Luke Yaklich (born May 8, 1976) is an American college basketball coach and former men's basketball coach for the UIC Flames.
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| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 8, 1976 LaSalle, Illinois, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Illinois State ('98) Olivet Nazarene ('04) and ('09) |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1999–2000 | LaSalle-Peru HS (girls) |
| 2000–2003 | Sterling HS |
| 2003–2007 | LaSalle-Peru HS |
| 2007–2013 | Joliet West HS |
| 2013–2017 | Illinois State (asst.) |
| 2017–2019 | Michigan (asst.) |
| 2019–2020 | Texas (asst.) |
| 2020–2024 | UIC |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 47–70 (.402) (college) 214–173 (.553) (high school) |
Early life and education
editYaklich is a native of LaSalle, Illinois. He graduated from LaSalle-Peru High School in 1994 after competing on the basketball team. Yaklich earned a Bachelor of Science from Illinois State University in 1998.[1] He served as a student manager for the basketball team.[2] He received his Master of Education from Olivet Nazarene University in 2004 and Master of Education Administration from Olivet Nazarene in 2009.[1]
Coaching career
editYaklich began his coaching career at his high school alma mater in 1999, serving for a season as the head girls coach. In 2000, he became the boys' basketball coach at Sterling High School, serving until 2003. Yaklich subsequently became the boys basketball coach at LaSalle-Peru. In 2007, he was hired at Joliet West High School. Yaklich led the 2009-10 Joliet team to a 24-8 record and the Homewood-Flossmoor Sectional Championship and earned 2010 District 9 Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Coach of the Year honors. In his final season at the school in 2012-13, he guided the team to an IHSA Class 4A Lockport Regional title and 19-8 record.[1] Yaklich also served as a social studies teacher, earning teacher of the year honors at Joliet West.[2]
Yaklich served as an assistant coach at Illinois State under Dan Muller from 2013 to 2017. He knew Muller from their time in college together at Illinois State, and he helped the team reach the NIT in 2015 and 2017.[1] On August 4, 2017, Luke Yaklich was announced as a new assistant coach on the Michigan basketball staff.[3][4][5] Muller recommended Yaklich for the position to Michigan's John Beilein.[2] Yaklich served as Michigan's defensive specialist and helped the team reach the 2018 NCAA Tournament Championship game. In his two seasons on the bench, Michigan compiled a 63-15 record. In May 2019, Yaklich was hired as an assistant at Texas under Shaka Smart.[1]
On March 24, 2020, Yaklich accepted the head coaching position at UIC.[6] On March 10, 2024, UIC fired Yaklich.[7]
Personal life
editYaklich and his wife, Amy, have three children: Olivia, Griffin, and Taylor.[1]
Head coaching record
editHigh school
edit| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LaSalle-Peru High School () (1999–2000) | |||||||||
| 1999-00 | LaSalle-Peru | 16-11 | |||||||
| LaSalle-Peru HS: | 16–11 (.593) | ||||||||
| Sterling High School () (2000–2003) | |||||||||
| 2000-01 | Sterling HS | 8-19 | |||||||
| 2001-02 | Sterling HS | 13-14 | |||||||
| 2002-03 | Sterling HS | 15-13 | |||||||
| Sterling HS: | 36–46 (.439) | ||||||||
| LaSalle-Peru High School () (2003–2007) | |||||||||
| 2003-04 | LaSalle-Peru HS | 8-18 | |||||||
| 2004-05 | LaSalle-Peru HS | 14-14 | |||||||
| 2005-06 | LaSalle-Peru HS | 18-12 | |||||||
| 2006-07 | LaSalle-Peru HS | 18-10 | |||||||
| LaSalle-Peru HS: | 58–54 (.518) | ||||||||
| Joliet West High School () (2007–2013) | |||||||||
| 2007-08 | Joliet West HS | 16-12 | |||||||
| 2008-09 | Joliet West HS | 19-8 | |||||||
| 2009-10 | Joliet West HS | 24-8 | |||||||
| 2010-11 | Joliet West HS | 9-16 | |||||||
| 2011-12 | Joliet West HS | 17-10 | |||||||
| 2012-13 | Joliet West HS | 19-8 | |||||||
| Joliet West HS: | 104–62 (.627) | ||||||||
| Total: | 214–173 (.553) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
College
edit| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UIC Flames (Horizon League) (2020–2022) | |||||||||
| 2020–21 | UIC | 9–13 | 6–10 | 11th | |||||
| 2021–22 | UIC | 14–16 | 9–10 | 8th | |||||
| UIC Flames (Missouri Valley Conference) (2022–2024) | |||||||||
| 2022–23 | UIC | 12–20 | 4–16 | 11th | |||||
| 2023–24 | UIC | 12–21 | 4–16 | 11th | |||||
| UIC: | 47–70 (.402) | 23–52 (.307) | |||||||
| Total: | 47–70 (.402) | ||||||||
|
National champion
Postseason invitational champion
| |||||||||
References
edit- ^ a b c d e f "Luke Yaklich named Men's Basketball Associate Head Coach". TexasSports.com. University of Texas. 31 May 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- ^ a b c Norlander, Matt (29 March 2018). "How an ex-high school social studies teacher helped put Michigan in the Final Four". CBS Sports. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- ^ "Report: Michigan To Hire Luke Yaklich As Assistant". MGoBlog.com. MGoBlog. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ "Official: Michigan hired Luke Yaklich and DeAndre Haynes to fill assistant coaching vacancies". MaizeNBrew.com. Vox Media, Inc. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ "Sources: Michigan to hire Illinois State's Luke Yaklich". 247sports.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
- ^ Cobb, David; Norlander, Matt (24 March 2020). "College basketball coaching changes tracker: Illinois-Chicago hires Texas assistant Luke Yaklich". CBS Sports. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- ^ "Illinois-Chicago fires coach Luke Yaklich after 4 seasons". AP News. 2024-03-11. Retrieved 2024-04-15.