The soon-to-be seventh-year head coach of the men’s basketball team at Northern Michigan University had last season’s lead assistant coach get hired into the NCAA Division I ranks.

Associate head coach Keil Ganz, making his second stint with the Wildcats, has been hired to become an assistant coach with Wisconsin-Green Bay. In his first stint, Ganz helped turn around the NMU program early in Majkrzak’s reign, while his latest stint helped get them to a GLIAC Tournament title last season.

Now Northern is looking ahead with the hiring of Luke Taylor as assistant coach, and now second-year assistant John-Michael Hughes also getting promoted to assistant coach.

“We are very excited for Keil, as he gets the opportunity to move his family back to his hometown and work at an NCAA D-I school, which also happens to be both of our alma maters,” Majkrzak said in an NMU Sports Information new release about the changes. “The success we’ve had as a basketball program on and off the floor wouldn’t be possible without Keil’s tireless dedication to NMU basketball.

John-Michael Hughes

“He was the best man in my wedding, and I’ll miss him as a friend, but I’m extremely excited for the next chapter of his coaching journey.”

And he’s just about as excited with his new coaching changes.

“We are extremely fortunate to, yet again, have a great coaching staff for the 2025-26 season,” Majkrzak said. “A huge part of our program’s success has been the coaches we’ve had on staff. Part of that success is that they get opportunities to advance their careers.

“One of the biggest challenges of sustaining success is hiring people who will continue to elevate our program. I’m very confident this staff will keep us competing at the highest level.”

Taylor joins the Wildcats after a year assisting the St. Cloud State women’s basketball team in Minnesota. While finishing his master’s degree at SCSU, he also assisted with the Buffalo High School boys’ varsity team and coached with the Minnesota Comets AAU squad.

Taylor played four years at St. Cloud from 2020-24, starting 65 of 91 games, and was a three-time Academic Team of Excellence and academic all-league honoree in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.

As a senior, he averaged 9.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, scoring a career-best 24 points at Northern State. Taylor has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology.

“Luke is someone that I recruited as a high school senior to play for me at Bryant & Stratton,” Majkrzak said of his coaching stint in Wisconsin before NMU. “He committed to us, but I ended up taking the Northern Michigan job before ever having a chance to coach him.

“Since then, we’ve played against him at St. Cloud State, where he had a tremendous career. I’ve been able to follow his personal development as a player and coach. It’s an incredible full-circle opportunity for both of us. Luke is going to make an outstanding college basketball coach, and we are happy that his journey starts at Northern Michigan.”

After a successful first year at Northern, Hughes has been promoted to the staff’s lead assistant coach. He previously served as a graduate assistant in Division I at the University of Southern California. At USC, under head coach Andy Enfield, he was entrusted to work holistically across all aspects of the program, but with specific emphasis on player development and worked with players such as Isaiah Collier, Bronny James and Boogie Ellis.

“From the day he arrived, John-Michael has made a tremendous impact on our program in scouting, player development and recruiting,” Majkrzak said. “He’s an outstanding young coach who is going to have an incredible future in this profession.

“We feel very lucky to be able to promote him to the role of top assistant coach, a very well-deserved promotion. John-Michael will be the third top assistant we’ve had since I’ve been here, and I have no doubt he will elevate our basketball program to continue winning championships and compete on a national stage.”

He played three seasons from 2019-22 at another Division I school, The Citadel.

Story contents based on Northern Michigan University Sports Information press release reviewing the staff changes. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.