Through Saddi Washington, Michigan bridges past to future

Michigan unable to overcome injury to Brooks

Saddi 
Washington 
rolled 

out of bed and into basketball 

purgatory. 

On the morning of May 13, 

2019, John Beilein, Michigan’s 

all-time 
winningest 
coach, 

accepted 
the 
head-coaching 

position 
with 
the 
NBA’s 

Cleveland Cavaliers. In his wake, 

a stunned program pondered its 

suddenly precarious future. 

Washington, 
an 
assistant 

under Beilein, had no intention of 

leaving Ann Arbor anytime soon. 

Across three years on Beilein’s 

staff, he emerged as an integral 

part 
of 
Michigan’s 
success, 

helping spur the Wolverines 

into college basketball’s upper-

echelon with two consecutive 

30-win seasons. Meanwhile, his 

daughter, Sidney, had settled 

into high school while his son, 

Caleb, transitioned into middle 

school. 

“I always say, the Michigan 

experience has been very kind to 

the Washingtons,” Washington 

told The Daily. 

For 
days, 
Washington 

wondered 
whether 
that 

experience was over. Two weeks 

later, loitering toward the back 

of Juwan Howard’s introductory 

press conference, Washington 

found himself as Michigan’s 

longest-tenured assistant coach. 

Suddenly, he was the senior-

most link to Beilein’s program. 

As the staff’s holdover, his 

priorities shifted. 

He needed to work alongside 

the 
new 
staff 
to 
maintain 

Michigan’s success, an effort 

rooted in conserving the culture. 

A pair of pictures drape the 

back wall to Washington’s office, 

tethers to the past. 

The first, a photo of the 2016-17 

Wolverines celebrating their Big 

Ten Tournament championship. 

The other, a team picture taken 

on the court in San Antonio 

before the 2018 Final Four.

Since those moments, players 

and coaches have come and gone 

within the program. And yet, 

success has endured. 

It’s early February, and when 

Washington leans back in his desk 

chair, both photos come into view, 

blown-up and framed. He didn’t 

know that, a month later, he would 

be standing underneath a drizzle 

of maize confetti in the belly of a 

hollow Crisler Center, exchanging 

hugs and fist-bumps at the outer-

edge of a mosh pit. Michigan, in 

domineering fashion, secured the 

outright Big Ten regular-season 

championship. 

Another photo to add to the 

display. 

The last 11 seasons comprise 

arguably the greatest period of 

sustained success in Michigan 

men’s basketball history. Eight 

(soon to be nine, would have 

been 10) NCAA Tournament 

appearances. 
Five 
Big 
Ten 

championships. Two Final Fours 

and perhaps more forthcoming.

The transition from Beilein 

to Howard elicited no apparent 

drop-off, with the two tenures 

merging into one glorified era. 

Scanning those photos — both 

the pair already framed and the 

one soon to be there — reveals 

Washington to be the constant. 

***

After 
graduating 
from 

Oakland in 2010, Johnathon 

Jones was alone, bound for 

Slovakia on a pro-contract having 

spent the first 23 years of his life 

in Michigan. A few days before 

he left, he received a phone call 

from his former assistant coach, 

Saddi Washington, with some 

advice.

A decade earlier, Washington 

wore Jones’s shoes. He was 

en route to France, having left 

behind his wife and fleeting NBA 

dreams to prolong his playing 

career overseas. 

Challenges awaited — new 

teammates, a new style of play, 

a new culture — with no simple 

remedies. 
Washington 
had 

no one to guide him through 

the transition; bootlegged TV 

programs represented the only 

sort of contact with home. 

And, early on in his tenure as 

an assistant coach at Oakland, 

Washington sought to provide 

his players the mentorship he 

sorely lacked during that time. 

“I just tried to be there every 

step of the way, even though 

I 
wasn’t 
physically 
there,” 

Washington said. “It goes back 

to that day you’re sitting in a 

kid’s living room and they’re 

on campus and you start the 

recruiting pitch and you’re 

talking about family, from my 

perspective that shouldn’t end 

the moment they leave campus.”

Drawing 
upon 
his 
own 

international 
experience 
— 

stints in France, Italy, Israel 

and 
Greece 
— 
Washington 

curated a running Microsoft 

Word 
file 
dubbed 
the 

“European Survival Kit.” It 

encompassed everything from 

packing essentials to advice on 

acclimating to foreign customs, 

to stipulations to watch for in 

contracts. 

“Kinda like when a freshman 

goes to college, you have certain 

things that help you get by,” 

Jones, who played for Oakland 

from 2007-2011, said. “First time 

going overseas, he sat me down, 

made a checklist, told me what I 

could expect.” 

As 
Washington’s 
players 

continued 
to 
embark 
on 

international careers, he would 

“make his rounds,” checking in 

on dozens of players at a time. 

“He’d 
reach 
out, 
‘Young 

fella, man, you got everything 

you need?’ ” Reggie Hamilton, 

who played in seven different 

countries 
after 
his 
Oakland 

career, said. “He really just 

wanted you to be successful from 

the times he had.” 

That’s 
what 
gravitated 

Washington to coaching in the 

first place. As his playing career 

fizzled, coaching emerged as a 

way to give back through future 

generations. “To put them in a 

position … to be successful not 

just in basketball, but in life,” 

Washington says. 

He served one year as a 

volunteer 
assistant 
under 

current-Alabama coach Nate Oats 

at Romulus High School before 

moving on to Oakland University 

in 2006 as an assistant coach. 

There, he quickly embraced his 

different hats — not just that of 

an assistant coach.

“You ask Saddi, ‘Who are you?’ 

and he’s not gonna tell you he’s a 

basketball coach,” Oats said. 

He extended open invitations 

to his house, hosting players to 

watch film, eat dinner or simply 

relax and watch the nightly slate 

of NBA action. In an academic 

setting, he pushed his players to 

take more strenuous classes and 

ensured they completed their 

assignments on time. 

“That’s not his job, man,” Jalen 

Hayes, who played at Oakland 

from 2013-2018, said. “His job 

is to coach us on the court. Just 

going the extra mile, stuff that 

he didn’t have to do, but he did 

anyway because he wanted to 

see us be successful.” 

That mindset is reflected in 

everything Washington does. 

When 
NBA 
speculation 

inundated Kay Felder during 

his junior season, Washington 

initiated a heart-to-heart at the 

baggage carousel before a flight 

home. 

“He didn’t try to steer me and 

say, ‘Oh, you should stay another 

year’ or ‘you should go,’ ” Felder 

said. “It was basically, ‘I’m on 

your side.’ ”

And when Drew Valentine, 

an uncommitted high school 

prospect, 
tore 
his 
ACL 
in 

September of his senior year, 

Washington made sure to be at 

the hospital. When Valentine 

opened his eyes after surgery, he 

saw Washington first. 

“His biggest attribute is he’s 

real,” Carlton Valentine, Drew’s 

father and a close friend of 

Washington’s, said. “You could 

sense his genuine care and 

concern. There’s not a fake bone 

in his body.” 

There’s no perfect science 

to 
a 
coaching 
change. 
On 

multiple levels, it’s a balancing 

act, between players and staff 

members, pre-existing program 

values and the new regime’s 

vision. Each one is different from 

the next. 

Most 
new 
coaches 
at 

high-major 
schools 
inherit 

floundering programs in need 

of a complete makeover. At 

Michigan, that was far from the 

case. Beilein ingrained a culture 

that bred sustained success; 

Howard faced the challenge of 

building off it. 

“Going off, ‘Well, it’s not 

exactly broke here at Michigan, 

let’s keep a staff member on,’ and 

(Juwan) did that,” Beilein said. 

“We also understand that Juwan 

has to put his own stamp on it. 

The whole idea of creating his 

own identity but not letting go of 

the success that we’ve had.”

Retaining 
Washington 

offered a tangible way to do 

that. On Howard’s staff, Phil 

Martelli 
offered 
24 
years 

of 
collegiate 
head-coaching 

experience and Howard Eisley 

brought 
a 
heralded 
NBA 

pedigree. 
Yet 
Washington, 

hired by Beilein in May of 2016, 

possessed a familiarity with 

the players and program that 

others lacked. 

“You gotta have somebody 

that knows these guys,” Oats, 

who was present for coaching 

changes at both Buffalo and 

Alabama, said. “It’s hard to just 

come in, everybody on staff 

building a new relationship 

from scratch. You have to do it 

sometimes, but it’s not easy. It’s 

a lot easier and better to do it 

when you keep somebody.”

Beilein recommended each of 

his staff members to Howard. 

Washington and Howard had 

crossed 
paths 
before, 
both 

on the recruiting trail with 

Howard’s son, Jace, and during 

times when Howard would visit 

the program in past summers. 

They hit it off immediately. 

“Coach Juwan, he’s a people-

person, 
a 
relationship 
guy 

much like myself,” Washington 

said. “So you got two guys that 

really thrive off the energy in a 

relationship.” 

Once on board, Washington’s 

innate 
ability 
to 
develop 

relationships rendered him a 

perfect fit to connect one era 

to the next. He first thought 

to 
address 
the 
needs 
and 

apprehensions of his players. 

He sought to hasten Howard’s 

learning curve, parceling out 

information 
and 
compiling 

cheatsheets on personalities, 

strengths and weaknesses. As 

Howard devised a playbook, 

Washington 
served 
as 
the 

liaison between systems old 

and new. 

“He’s been a star in his role 

as far as doing a great job in 

assisting the staff and myself,” 

Howard said. “He could have 

easily gone to any school, I’m 

sure, and joined someone else’s 

staff as an assistant … because 

of his knowledge for the game 

and understanding of how to 

relate to players. I’m just happy 

that Saddi’s on our side.” 

Washington added: “I really 

just tried to serve as the bridge.” 

Last March, lost in the 

shuffle 
of 
the 
pandemic, 

Western 
Michigan 
relieved 

its longstanding coach, Steve 

Hawkins. The opening seemed 

tailor-made for Washington: a 

two-time All-MAC player, he 

starred as a Bronco from 1994-

1998.

Except, he didn’t want the 

job. He consulted with his 

family and, collectively, they 

agreed the timing wasn’t right. 

“A quality of life decision,” he 

deems it. 

The 
thought 
of 
a 
head 

coaching position, though, has 

crossed 
Washington’s 
mind 

before. 

“I would love to one day have 

the opportunity to be a head 

coach and run a program and 

do a lot of things that I’m doing 

now as an assistant in terms 

of influencing and making an 

impact on young men’s lives,” 

Washington said, a sly grin 

creeping across his face. “But 

just doing it from the first seat.”

It’s a role that anyone who 

has interacted with Washington 

knows he’s prepared for. 

“That dude is a one-of-a-

kind man,” Hamilton said. “I 

can’t wait until he leads his 

own team. I’m really excited to 

see a Saddi Washington-driven 

culture.” 

In reality, though, Hamilton 

doesn’t have to wait to see a 

Washington-inspired culture. 

All he has to do is look at 

Michigan.

The floater went in, but the result 

of the play couldn’t have been worse 

for the Michigan men’s basketball 

team. 

Just 
four-and-a-half 
minutes 

into the Wolverines’ 70-64 loss to 

Michigan State on Sunday, after 

scoring his second basket of the 

game, senior guard Eli Brooks 

injured his left ankle after landing 

awkwardly on the foot of Spartan 

forward Marcus Bingham Jr.

Assisted by Michigan coach 

Juwan Howard and athletic trainer 

Alex Wong, Brooks hobbled to the 

bench and eventually into the locker 

room, emerging in a walking boot at 

the start of the second half. 

“I don’t have much information 

for you about Eli’s injury,” Howard 

said afterward. “(We’ll) get home, 

gonna take a look and see after 

we’ve had our doctors take a look 

at it.”

Added senior wing Isaiah Livers: 

“You know he’s a warrior. … I didn’t 

get to see the replay but had to be 

bad if Eli can’t get back out there.”

As was the case in its first loss 

of the season against Minnesota on 

Jan. 16 — which Brooks missed due 

to injury — the Wolverines looked a 

shell of their typical selves without 

him. 
Michigan’s 
offense 
was 

disjointed, its defense erratic and its 

depth stretched. 

In their loss to the Golden 

Gophers, Michigan shot just 39% 

from the field. This time, it was 

only slightly higher at 41.7%. While 

graduate point guard Mike Smith 

is the team’s primary ball-handler, 

Brooks initiates the offense in his 

relief. Brooks entered the game 

averaging only 2.8 assists, but 

his steady presence has proven 

invaluable for the Wolverines this 

season. 

Brooks, who shoots over 36% 

from deep, also usually gives 

Michigan another scoring threat on 

the perimeter. 

“First we could do better by 

making better decisions,” Howard 

said. 
“Also 
there 
was 
some 

questionable shot selection. I loved 

(their) aggressiveness, but we have 

to be smart-aggressive. And then 

there were times too where we 

were missing guys when they were 

open. We can’t have those moments 

either.” 

Senior guard Chaundee Brown 

stepped in for Brooks. Typically 

the first player off the bench for 

the Wolverines, Brown filled in 

well from a scoring perspective, 

going 5-for-10 from the field 

with 13 points. Unfortunately for 

Michigan, though, its depth behind 

Brown was stretched extremely 

thin. Freshman Zeb Jackson had 

played just five total minutes in the 

last three games but played eight 

against the Spartans.

“No matter what, you can 

never prepare when you lose one 

of your main guys,” Howard said. 

“Chaundee did a good job of stepping 

in, Zeb had some good minutes out 

there as well, but we just pray that 

(Eli) gets back healthy.”

The void left by Brooks was 

especially 
pronounced 
on 
the 

defensive side of the ball. Michigan 

State’s guards Rocket Watts and 

Aaron Henry Jr. combined for 39 

points. Brooks, the Wolverines’ 

best perimeter defender, would’ve 

matched up with one of them. 

Michigan showed signs of life 

late in the game, cutting the deficit 

to two with a minute left. But, the 

Wolverines’ offensive strides were 

ultimately canceled out by their 

inability to get stops down the 

stretch — exactly when you’d want a 

guy like Eli Brooks on the floor. 

“We gotta do a better job of 

defending. 
We 
always 
pride 

ourselves on defense being a staple 

of getting stops, but unfortunately 

today, we didn’t do a good job of 

getting stops when we needed it. I 

loved (their) effort but we gotta do a 

better job of being more locked into 

the details.”

While the severity of Brooks’s 

injury is unknown, the timing 

couldn’t have been worse. Michigan 

plays its first game in the Big Ten 

Tournament this Friday, before 

the NCAA Tournament starts 

the following week. How quickly 

Brooks can return to action may end 

up being the difference between a 

second-round exit and a run to the 

Final Four. 

“When a guy that important 

goes down, you gotta adjust,” 

Livers said. “It’s a next man-up 

mentality, not making no excuses. 

We’re gonna watch film, see 

where we can improve at.”

As Michigan’s learned without 

Brooks, believing in a “next man-

up mentality” and actually living 

up to it are two very different 

things.

JARED GREENSPAN

Daily Sports Writer

CONNOR BRENNAN

Daily Sports Editor

ALEC COHEN/Daily

Senior guard Eli Brooks went down with an ankle injury against Michigan State in the last game of the Wolverines’ 
regular season.

JULIA SCHACHINGER/Daily

Michigan assistant coach Saddi Washington has been the one constant through two coaching regimes.

The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Sports
Wednesday, March 10, 2021 — 15

