SEATTLE — The father of one of the nation’s top basketball recruits in the 2017 class has joined Washington’s coaching staff as an assistant.
UW announced on Friday that Michael Porter, a longtime friend of Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar — and whose son, Michael Porter Jr., is the No. 5-rated player in Scout.com’s ranking of the 2017 recruiting class — has been hired as an assistant coach.
Porter’s youngest son, Jontay, is a 2018 recruit and has already announced an oral commitment to Washington.
To accommodate the move, UW will demote assistant Brad Jackson to the role of “special assistant to the head coach.” The Huskies’ other two assistants are Raphael Chillious and Will Conroy.
Porter spent the past three seasons as an assistant with the Missouri women’s team, and spent the prior three seasons as Missouri’s director of basketball operations. Romar offered him the assistant coaching position left vacant by T.J. Otzelberger’s departure last offseason, but Porter decided to stay at Missouri for another season. UW eventually hired Conroy instead.
“We’re extremely excited to have Mike and his family join us,” Romar said in a statement released by the school. “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.”
Romar and Porter have been friends since the 1980s, when they played together for Athletes in Action. Romar is also Michael Porter Jr.’s godfather. Porter Jr. is a 6-foot-8, 195-pound small forward who holds scholarship offers from a bevy of college basketball bluebloods. He will be a high-school senior in 2016-17. Jontay Porter tweeted on Friday: “Moving to Washington!”
“I am extremely humbled and excited to have the opportunity to join the UW men’s basketball program,” Porter Sr. said in a statement released by UW. “The admiration, trust and respect my wife, Lisa, and I have for Lorenzo Romar stems from many years of watching how he lives his life and handles his business. I’m grateful for the chance to work with and learn from a man who exemplifies everything I want to be as a husband, father and coach.”
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