Washington adds top recruit’s father to its coaching staff
Washington boosted its chances of landing one of the Class of 2017’s top prospects on Friday when it hired his father as an assistant coach.
Michael Porter Sr. will replace Brad Jackson on Lorenzo Romar’s staff, he confirmed to Yahoo Sports via text message. Washington subsequently announced the news.
“We’re extremely excited to have Mike and his family join us,” Romar said in a statement from Washington. “I’ve known him for many years and he will be a very valuable addition to our coaching staff. Mike has a very high level of experience in player development and also provides a network of recruiting in the Midwest that we have not really been able to tap into. There’s no doubt he will help our program continue to grow and be a great mentor to our guys.”
Porter is the father of two coveted prospects, skilled, athletic 6-foot-8 small forward Michael Porter Jr. (No. 2 in Class of 2017) and four-star 6-foot-8 power forward Jontay Porter (No. 45 in Class of 2018). Washington received a commitment from Jontay last August and is one of many elite programs pursuing Michael Jr. along with Kansas, Missouri, Duke, Kentucky and others.
While luring Michael Jr. was surely part of the impetus for hiring his dad, this isn’t quite as cynical a move as when Larry Brown hired Danny Manning’s father at Kansas or John Calipari invented a job for DaJuan Wagner’s father at Memphis.
Romar has been a close friend of Michael Sr. since they played together for Athletes in Action in the 1980s and he is godfather to Michael Jr. The elder Porter also has ample coaching experience, first as an AAU coach in Indiana and most recently as an assistant coach for the Missouri women’s basketball team.
Washington has not made the NCAA tournament since 2011, but the Huskies are starting to stockpile talent like they did in their heyday under Romar. Early defections from Dejounte Murray and Marquese Chriss will hurt in the short term, but elite point guard Markelle Fultz is Seattle-bound next fall and perhaps both Porter brothers may follow soon after.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
