Florida Atlantic to hire Baylor assistant John Jakus as next head basketball coach, per report

The FAU Owls recently lost their most successful basketball coach in program history, as Dusty May moved on to be the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines. Well on Wednesday evening, they quickly found their replacement. According to college basketball expert Jon Rothstein, the Owls are hiring Baylor’s John Jakus as their next head coach.

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Jakus is considered by many as one of the top assistant coaches in the country. He’ll get his chance to lead the FAU Owls into the new era, with life after Dusty May, the man that took them to their only Final Four in school history.

He originally joined the Baylor staff in May of 2017, after spending the previous three years with the Gonzaga Bulldogs as their director of operations. Before his stint with the Bulldogs, he also worked on the staff at Baylor as a graduate assistant during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 seasons.

During his time as a college basketball assistant coach, he’s guided his respective teams to five Sweet Sixteens, three Elite Eights, two Final Fours, and one national title.

Jakus was a part of one of the best teams in Baylor basketball history, when they won their first national championship in 2020-2021. That team won the Big 12 title that year, too, finishing 28-2 overall and 14-1 in conference play. The Bears posted a program-record 11 wins against ranked opponents, including a perfect 7-0 mark against Top-10 teams.

Baylor was ranked in the top five for 29-consecutive AP Top 25 polls and they finished the 2020-2021 season with the nation’s third-longest active streak of 37-straight weeks ranked. The Bears finished off that season with an 86-70 pummeling of the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Jakus’ former team. It was one of the most dominant wins in a national title game in recent memory.

Baylor used some stifling defense in that one, forcing 14 turnovers which they converted into 19 points. They also had four players score in double figures. The Bears were led by MaCio Teague (19 points) and Jared Butler (22 points). The Baylor defense also held Gonzaga to shooting just 5 of 17 from three-point range, under 30 percent (29.4%). The Bulldogs had problems all game with the Bears’ remarkable length and athleticism, which was overpowering for much of the game.