On Friday afternoon, John Jakus inserted himself into the hearts and minds of FAU nation, as he was officially introduced as the 10th basketball coach in school history with an opening press conference that displayed passion and emotion.
There were ultimately a variety of factors that led to Jakus taking his family from Waco, Texas to Boca Raton, Florida, but it wasn’t a decision that was taken lightly.
Early in his statement Jakus put an emphasis on what mattered to him the most throughout the search process, his loved ones. He mentioned each of them by name, specifically his “jersey girl” wife Sara, his oldest son Brady, who is the best man he knows, his son Cal who’s a gift from God, his daughter Harper who, with a smile on his face mentioned she will run this place, not him.
Hours after Baylor lost in the NCAA tournament to Clemson, Jakus received a phone call from FAU athletic director Brian White. Although admittedly in a bad place following the loss, he realized he wanted the job badly, explaining so to White on the phone for over an hour.
“I spent an hour selling my heart out for it… one of the reasons I wanted it so bad was because of what you guys (the FAU players) have done. The beach is great, what this university is, is great, but what you guys have given this place is what I want to be and what I’ve been about, and the 2 final 4s have been some of the greatest memories of my life and the fact that you guys have done this, I want to do another one with you,” Jakus said in his opening press conference.
After a 2-hour interview with Brian White and Michael Graffin at the top of the Boca Raton Hotel, Jakus was left with an important task while White finalized the offer… call his wife.
Jakus halted his overseas head coaching career in his early 30s and returned to the United States after his 2nd son Cal was diagnosed with autism. That led to the start of his college coaching career with Gonzaga and Baylor and formed stability for his family between Mark Few and Scott Drew’s coaching staff. Leaving that stability behind wasn’t easy, and the family has turned down jobs in the past but following that phone call with his wife it became evident that turning this job down wasn’t in the cards.
“My wife and I have turned down a bunch of jobs… but this one (FAU) she didn’t want to turn down. So, when she said yes, we definitely said yes,” Jakus said.
Following a short meeting with FAU president Stacy Volnick, the deal was sealed for Jakus and it officially set in motion his next steps, starting with meeting with players and coaches to build relationships.
Thanks to the diligent work from FAU athletics, the search process was kept under wraps and Jakus got the ability to meet with the players naturally and unannounced.
“I asked them one thing, give me a chance. And the reality of the situation is if you leave maybe, you will find something better, but I doubt it, because what you’ve built here and as friends is fantastic. My hope is that they would give me until Monday, and I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but none of them are in the portal,” Jakus said.
Although Jakus has been tagged as an elite recruiter, an important step in possibly retaining some of those players is possibly keeping an assistant from the previous regime to help smoothen the transition. It is unknown if that is in the cards, however after meeting with the players, Jakus met with a handful of the previous coaches as well.
“I met with every staff member yesterday, that was the very first thing I did. I went from the interview to the locker room with the players, the next morning by 11 am I had met with each Coach. I think that is for Dusty to decide on some of that, but as far as being the best person I could and connecting with them, I definitely did that. We will see how things fall, we have already talked to them so I think that I did the very best that I could to honor them,” Jakus said,
Next on the to-do list for Jakus will be filling out his coaching staff and the remaining roster spots, and any type of continuity to build off of would jumpstart that process.
Jakus will be looking to recruit players that can help institute a highflying offense, and a defense that feeds off its energy, similar to his Baylor and Gonzaga teams that were top 5 in both offensive and defensive efficiency.
Alongside roster and staff building over the spring and summer, Jakus will also be tasked with assembling FAUs non-conference schedule for the upcoming season. That is something that he is well prepared for, having assembled the schedule for Gonzaga a few years ago, and is aware can potentially make or break the Owls chances at an at large bid.
“Our schedule is super important, that’s one of those things we’re going to adress this week right away. What you do before Christmas is a big deal, obviously when you come off of a final four you want to schedule that way, the staff did a great job of that. I did scheduling for Mark Few at Gonzaga so I have a good handle on the landscape of that. I understand how the NET works, and I know you have to do certain things in order to make the tournament and it’s not just playing well but scheduling is a big deal. As far as the conference is concerned, you want a better conference, the better the conference is the more there is a chance it becomes a multi-bid league. So, we want to make the tournament, but frankly we want the American to have more than one team,” Jakus said.
Jakus is well versed on a variety of different aspects of his position, from scheduling, to recruting, and being a master of the pick and roll; he has prepared himself quite well for this job, and it will be interesting to see how this team looks next season.