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Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Illinois St. selects Jankovich

KU assistant will finish season before joining Redbirds

By Gary Bedore

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Kansas University basketball assistant Tim Jankovich, who has been a college head coach twice before, will lead a program again.

Jankovich, who has worked for Bill Self at KU the past four seasons, at 11 a.m. today will be introduced as Porter Moser's replacement at Illinois State University in Normal, Ill.

Moser was fired March 5 after compiling a 51-67 record in four seasons.

"What a great opportunity for Tim," Self exclaimed Monday, noting Jankovich was committed to completing this season at KU before moving into his new office on the ISU campus.

"I couldn't be happier for Tim. It's a great hire. I worked 40 minutes from Illinois State, and I know it's a great situation," the former University of Illinois coach noted. "Tim will like the area. He and his family will be great fits for the area. He is a great coach, and more importantly, to me, a great friend. He'll be missed, and (wife) Cindy and (son) Michael will be missed."

Jankovich, who went 53-57 at North Texas from 1993-97 and 50-14 in two seasons at Hutchinson Community College (1997-99), met with ISU athletic director Sheahon Zenger and ISU president Al Bowman on Monday in Lawrence - an off day for the Jayhawks.

Jankovich and his family members flew to Normal, Ill., after accepting the job and spent the night at a hotel awaiting this morning's media conference.

"They've been talking for about a week. It happened pretty fast," said Self, who has worked with Jankovich for five years - one at Illinois and the past four at KU.

Self said it would not be a distraction to his KU team, which is headed to a Sweet 16 meeting with Southern Illinois on Thursday in San Jose, Calif.

"I thought it'd be a bigger distraction if he kept denying it for a week or so. Now we know he's the new man at Illinois State. It's his job. We're happy for him," Self said.

"Our players knew it was a possibility. We informed them today it could happen. They will all be very happy for him."

Self, of course, is not now thinking about the possibility of promoting somebody like Brett Ballard or having Danny Manning accept a full-time assistant's post.

"My concern right now is SIU," Self stressed. "I'd rather get it (the announcement of Jankovich's hiring) over with than questioned about the situation and Tim not being able to answer correctly.

"Putting it out now is the right thing to do, otherwise he'd be answering questions while we're preparing in San Jose. His job here is unfinished. He's committed to helping us try to defeat Southern Illinois and advance in this tournament. Tim did not want this to be a distraction to the team and it won't be one."

Jankovich, 47, who also worked for former KU assistant and former Illinois State head coach Kevin Stallings at Vanderbilt, has talents that will be missed, Self indicated.

"He is a very good recruiter and one of the best talent evaluators I've been around," Self said. "He is without question one of the brightest coaches in the game. I have been blessed to be around many great assistant coaches (including current St. John's coach Norm Roberts and Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie) and Tim is as talented as any of them.

"It's a great get to hire (him) at a mid-major level. He has a creative mind, played basketball and coached at the highest level."

Former KU player Christian Moody said Jankovich taught him a lot at KU.

"He is a great, personable guy that always has the door open," Moody said. "Working with him as a big-man coach was a real privilege. He let the big men know their job in the offense. He has this unbelievable mind for coming up with new plays and knowing why and how plays work.

"He is really good at explaining them. I had some great talks with him. It's what made him a great scouting coach, too," Moody added. "He is really good at scouting other teams and breaking down their offenses and players in figuring how to guard and play against the best teams."

¢Jankovich notebook: Former ISU coach Moser was paid $510,000 as a buyout for the final three years of his contract. ... Redbird athletic director Zenger, like Jankovich, is a Kansas State graduate. ... The Redbirds, who play in the Missouri Valley Conference, return five of their six leading scorers for the 2007-08 season, including Valley Freshman of the Year Osiris Eldridge and four seniors. ISU went 15-16 last year and tied for seventh in the Valley at 6-12. ISU went 22-50 in conference games under Moser. ... Jankovich has also worked as an assistant at Oklahoma State, Texas and Colorado State. ... At Kansas State, Manhattan native Jankovich played for KSU's Elite Eight team in 1981 and Sweet 16 squad in '82. He left KSU eighth in career field-goal percentage (.510) and held the Big Eight Conference Tournament single-game record for assists with 14. ... Jankovich was believed to be on the wish list of several schools this offseason, including Denver, Colorado State and Wyoming.

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Comments

Jayhawk86 (anonymous) says...

Congratz Jank! We all konw you will do a great job.

March 20, 2007 at 1:59 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

dlshaw74 (anonymous) says...

Good luck. You will be missed. Happy for you and your family for a great opportunity. I assume it is every assistants dream to be a Div.1 head coach. Hope you found your dream. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to the KU program. Rock chalk.

March 20, 2007 at 4:58 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

JayCeph (anonymous) says...

Eyes on the prize... one game at a time.

March 20, 2007 at 9:01 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

justanotherfan (anonymous) says...

I was happy to hear about Jank's opportunity, but I am always cautious of an assistant leaving for another school before the season is over for his current team. Jank is a great coach and recruiter, but will his focus be divided now that he has to put together a schedule and team for Illinois St. next year?

Good luck Jank. Good luck Hawks. Let's hope this doesn't break up the business at hand.

March 20, 2007 at 10:09 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

CasperCorps (anonymous) says...

Good programs produce good coaches..

March 20, 2007 at 10:16 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jaminrawk (anonymous) says...

Great situation. Illinois State is in the Valley, which is where overlooked talent goes to shine. I hope to see them in the NCAA tournament in a few years.

Wonder who'll replace him ...

March 20, 2007 at 10:34 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...

can't say that i'm surprised ...

quite frankly, i thought K-State would have come calling before they took Huggy ...

Good luck Coach!

March 20, 2007 at 10:51 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

lalawguy (anonymous) says...

I also wish Jankovich luck. While I don't pretend to know the internal workings of the KU coaching staff, it sounds to me like Danny Manning has worked hard for Self and is probably deserving of the open assistant coach's spot.

March 20, 2007 at 10:56 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

bmcmich1 (anonymous) says...

Do we even know whether or not Danny even wants the spot?

March 20, 2007 at 11:08 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

Jaminrawk (anonymous) says...

Maybe Joe Dooley's hair can take the position, since it seems to have taken on a life of it's own this year ...

March 20, 2007 at 12:11 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

assessing impact of janks departure

Jank leaving is an interesting excuse to evaluate the staff.

Jank: he is a Hartman guy from the Iba Parrot tradition. He's going to Illinois State. You'd think he'd take a guy or two from the staff with him. But who?

Dooley: A Jersey guy who played at GWU in late 80s. He seems to come out of a BoWash corridor hoops culture that bubbled up out of GWU and St. Johns. It has produced Fran Fraschilla, Mike Jarvis, Norm Roberts, and Karl Dobbs, the last who played under Jarvis and coached under Jim Calhoun, at UConn, before returning to GWU--if I recall the musical chairs correctly. Regardless, Dooley got an early headcoaching shot at East Carolina U., but then moved on to New Mexico with Fran Fraschilla. He left New Mexico when Fraschilla got dumped, and assisted at Wyoming under just fired Steve McClain for a year (McClain was the former Hutch Juco phenom coach who jumped to TCU to assist Billy Tubbs at the end of Tubbs run). Dooley came to KU likely through a connection to Norm Roberts, who quickly jumped to headcoach of St. Johns. If Dooley becomes Self's Number One assistant, he is very likely to become a candidate for jobs in the BoWash corridor, say GWU when Dobbs leaves there for a major program soon. Dooley stays and moves up.

Townsend: a San Jose kid who apparently fought his way up the hard way through Menlo Juco and then to Western Kentucky, before riding the tide of major programs diversifyiing staffs to include African Americans. Townsend has served as an important recruiter at Michigan, Cal and USC, giving him experience and entre to Michigan and California recruiting regions. Townsend stays and moves up to No. 2.

March 20, 2007 at 12:54 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jross1972 (Joe Ross) says...

Good luck Jank!

March 20, 2007 at 12:55 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Dooley and Townsend seem ready to slide up one notch each. Townsend especially needs to get off the largely recruiting conveyor belt and get recognized as an X and O guy as well, which he needs eventually to do to be considered for a head job.

From there you move into the guys just cutting their teeth in D1 coaching on the staff, which include Brett Ballard, Ronnie Chalmers (Mario's dad), Danny Manning (certainly the richest beginner coach in KU history), Nate Mast (one of Self's Illini players) , Moody and Niang.

Ballard, Chalmers and Manning are clearly ready to move up a notch, but there's only one slot. Also, none of them has entre to a recruiting hotbed around the country not already served by Self, Dooley and Townsend. This will limit their desirability, though Manning, having won a ring and played in the L has the kind of cache that can gain entre most places. But does Danny want to go back on the road recruiting while raising his family. Probably not. Still, everyone needs a big man coach with pedigree, a ring, and a career in the L. Chalmers probably has the most hands on coaching experience from his highschool days. But frankly, the third full time assistant usually has to be a formidable recruiter to get on the train.

Hence, Self might hire from outside to gain access to some new recruits. He does face a shortage of scholies and he did lose Singler and Anderson this year. And he does only have Aldrich and Reed coming in next year. For a couple years, he needs some sure things to keep the program improving, until the scholies get back to normal levels.

March 20, 2007 at 12:55 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jaybate (anonymous) says...

Self passed over these younger coaches to bring Dooley and Townsend in before. He may have to do it again. The logical move for one or more of Ballard, Nate Mast, Chalmers and Manning is to follow Janks to Illinois State. Most likely though, Chalmers stays another year with Mario here. And Danny keeps on keeping on, because he's happy and fixed for life and very useful to Self as is. Danny can bide his time and climb up from within. That leaves Mast and Ballard as candidates to move with Janks. The only question is if Janks can absorb both. Neither are big time recruiters, and big time recruiters have to be first on Jank's list. Expect Mast or Ballard to go, not both, probably Mast, because he knows the Illinois turf from his Illini days. It would be a great break for him. Ballard stays and catches another train.

Of the younger guys, Nate Mast seems to be one of those guys head coaches groom because they seem to to be just like the head coach when he started out. Self and Mast have some similarities. Dean brought Roy along the same way.

Moody has a future, because he's smart and having been a big, he'll be able to coach and recruit bigs down stream.

The most interesting guy on the staff long term, though, seems to be Niang. Here is an obviously smart guy who landed on his feet after a very disappointing playing career spanning two great coaches. Niang could have a huge future as a recruiter abroad, and then a big man coach, something every program needs. I'm not saying Niang is the guy most likely to become a head coach some day, but given the continuing drift toward foreign players, he seems in the right place at the right time with the right mind and persistence to have a long career.

March 20, 2007 at 12:56 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Purposive (anonymous) says...

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but I thought Christian Moody was in Med School and had aspirations to be a doctor. I never heard or read anything to suggest he wanted to be an assistant coach one day

March 20, 2007 at 1:46 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

DCSven (anonymous) says...

Great handling of this potential distraction, albeit minor. Kudos to Coach Self!

Congrats Coach Jankovich, its been great having you part of the KU family, loved watching you play for that other team years ago.

March 20, 2007 at 2:11 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhwkfan162515 (anonymous) says...

Bye, Jank! It's been nice knowing you!

And while we're talking about the coaching carousel, I think Tubby Smith should resign from unappreciative UK and go coach at Colorado. He could be himself without the ridiculous expectations of winning national titles every year. He could be himself out there. UK will always be Adolph Rupp's program.

March 20, 2007 at 8:38 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Lebowski (anonymous) says...

I guess I just don't understand what there is to appreciate jhwkfan1625?

March 21, 2007 at 3:34 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

jhwkfan162515 (anonymous) says...

Hey, Lebowski, I mean that Tubby did the best he could out there, but it obviously wasn't good enough to satisfy UK fans. Anyway, it's moot now that he's headed to Minnesota.

March 22, 2007 at 5:39 p.m. ( | suggest removal )