Akeem Miskdeen makes move from Georgia staff to Michigan with Dusty May
Georgia Basketball assistant Akeem Miskdeen is moving on, taking a job on the new Michigan staff spearheaded by Dusty May. The news was first reported by Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic.
Miskdeen and May, both of whom fall under Mike White’s coaching tree, have spent an extensive amount of time together over the years. In May’s first three seasons at Florida Atlantic (2018-21), Miskdeen was an assistant for the Owls. Miskdeen actually served as the acting head coach for two games during the 2020-21 season while May was sidelined due to health and safety protocols. During their time, Florida Atlantic put together three consecutive winning seasons, a feat accomplished just once before in program history, with a combined 47-41 record. In 2019, the Owls reached the postseason for the first time in eight years, and of course, after Miskdeen’s departure for Florida where he joined White’s staff in 2021-22, Florida Atlantic would make a run in the 2023 NCAA Tournament to the Final Four under May’s direction.
A native of Chicago and a former player himself, Miskdeen takes with him to Michigan 15 years of coaching experience with stops that include Hampton, Mount Olive, Wingate, Kent State, Florida Atlantic and Florida prior to Georgia. Teams he’s assisted in coaching have earned postseason bids in eight of 14 opportunities including seven of the last ten campaigns.
Getting his start at Hampton in 2008-08 as director of basketball operations, Miskdeen jumped to the bench in stints at Mount Olive College and Wingate University, a pair of Division II schools in North Carolina. Mount Olive went 25-6 during his one season on staff, reaching the NCAA Tournament. Then, Miskdeen made the move back to Hampton, this time as an assistant coach from 2011-16, helping guide the Pirates to postseason bids in each of his final three seasons including back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. As recruiting coordinator at Hampton, he played a key role in landing first-team All-MEAC guards Quinton Chievous and Reignald Johnson Jr.
Miskdeen added an associate head coach title in his next stop at Kent State, once again helping guide his team to the NCAA Tournament. In his first season, Jaylin Walker doubled his scoring average working with Miskdeen while Jalen Avery led the nation in assist to turnover ratio in year two. Kent State recorded 39 wins during his two seasons there. That immediately proceeded being hired by May at Florida Atlantic and White at Florida.
Miskdeen has been on the same staff as White for three seasons now, one at Florida (2021-22) and each of White’s first two at Georgia. The Bulldogs made their first postseason appearance since 2017 and won 20 games for the first time in eight seasons this past year with Miskdeen a part of the staff alongside White, Antonio Reynolds-Dean and Erik Pastrana. All three assistants joined White in Athens as a part of his original set of hires.
