Coach Yak and the UIC Flames

Newest Member of the Missouri Valley Conference

(St. Louis, MO) – UIC is new to the Missouri Valley Conference, but its basketball coach is coming home! Luke Yaklich coached at Illinois State and is a Chicago native with deep ties to the country’s second oldest conference.

‘Coach Yak’ worked for Dan Muller for four seasons including Illinois State’s 2017 championship season. The 45-year-old Yaklich is an ISU graduate and spent his formative coaching years at the prep level before joining Muller and the Redbirds.

Yaklich spent two seasons assisting John Beilein at Michigan and one with Shaka Smart at Texas. This is his second season at the UIC helm.

Coach Yak Coming Home to the Valley

The LaSalle, Illinois native is excited to be coming home to the Valley. His time with Muller was invaluable to his ability to be a Division 1 head coach and his appreciation for the league is genuine and deep. He was a part of the early, unofficial conversations about the possibility of UIC becoming the Valley’s twelfth member.

 

 

UIC will instantly become the largest university in the Valley (33,000 students) with the most diverse student population in the league. Yaklich says UIC is a beautiful campus, with outstanding academics, facilities and ethnic diversity.

 

 

Building the Program

Yaklich is a ‘defense-first’ kind of coach. His reputation as a defensive coach started in high school and was developed under Muller. The opportunity to work with hall-of-famer Beilein at Michigan grew that reputation. Credited with changing and improving the Wolverines’ defensive capabilities, Yaklich was a key contributor to Michigan’s 2018 national runner-up finish.

He says he was amazed that a hall-of-famer was still willing to learn and adapt. Praising both Beilein’s brilliance as a basketball genius and his unusual humility, Yaklich learned valuable lessons in Ann Arbor.

 

 

Our entire conversation can be heard at Valley Hoops Insider Podcasts and can be watched on YouTube.

Do Good