The expectations around Florida Atlantic men’s basketball are different.
After six seasons with Dusty May as their head coach, athletics director Brian White set about hiring a new head coach for a job that’s become a “national brand,” according to him.
And he might not be wrong.
Two NCAA Tournament appearances, a Final Four, a head coach being paid $1 million annually, a job being taken by the associate head coach of a program that’s won it all.
As John Jakus takes the podium for the first time as the new head coach of Florida Atlantic, there is nothing but excitement from the watching crowd.
Jakus gets a standing ovation fit for some of the country’s biggest stars when he mentions that no players, to date, have entered the transfer portal. He wants fans to keep season tickets. He tells students to show up earlier for games next season.
Now, winning a press conference isn’t difficult. And Jakus will have to prove to FAU officials and fans that he was the right choice with success on the court. But it’s a strong start, and that matters.
But why Jakus?
“To be honest, I think I have this job because of what other people said about me,” Jakus said. “Hopefully, 80 percent of this was done before I even started my interview because the people I love loved me back.”
According to White, Jakus checked many of the boxes that FAU was looking for in their next head coach. A serial winner, a masterful tactician, an ability to develop NBA draft picks, including two lottery picks at Baylor. And most importantly, a good person.
“The themes on Coach Jakus that we hear is ‘tireless worker, extremely well connected, cares about players, cares about his student-athletes as people as well, elite at X’s and O’s and player development,” White said. “But most importantly, a great human being, someone that will be a great addition to the Boca Raton community and FAU community as well.”
To some degree, it appears that Jakus got this job less for his coaching acumen – though, he certainly has it – but more for his personality.
It’s a common theme around people who know him. They all talk about the person Jakus is and not the coach he is. Of course, the coach doesn’t need to be talked about.
Few assistant coaches have Jakus’ resume, or experience. He’s been a professional basketball coach, he’s been an assistant under some of the nation’s best coaches, including Mark Few and Scott Drew. There’s a picture of him cutting the net at the NCAA Tournament Championship that tells you all you need to know.
“What I noticed immediately was how gracious he was.”
But the person Jakus is has drawn rave reviews.
“What I noticed immediately was how gracious he was. He was a pro coach, a professional coach in Europe that basically did everything,” Tim Maloney said. “He promoted the team, he got people in another country to be excited about basketball. And he was just a very genuine, sincere, honest, intelligent person.”
Maloney first met Jakus in Europe through an organization called Athletes in Action. Jakus credits Maloney with giving him his first opportunity to coach college basketball in the United States, allowing him to fall into a group of coaches that have shaped his career.
“It’s not just what you learn,” Maloney said when asked how Jakus’ experience under top college coaches will help. “Those coaches surround themselves with great coaches. It’s all about the people that are in the wings that people won’t talk about. When you’re in the wings, you’re helping everything fly.”
And sure, Jakus won’t be Scott Drew 2.0. He won’t be Mark Few 2.0. He certainly won’t be Jerome Tang 2.0, or Grant McCasland 2.0.
But those experiences, paired with his experiences as a coach overseas, will help him run his program his way.
“All the experiences that you have through the course of your life,” Maloney said. “Well, it gives you a level of information. The information, you apply it, it becomes knowledge. And the knowledge rehearsed, over and over again becomes wisdom.”
For Jakus, the new opportunity comes in a place that’s experienced winning, and not one that needs a cultural reset. While that task might be a daunting one for some, Jakus would rather have it that way.
“You have two choices when a program is very good. You can run from it or you can take it on. And I’d rather take it on,” Jakus said. “The truth is, you can take over a program in a bad place, bad fans, people don’t care, and pretend you can fix everything. And that’s now what I wanted.”
With this new challenge, Jakus has to find a way to keep the train rolling and keep FAU’s core together. From there, he can add to the roster and build his brand of basketball.
Regardless of how Jakus fills out the roster though, he’ll have plenty of avenues to choose from. Local, national, and international.
“People overseas, they have very good noses, they sniff you out,” Maloney said. “They’re going to know exactly where you’re coming from. You’re not pulling the wool over their eyes. That’s how you can get players from there.”
And if the early reviews are anything to go off, he’ll have no problem getting people onto that train to the Final Four.
“The world teaches you to value things and use people,” Maloney said. “John values people and uses things. And where he gets those trainings is where he gets his strength.”
