Head Coach, Luke Yaklich

No stranger to the state of Illinois and the Chicagoland area, Luke Yaklich (YOCK-litch) was named head men’s basketball coach for the UIC Flames by Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Michael Lipitz on March 26, 2020.

Yaklich brings 21 years of coaching experience to Chicago and has helped lead three collegiate programs – Texas, Michigan and Illinois State – to national postseason success. In his second season with the Flames in 2021-22, Yaklich mentored freshman Jace Carter to the League’s All- Newcomer Team, the first UIC representative on the list in five years. Additionally, Yaklich has coached two Flames to Player of the Week honors and one to Third Team All-Conference accolades.

Prior to arriving at UIC, Yaklich was the associate head coach for Shaka Smart at the University of Texas where he helped the Longhorns to a third place Big XII finish and presumptive NCAA Tournament berth in 2019-20 (prior to that year’s tournament being canceled). Considered one of the top defensive minds in the game, Yaklich shaped a defense that ranked in the top 30 in the NCAA in scoring defense by allowing only 63.3 points per game.

Yaklich previously served as an assistant coach for John Beilein at the University of Michigan. He helped lead the Wolverines to a pair of 30-win seasons, two Sweet 16 appearances, and the 2018 National Championship Game.

Michigan won over 80 percent of its games for a total of 63 victories in Yaklich’s two campaigns. The Wolverines ranked eighth nationally in scoring defense (63.3 ppg) in his first season on the bench (2017-18) and advanced to the NCAA Championship game against Villanova. It was the first time a Michigan team led the Big Ten in scoring defense since 1963-64. It also ranked third nationally that year in Defensive Efficiency by the KenPom ratings (90.5).

During Yaklich’s second season in Ann Arbor, Michigan once again led the Big Ten and ranked second nationally in scoring defense (57.7 ppg) and second in KenPom’s Defensive Efficiency (86.2). The team posted 30 wins, earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16 before bowing out against Texas Tech, the eventual national runner-up.

Yaklich began his collegiate coaching career at his alma mater, Illinois State, on the staff of head coach Dan Muller. From 2013-17, he helped the Redbirds win 86 games and earn three postseason bids (2 NIT; 1 CBI). Yaklich was elevated to associate head coach prior to the 2016-17 campaign, and that year ISU posted a 28-7 overall mark, including a 17-1 record in the Missouri Valley Conference. The Redbirds set single-season program records for overall wins (28), regular-season victories (25) and conference wins (17). ISU concluded that season ranked fifth in the NCAA in field-goal percentage defense (37.9 percent) and seventh in scoring defense (61.3 ppg).

A teacher in the truest sense, Yaklich ascended to the collegiate ranks after serving as head coach of highly successful Illinois high school programs for 14 years, where in addition to coaching, he also taught U.S. history. He was the head boys’ basketball coach at Joliet West High School (Joliet, Ill.) for six seasons, while also leading the Joliet Pride and Illinois Wolves AAU teams.

During his final season at Joliet West (2012-13), Yaklich led the Tigers to 19 wins and an IHSA Class 4A Lockport Regional title. He also guided the 2009-10 team to a 24-8 record and the Homewood- Flossmoor Sectional Championship. He earned 2010 District 9 Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Coach of the Year honors.

Yaklich also coached at his high school alma mater, LaSalle-Peru High School, from 2003-07 (boys) and 1999-2000 (girls). In between, he was the head boys basketball coach at Sterling High School in Sterling, Ill., from 2000-03. Yaklich’s teams won 214 games in his 14 seasons as head coach.

A native of LaSalle, Ill., Yaklich is a 1994 graduate of La Salle-Peru Township High School, where he played basketball for the Cavaliers. He graduated from Illinois State University in 1998, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree with endorsements for American and world history, sociology, political science and geography.

The UIC head coach also earned two master’s degrees from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill. He received his Master of Education in 2004 and followed in 2009 with a Master of Education Administration. He also became a National Board Certified Teacher (NBCT) for social studies in 2012.

Yaklich and his wife Amy, have three children, Olivia, Griffin and Taylor.