

I’m joking for this year, but he seems like he’d be a great candidate when we do love on from Shaka.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Article in Detroit Free Press on Yaklich

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/college/university-michigan/wolverines/2019/05/29/michigan-basketball-luke-yaklich-texas/1267305001/

 

Michigan basketball's Luke Yaklich reportedly leaving to be assistant at Texas

ORION SANG | DETROIT FREE PRESS

Updated 3:53 p.m. CDT May 29, 2019

Michigan basketball's defensive coordinator appears to be moving on.  U-M assistant coach Luke Yaklich is headed to Texas, where he'll join Shaka Smart's staff, per a report from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports.

 

Yaklich had previously interviewed with Texas for an assistant coaching job, according to the Austin American-Statesman. He also interviewed for U-M's vacant head coaching job after former coach John Beilein's departure, although the job eventually went to Juwan Howard.

The move ends a two-year tenure at Michigan in which Yaklich help build one of the nation's top defenses at a program that hadn't been known for its prowess on that end of the floor.

Yaklich was hired by Beilein in 2017 after spending four seasons as an assistant coach at Illinois State, where he was an associate head coach in 2016-17. Yaklich and DeAndre Haynes, who had also been on staff at Illinois State, were hired by Beilein to replace former assistants Jerry Meyer and Billy Donlon in the summer following the 2016-17 season.

In Yaklich's first season at Michigan, the defense ranked third in the nation in adjusted efficiency, according to kenpom.com, and the Wolverines made a run to the national title game.

This past season, Yaklich helped guide a defense that ranked second in the nation in adjusted efficiency, behind runner-up Texas Tech. The Wolverines finished 30-7 and reached the Sweet 16 before losing to Texas Tech.

Yaklich also had a reputation as a tenacious recruiter who helped Michigan land 4-star wing Jalen Wilson, 4-star wing Cole Bajema and 4-star Zeb Jackson. He was also a primary contact for several prospects in the class of 2020, including Nimari Burnett, who Yaklich knew from his time in Illinois and had previously coached on the AAU circuit.  His departure could potentially affect the recruitment of Wilson, who received his release from his letter of intent to Michiganduring the coaching search and currently remains uncommitted.

Howard and Michigan have yet to announce any on-court staffing hires. The Wolverines previously announced the return of strength and conditioning coach Jon Sanderson. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Shaka should take advantage of UT professor  Kirk Goldsberry. (Found out about Kirk on a post from another site.). 

Professor Goldsberry teaches Sports Analytics within the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas.  He's just written a Book that basketball fans might like....

 

Front-Cover.jpg

 

 

“Beautifully illustrated and sharply written, SprawlBall is both a celebration and a critique of the 3-point shot and how teams like the Warriors and Rockets have used it to dominate basketball. Whether you come away appreciating today’s NBA even more or longing for the days of the post game and the mid-range shot, if you want to understand how the modern NBA came to be, you’ll need to read this book.” 
– Nate Silver

“Basketball has changed so much in the last 20 years. This book does an amazing job of describing where the NBA has been, where it is now, and where it’s going.” 

– Chris Bosh, two-time NBA Championship winner

His Bio:

Meet Kirk Goldsberry:

I grew up in State College, PA in the 80’s and 90’s before attending Penn State. After graduating, I worked as a cartographer for FEMA in D.C., and for Delorme Mapping in Yarmouth, Maine. I Ieft Maine for Santa Barbara where I studied mapping as a grad student and met my lovely wife. We have moved around from California, to Michigan, and Massachusetts, before settling down in Austin, Texas. We have 2 children and I spend most of my time either hanging out with them or mapping basketball players.

Academic

I studied Geography at Penn State as an undergrad before getting a Master’s and a Ph.D. from UC-Santa Barbara. I was an assistant professor at Michigan State from 2007-2011 before accepting a visiting position at Harvard in 2011. My expertise in geography is in mapping and Cartography. I love maps.

Basketball

In 2012 I published my first work on basketball analytics at the MIT Sloan Conference. This paper changed my career. Following its publication, I helped create the 2012 NBA Finals Preview at the New York Times, before accepting a part-time position at Grantland, which at the time was just starting. I left Harvard and academics in 2013 and went to work at Grantland full-time, where I stayed until the site was shut down in 2015. At that time, I accepted two jobs on the “team side” – 1) as the head analyst for Team USA Basketball and 2) as the Vice President of Strategic Research for the San Antonio Spurs. I still do work at Team USA, but left the Spurs in September of 2018 to return to writing and teaching.

Teaching

Between UCSB, Michigan State, Harvard, and UT-Austin, I’ve been teaching at universities for over a decade. My courses aim to enable students to harness the power of graphic communication by understanding fundamental concepts as well as learning contemporary design techniques. I am currently teaching Sports Analytics within the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas.

Writing

In addition to Sprawlball, I cover the NBA for ESPN. 

https://www.kirkgoldsberry.com

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Machinator said:

 

https://247sports.com/Player/Donovan-Williams-46049374/

So who will be the team leaders for Horns Basketball this season??

By now having Yaklich at Texas, I'm in a more hopeful mood.... Put on your best burnt orange glasses and describe a scenario where the Horns really surprise fans and possibly compete for this season's B12 Championship??

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Red Five said:

God that’s pitiful. Let’s all attempt to imagine a scenario where Texas COMPETES for the conference championship in a 10 team conference.

 

https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/sports/ncaab/2019/04/09/college-basketball-way-too-early-top-25-2019-20/3410793002/

 

Mich State   #1

Kentucky      #2

Michigan      #3

Virginia         #4

Duke             #5

Kansas         #9

Baylor         #17

Tech           #22

 

 

Edited by LTtxfan
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Lobo

Our league own't be quite as loaded as it was this past season, so a #6-#8 finish is a realistic goal for one of the Top 10-15 highest paid coaches in college basketball.  I mean, we could be talking about a single-digit seed in the NCAA tournament, as in #8 or #9.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/5/2019 at 8:52 AM, LTtxfan said:

https://247sports.com/Player/Donovan-Williams-46049374/

So who will be the team leaders for Horns Basketball this season??

By now having Yaklich at Texas, I'm in a more hopeful mood.... Put on your best burnt orange glasses and describe a scenario where the Horns really surprise fans and possibly compete for this season's B12 Championship??

It'll be Ramey, if it isn't already.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So Yaklich will run the defense.  

Any thoughts on how Shaka will structure the coaching staff responsibilities for 2019-20 season??

  • Berry's suppose to improve recruiting.  Think he helps with offense??
  • Just curious wth Jai Lucas does besides AAU recruiting connections.  Maybe works with guards??
  • With Horn gone, who coaches the Bigs??

Just seems like a good opportunity for Shaka to reboot his career if he can manage his coaching staff correctly...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Lobo said:

Dammit, I'll bite...where exactly is the Dickie's Arena?  And who did we offend so as to have to play there? 

It's going to be a really nice arena.  It should be, it cost $540M ($225M from the city and the rest private $$$).  When they announced it, Ed Bass specifically said that it wasn't going to be a second rate venue.  Everything about it will be as nice or better than the AAC in Dallas, especially the acoustics.  It's also close to all the bars and restaurants in W. 7th so it should be good venue for special events.  They've already booked an NCAA regional and the AAC conference tournament.  Two days before the UT/A&M game, TCU will play USC in basketball there.  I think the fans that go are really going to like it.  The city just has to figure out transportation from the arena to W. 7th and it will be a great party scene before and after games.  

https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/community/fort-worth/article222185430.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Remember every June, we'd start to piecemeal the next season's schedule together, or at least the OOC part?  Now, I could give a shit.  All I got so far is a loss to the Aggies in Fort Worth, 2 losses in New York before T-Day, some revenge tour against Radford or Fairfield or whoever the fuck beat us last season like that, and then some loss in the SEC challenge.  

Anything else we can post?  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, 11/9 road game?   That’s an early start.  We’ll likely turn right around and come home to play the two play-in games for that NYC classic (2 games on the 21 and 22 I think with Duke and GWU and Cal).    Plus probably something weekend after turkey day that we’ll shit the bed on.  Nothing like heading into December with 5 losses already.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, Machinator said:

I mean, I'm not high on Texas this upcoming season either, but this guy is a Tech fan masquerading as an "insider". I'm not going to put much store into what he thinks about Texas, or any Big 12 team for that matter.

He has us starting only 4 players so of course we won't do very well.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow, what a home schedule this year.  UAB and an SEC team.  Critique of Shaka last year aside, the home schedule last year was pretty good.  This year's sounds like shit so far.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



×
×
  • Create New...