University of Idaho Athletics

Derek Saich comes to Idaho after three seasons at the University of San Francisco. AT USF, he served as the director of basketball operations and as an assistant coach.

Saich spent two seasons coaching alongside coach Moreira for the Dons. He joined USF for the 2021-22 season and served his first year as the director of basketball operations. He was promoted to assistant coach for the 2022-23 season.
 
As assistant coach, Saich prepared scouting reports, walk-throughs, and gameplans for the Dons. Saich was responsible for all film operations and provided analytical reports for upcoming opponents.
 
At USF, Saich aided in the development of three WCC First Team members, one newcomer of the year, and one WCC Second Team honoree. Ioanna Krimili, Jasmine Gayles, and Debora dos Santos were all selected to the first team at least once. Krimili was a two-time selection and Gayles was also named the 6^th Woman of the Year. Saich mentored Freja Werth this past season, who was crowned the WCC Newcomer of the Year.
 
In his time with the Dons, the team had back-to-back WNIT berths in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. In the past three years, USF finished third, fourth, and tied for third in the WCC.
 
Prior to San Francisco, Saich spent three years with Texas Southern University men’s basketball program as the video coordinator from 2018-2020. His duties included helping coordinate team travel, transportation, and meals as well as finding and budgeting everything technological related within the program. His time in Houston included preparing opponent scouting reports, walk-throughs and game plans for head coach Johnny Jones and the rest of the staff.
 
Prior to that, Saich spent two years working with the University of Nevada, Reno's men's basketball team which included a run to the Sweet 16 under former head coach Eric Musselman. Saich served as the video coordinator for the Wolfpack and created recruiting materials and graphics for social media, mail outs and promotions as well as creating a play database for the coaching staff that included plays and drills.

Saich's first position with a collegiate basketball program was with the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's basketball team as the Director of Academics/Video Coordinator. He monitored student-athlete academic progression and coordinated weekly meetings with each player to develop strategic plans to manage coursework. To go along with these duties, Saich also compiled all practice/game film for opponents and the coaching staff.

Graduating in 2015, Saich holds a Bachelor of Science degree from UCSB in Biophilosophy as well as a certificate in sports marketing.