Oct. 2—Eric McClellan, an entertaining follow on social media, recently posted snapshots of himself and John Jakus during a Florida Atlantic basketball practice wearing T-shirts reading: “Relationships over everything.”
It’s not some random cookie-cutter slogan for the two.
It’s essentially the reason McClellan revitalized his playing career after transferring to Gonzaga and how he became an FAU graduate assistant under first-year head coach Jakus, who restarted his coaching career thanks to key relationships built with Baylor’s and Gonzaga’s coaching staffs.
The two established a strong connection when Jakus, after two years as a grad assistant with Scott Drew at Baylor, joined GU’s staff as director of basketball operations (DOBO) from 2015-17, the final two years overlapping the 6-foot-3 McClellan’s two years in a Zags uniform.
“Obviously, he was the DOBO, but he was much more than that for me,” McClellan said. “He was someone I leaned on, someone I went to for counsel. He spent so much time caring about me, helping me achieve my dreams as a basketball player.
“I’d go over to his house. (McClellan’s then girlfriend now wife) Quincee was tight with John’s wife Sara, and Quincee would watch their three kids, Just super kids, beautiful people. I’m damn grateful.”
Jakus and McClellan credit former Gonzaga assistant coach Tommy Lloyd with timely assists in their arrivals in Spokane. Lloyd, entering his fourth season as Arizona’s head coach, reached out to Jakus about joining the staff and later reached out to McClellan after he was dismissed at Vanderbilt following an academic violation and misdemeanor theft charge.
“I went from being a head coach overseas to having no job and I was an outsider in college basketball. And it was never my intention to coach college basketball,” Jakus said. “I would say Scott and Tommy and then Mark (Few, GU head coach) saw through that. Scott never treated me like a GA and Mark never treated me like an ops guy.
“The level of respect and including me in the basketball process in a way where I can now be a head coach all points to their humility. Both Scott and Mark have always been great coaches, but they’ve also grown and you see how they’ve changed over the years. They gave me more than I could ever give in return.”
Jakus naturally wanted a Gonzaga presence alongside several of his staff members with Baylor ties after landing his first collegiate head coaching assignment. When the ball isn’t moving or players aren’t making the right reads, Jakus encourages McClellan to be a fresh voice and offer pointers.
“Eric is a way better listener and communicator than people probably understand. “He’s always had that quality, that loyalty,” said Jakus, hired shortly after Dusty May left for Michigan just two days after FAU’s first-round NCAA Tournament loss. “Tommy began the process of giving him a second chance in some ways. When Eric came in, I remember Tommy telling me to take care of him — maybe he meant it in jest but maybe seriously. I would put Eric in the top five players in my career as far as emotions with myself and Sara.”
For good reason. McClellan’s growth off the court at GU paralleled his impactful performance on it. He became an invaluable player on the 2016 team that navigated a far bumpier season than last year’s squad, despite similar final records — 28-8 in 2016, 27-8 last season.
He averaged 20.3 points as Gonzaga went 3-0 to win the West Coast Conference Tournament, likely the team’s only avenue to March Madness. Eleventh-seeded GU promptly thumped No. 6 St. John’s and No. 3 Utah, with McClellan scoring 22 in the latter contest before falling to Syracuse’s late rally in the Sweet 16.
Jakus was planning to hire McClellan, who played seven professional seasons overseas, at Baylor in a GA position before accepting the FAU job.
“I have a heart to understand people that are misunderstood. After going through two schools when people didn’t transfer as much as they do these days, that was my job,” Jakus said. “I needed to be in the players’ lives but there was something about the way Eric and I related. He always talked to you like an adult, an old soul. That’s a rare quality. He’s not selfish.
“When (Jakus’s autistic son) Cal was 3 or 4, no one could talk to him or touch him or cut his hair. Quincee could. She was like an angel in his life. Hiring Eric and Quincee was a no-brainer.”
Jakus reports Cal is now “more verbal than he’s ever been. We’re encouraged by his growth the last 12 months.”
When the McClellans relocated to Boca Raton, Florida, for Eric’s new job, Cal immediately recognized Quincee upon seeing her for the first time in seven years.
Jakus took over an FAU program that made a surprise run to the 2023 Final Four and followed that up with another trip to the Big Dance. He quickly faced sizable challenges. Many of the team’s top players left via the transfer portal, including 7-1 center Vladislav Goldin following May to Michigan.
The top four scorers, including Golden and guards Johnell Davis (Arkansas), Alijah Martin (Florida) and Nick Boyd (San Diego State) transferred and a few seniors exhausted their eligibility.
Jakus and his staff brought in 10 new players, including several promising transfers, and kept three holdovers from last year’s roster.
“I was frustrated at first,” the coach said. “I didn’t get any time with my family. I flew home once for my son’s graduation. Looking back, there’s a refreshing feeling that these are our guys and the staff did a good job. It feels like home when we go in the gym. The other side of hard is a blessing sometimes.”
Incoming transfers include Jackson State guard Ken Evans Jr., the 2024 SWAC Player of the Year who finished with 25 points and 10 boards in a blowout loss to Gonzaga, and guard KyKy Tandy, who played against the Zags in the 2022 PK80 when he was at Xavier.
There’s also 6-11 center Baba Miller, who was on Gonzaga’s recruiting radar before playing his first two seasons at Florida State.
The move from assistant to head coach is a big one, but Jakus has experience calling the shots as a head coach overseas and he’s spent a lot of time around Drew and Few.
“The new part is the CEO part, the fundraising part and balancing budgets and asking people for money and constantly being out to fulfill that role,” Jakus said. “But I’m happy in the gym every day and it’s my job to serve the program.”
Memphis will likely be favored in the American Athletic Conference, but FAU figures to be in the mix with a reconstructed roster.
“John hasn’t changed one bit,” McClellan said. “What he’s done in four to five months, from raising NIL, getting 10 players in here, building a new system and getting everyone on the same page, managing personalities, play style. He’s done a beautiful job.
“He certainly has his own style and I’m a huge fan of it. It’s more Baylor-centric than Gonzaga, but he’s taken some stuff from Gonzaga. It’s all credit to him and how he conveys the message to these young men. They play hard and it’s a brand new team. I’ve never seen a team gel like this at this time of year.”
Jakus officiated former GU walk-on Rem Bakamus’ wedding this summer. Bakamus, a former teammate of McClellan’s who landed a GA position at Baylor with help from Jakus, is an assistant with Lloyd at Arizona.
“Rem stole my idea,” McClellan said. “We had this plan back in college. He stole my idea.”
Jakus is expected to officiate a second McClellan wedding ceremony for family members, likely next summer.
McClellan, an Austin, Texas, native, made Spokane his offseason headquarters during his pro career, often working out and playing pick-up games at Gonzaga. He spent some time around the Zags last season, particularly guards Nolan Hickman and Ryan Nembhard, and anticipates big things this year.
“Those dudes are as good as they come in the country,” he said. “The way the year went and they turned it up a notch or two in the second half, that’s what it’s about. Huge fan of both, all those guys, the resolve they showed and they had to figure it out.”
McClellan was invited to speak to the team, which was probably on the wrong side of the March Madness bubble until knocking off No. 17 Kentucky in Rupp Arena last February, by strength and conditioning coach Travis Knight.
“I told them the sky isn’t falling, you guys are fine, don’t subscribe to whatever you’re hearing outside these walls,” McClellan said. “And I told them there was a team (in 2016) not too long ago that was in the same boat as them.”
McClellan was still playing at a high level when he decided to retire. He averaged 20.8 points for a team in Cyprus over the last five games of the 2022 season. He played in Romania the ensuing, averaging 9.1 points and 3.5 rebounds in 22.8 minutes.
“I wanted to make sure when I pivoted, I had a plan,” he said. “I was healthy, had three to four offers to keep playing. I just decided the next step would be paramount and I was comfortable.”
He said it’s difficult to put into words what Gonzaga has meant to him.
“When I say things like they saved my life, I hope people don’t think I’m being dramatic when I say that,” he said. “I transferred twice when people didn’t transfer and somehow, I fell up. That doesn’t happen very often.
“It provided me with a network of brothers, my wife, a fraternity forever. The coolest thing about Gonzaga is I’m tight with (former Zags) that I never played with. I can go to David (Stockton’s) house or pull up with Joel (Ayayi) or Killian (Tillie), guys like (Jeremy) Pargo, Ira (Brown), ‘Mo’ (Adam Morrison), Mike Nilson. It’s super tight knit.”
McClellan is the first to admit it hasn’t always been a smooth journey. He credits numerous “beautiful people” for helping hands along the way, many of whom he met in Spokane.
He paused for a second when asked what 19-year-old McClellan would have said when told 31-year-old McClellan would be entering the coaching profession.
“He would have looked at you with a puzzled, confusing look,” McClellan said, “and probably shook his head and walked away.”
And now?
“The first thing that comes to my mind is how fortunate I am to be around people I care about and can learn from every single day,” said McClellan, noting he has to find out if he “loves coaching as much as I loved playing the game. I wake up eager to get to the gym and work with the players and collaborate with the staff.”
