By Mark Gregory
Sports Editor
@Hear_The_Beard
mark@buglenewspapers.com
In this season’s NCAA Division-I men’s basketball tournament, Loyola-Chicago has been the Cinderella of the dance.
The No. 11 seed in the Midwest Regional, the Ramblers are the Loyola is the fourth No. 11 seed to reach the Final Four since the NCAA Tournament was expanded to 64 teams in 1985.
The tournament darling is headed up by 1986 Benet Academy graduate Porter Moser.
Moser, who was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame as a player in 2017, was a three-year varsity starter under head coach Bill Geist.
Loyola coach Porter Moser (Steve Woltmann)
Moser helped Benet to a 70-14 varsity record and was part of the Redwings’ state-record 102-game home winning streak.
As a senior, he was named Most Valuable Player in the West Suburban Catholic Conference.
After Benet, Moser attended Creighton and was a two-year starter, helping the Bluejays to the 1989 Missouri Valley Conference title and a NCAA Tournament berth.
A year after graduating, Moser joined the coaching staff at his alma mater as a graduate assistant coach. He then spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Texas A&M University before moving to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for one season. He then returned to Texas A&M for two more seasons before spending a pair of seasons as an assistant at University of Alabama-Little Rock.
In 2000, he got his first head coaching job at UALR, piloting the Trojans to a 54-34 record in three seasons.
He was then the head coach at Illinois State for four years before leaving after the 2007 season to take an assistant job under legendary coach Rick Majerus at Saint Louis University.
Moser was named associate head coach after spending one season as an assistant coach and remained with the Bilikins until taking the job at Loyola in 2011.
Moser, the 2018 Midwest Valley Conference coach of the Year, is now in his seventh season at Loyola and Has a record of 121-110 with the Ramblers and will compete Saturday in his first Final Four.
Overall, he has a head coaching record of 226-211.
A member of Moser’s staff is Bryan Mullins, who is in his fifth year on the Ramblers’ staff. It is his third season as assistant coach after two-years as the director of basketball operations. Mullins works primarily with the team’s backcourt in addition to scouting and recruiting duties.
During his senior season in 2004-05, Mullins averaged 16.6 points, 5.6 assists, 5.3 steals and 3.5 rebounds per game as the Mustangs claimed a school-best 30-4 record and the program’s only state trophy.
South defeated top-ranked Thornton in the state quarterfinals behind Mullins’ team-high 15 points.
The Mustangs then lost to Carbondale in the semifinals, but defeated Rockford Jefferson in the third- game behind 19 points, eight assists and six steals from Mullins.
That season, he was named first-team All-State. He was third team All-State his junior year, averaging 12 points and seven assists per game.
Mullins is not the only Voyager Media area coach in the Final Four hoping to make the ascent through the ranks like Moser.
Former Joliet West head coach Luke Yaklich will be on the sideline opposite of Moser in the national semifinal as he is a first-year assistant under John Beilein.
Luke Yacklich(Michigan Photography)
“Luke was destined to be a college coach,” said Joliet West Athletics Director Steve Millsaps. “When I sat and talked with him when he told me he was offered (a job at Illinois State University), he was struggling with the decision, you just knew he would be putting in the work – and look at him now.”
Yaklich made the jump from high school to the college ranks in 2013, getting hired at his alma mater Illinois State as an assistant under current head coach and college roommate Dan Muller.
Before the start of the 2016-17 season, Yaklich was promoted to associate head coach and helped the Redbirds to a share of the Missouri Valley regular-season title as ISU set program records for overall victories (28), regular-season wins (25) and conference wins (17).
In four years at ISU, Yaklich helped Illinois State to an 86-50 record and two berths in the National Invitation Tournament and one College Basketball Invitational.
In addition to his coaching duties with the Redbirds, Yaklich was in charge of ISU men’s basketball academics along with assisting in recruiting, scouting and working on skill development. In the fall of 2014, ISU established a team grade-point average record with a 2.99 GPA, breaking the previous mark by 0.13 points.
Before ISU, Yaklich was the head boys’ basketball coach in Joliet – coaching the combined Township program for three seasons and three at Joliet West. He also coached in the AAU ranks with the Joliet Pride and Illinois Wolves.
In his six years in the Joliet high school ranks, Yaklich posted a 104-62 record.
In his final season with West in 2013, he led the Tigers to a 19-8 record and the IHSA Class 4A Lockport Regional title.
His 2009-10 Joliet Township team posted a 24-8 mark and won the Homewood-Flossmoor Sectional. That year, he was tabbed as District 9 IBCA Coach of the Year.
“You have to get into that coaching fraternity – either in the pros or college, they ask for recommendations,” Millsaps said. “Luke was lucky to have his college roommate as head coach at ISU, somewhere he felt comfortable. What a great thing for him. He will be a head coach soon – you just know that is going to happen.”
Loyola and Michigan tip off at 5:09 p.m. Saturday from San Antonio with the winner earning a berth in the National Championship game.