Luke Yaklich (born May 8, 1976)
Current position: Head men’s basketball coach
Current team: UIC Flames
Current conference: Missouri Valley Conference (MVC)
UIC record: 35-49 (.417)
Overall record: 35-49 (.417)
Career Accomplishments:
- NCAA National Championships: 0
- NCAA Tournament Appearances: 0
- NIT Championships: 0
- NIT Appearances: 0
- Missouri Valley Regular Season Champion: 0
- Missouri Valley Tournament Champion: 0
Coaching Career (head coach, unless noted):
| 2020-present | UIC |
| 2019-2020 | Texas (assoc. HC) |
| 2017-2019 | Michigan (asst) |
| 2013-2017 | Illinois State (asst) |
Luke Yaklich Facts
- Luke Yaklich
- Born May 8, 1976
- Hometown: LaSalle, Illinois
- Alma Mater: Illinois State University (BS, 1998) / Olivet Nazarene University (M.Ed, 2004 & 2009)
- Played a LaSalle-Peru Township HS (IL) and then graduated from Illinois State in Bloomington, IL
- Returned to his alma mater LaSalle-Peru in 1999 and spent that season as the head girls’ basketball coach
- Coached the Sterling HS (IL) boys’ teams from 2000-03 and the LaSalle-Peru boys’ from 2003-07; also taught US History
- Spent six seasons as the head coach at Joliet West/Joliet Township HS (IL), going 104-62 during that tenure
- Led the Tigers to the IHSA Class 4A Lockport Regional title in 2013, his last with the program
- Moved up to the collegiate ranks, spending four seasons on Dan Muller‘s staff at alma mater Illinois State
- Went to two NITs and one CBI while at ISU; was part of the Redbirds’ shared 2017 Missouri Valley title
- Left for Michigan in 2017, working as one of John Beilein‘s assistants for the next two years
- Helped transform the Wolverines’ defense; finished as NCAA Runner-up in his first season on staff
- When Beilein left for the NBA in 2019, Yaklich moved on to be Shaka Smart‘s associate head coach at Texas
- Hired in March 2020 to be the head coach at UIC in his home state of Illinois; went 9-13 in the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season
- Along with his wife, Amy, has three children
Luke Yaklich Coaching Tree
- Dee Brown (Roosevelt)
- Brock Erickson (Nichols College)
