John 
Beilein’s 
contract 
extension, announced by the 
University on Wednesday, will 
see the men’s basketball coach 
paid $3.8 million annually.
The extension, which will keep 
Beilein in Ann Arbor through 
the 2022-23 season, amounts to 
a raise of roughly $400,000 per 
season. This maintains Beilein 
as 
the 
second-highest-paid 
coach based on annual salary 
in the Big Ten behind Michigan 
State’s Tom Izzo. It comes just 
weeks after Beilein’s flirtation 
with the Detroit Pistons — a 
job that ultimately went to 
former Toronto Raptors coach 
Dwane Casey.
In his 11 seasons at Michigan, 
Beilein 
boasts 
a 
248-143 
record, including eight NCAA 
Tournament 
appearances. 
He led the Wolverines to 
the Final Four and National 
Championship Game in both 
2013 and 2018, the most recent 
of which made an extension all 
but inevitable. Beilein heads 
into the 2018-19 campaign 
with 799 career wins in college 
basketball — starting at Erie 
Community College and, likely, 
ending in Ann Arbor.
The 
contract, 
obtained 
by 
The Daily, via a Freedom of 
Information 
Act 
request, 

establishes 
a 
$400,000 
base salary for Beilein with 
$1.9 
million 
in 
additional 
compensation 
and 
$1.5 
million 
being 
put 
into 
a 
403(b) Supplemental Defined 
Contribution Retirement Plan. 
Officially, it’s not a lifetime 
contract, but it is in all but 
name — and the Wolverines are 
selling it to recruits as such.
Beilein 
will 
also 
receive 
$25,000 in bonuses for each 
NCAA game won, along with 
another $25,000 for an NCAA 
Tournament berth, a Big Ten 
Tournament championship or 
a share of the Big Ten regular 
season title. If Michigan wins 
the Big Ten outright, his bonus 
jumps to $50,000.
Beilein’s buyout is $3 million 
if fired this upcoming season 
and drops to $2 million in 
2019-20. From there, it drops 
by $500,000 each year until 
the 
2022-23 
season, 
after 
which Michigan can terminate 
Beilein’s 
contract 
without 
worrying about a buyout.
Among 
other 
benefits: 
Beilein will be reimbursed 
for 
first-class 
airfare 
and 
will be entitled to 10 hours of 
private air travel within the 
continental United States per 
year. Those hours roll over for 
an additional year if unused. 
Also included are six season 
tickets to Michigan football 
games and eight such tickets to 
basketball games.
The full contract can be found 
 
online at MichiganDaily.com

KATELYN MULCAHY / DAILY
Michigan assistant coach Luke Yaklich lends his insight on the Jordan Poole, the talented new freshman team and more 

12
Thursday, June 26, 2018
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS

In years past, the Michigan 
basketball team operated under the 
mantra “The best defense is a good 
offense.” They suffocated opposing 
defenses 
with 
their 
3-point 
shooting, but their own defense 
sometimes held them back. Last 
season, though, the Wolverines 
flipped the script. They ranked 
third in the country in Adjusted 
Defense, according to KenPom.
com. That was largely thanks to 
new assistant Luke Yaklich from 
Illinois State.
Under Yaklich, younger players 
like 
sophomore 
guard 
Zavier 
Simpson developed into defensive 
stalwarts, but even junior forward 
Moritz 
Wagner 
and 
fifth-year 
senior wing Duncan Robinson — 
veterans whose defensive presence 
was 
previously 
almost 
non-
existent — vastly improved. With 
a down year for the offense, the 
new defensive mindset helped lead 
Michigan to the national title game.
Yaklich, 
meanwhile, 
is 
just 
getting started, and this year he will 
have the country’s No. 8 recruiting 
class to work with.
“Our entire coaching staff, it’s a 
great learning environment every 
day. And then obviously learning 
from our players what Michigan is 
all about, the culture. (The players 
are) 100 percent invested in that. 
They helped me … just showed me 
what Michigan basketball is about. 
That was a huge part of my own 
growth.”
Now, it’s a symbiotic relationship. 
The players come excited to learn, 

making Yaklich’s job much easier. 
And the culture that Beilein and the 
players built up was unparalleled.
“Integrity (and) accountability 
are two of our core values. We live 
those out every day,” Yaklich said. 
“… When it’s part of your culture, 
it’s part of your behavior, and that’s 
again, our focus each and every 
day.”
On his relationship with Colin 
Castleton
Incoming freshman center Colin 
Castleton didn’t originally draw 
a lot of college interest. But one of 
the first schools that contacted him 
was Illinois State — an effort led by 
Yaklich. When Yaklich joined the 
Wolverines, he continued contact 
with Castleton. Now, at Michigan, 
the two will be reunited.
“When I got to Michigan, 
(Castleton) built himself up to that 
point where he was something we 
needed,” Yaklich said. “We just 
struck up that relationship again 
and started right where we left off. 
It’s been fun following him through 
that process.”
Castleton will compete with 
junior Jon Teske and redshirt 
sophomore 
Austin 
Davis 
for 
minutes at the center position.
On the development of the 
underclassmen
The Wolverines’ run to the title 
game was largely led by veterans — 
from Wagner to Robinson to senior 
guard 
Muhammad-Ali 
Abdur-
Rahkman. But from freshman 
guard Jordan Poole’s buzzer-beater 
to propel Michigan to the Sweet 

Sixteen to redshirt sophomore 
guard Charles Matthew earning the 
West Region’s Most Outstanding 
Player award, the underclassmen 
showed that the Wolverines’ future 
is bright.
“They’ve 
learned 
from 
(Robinson, Wagner and Abdur-
Rahkman),” Yaklich said. “ … It’s a 
pleasure seeing their growth from 
last year to this year. (They’re) all 
veterans in their own little ways. 
A lot of it is their approach to the 
game and understanding what it 
took to do what we did last year, 
and the role our seniors had in that. 
They want to have the same type of 
goal, leadership style and legacy.”
On Jordan Poole
Everyone remembers Poole for 
his buzzer-beater against Houston 
and his viral video set to Drake’s 
“In My Feelings.” But entering his 
sophomore year, Poole has a whole 
career ahead of him. With the 
graduation 
of 
Abdur-Rahkman, 
Poole will have the opportunity 
to step up — not just in the role of 
shooting guard, but aslso as one of 
the team’s leaders.
“A lot of fans outside the 
stadium see the dance moves and 
the smiley face, but behind it is 
a really competitive player that 
comes out every day and wants to 
be a leader,” Yaklich said. “That is 
the fun part about Jordan Poole. 
He’s comfortable in his own skin, 
but he’s a leader, wants Michigan 
to be really good and is working to 
improve himself in the process.
“He’s a special player.”

Beilein gets $3.8 million 
annually with new deal

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Notebook: Yaklich on new team

KATELYN MULCAHY / DAILY
Michigan coach John Beilein signed a contract extension through 2023 season

ETHAN SEARS
Daily Sports Writer
&
MAX MARCOVITCH
Daily Sports Editor