CHICAGO – UIC head coach Luke Yaklich announced today the addition of Kyle Drennan as the team's director of operations. Drennan joins the Flames after spending the last year as the head coach at McCook Community College in McCook, Neb.
 
"Kyle has worked incredibly hard throughout his journey into college basketball and has a wide variety of experiences with professional sports organizations and Division I athletics, as well as being a junior college head coach," said Yaklich. "He's been someone that I have always admired for his work ethic and his care for young people. He will not only be incredible in his role as director of operations in our program, but also will be great at fostering lasting relationships with our student-athletes."
 
"This is one of those moments where you feel like the stars aligned," said Drennan. "I have always dreamed of living and working in Chicago. The opportunity to work with Coach Yaklich as part of his first staff as head coach is amazing. I can't wait to get to work, get on campus and bring the heat!"
 
In his lone season at the helm of the McCook men's basketball program, he guided the Indians to their first home playoff game in 13 years, first playoff win in 20 years and saw the team GPA climb above a 3.0 for the first time in 12 years.
 
On the court he helped Le'Tre Darthard and Raheim Sullivan to Third Team All-Region and First Team All-Conference honors, while Tyrik Singh earned First Team All-Conference recognition.
 
Prior to his time in McCook, Drennan served as the director of operations at McNeese State for a season where he oversaw travel, academics, nonconference scheduling, film analysis, social media, budget and student managers.
 
Drennan moved to McNeese State after serving as the director of scouting and operations with JUCO Advocate out of Austin, Texas, where he guided players to the junior college ranks assisting them to obtain scholarships from four-year programs.
 
He also worked as the Director of Scouting and Social Media at Texas Top 100 where he developed and executed regional camps, evaluated players at the local and national levels and spearheaded social media coverage of live and upcoming events.
 
Drennan broke into coaching in 2015 as an assistant coach at Labette Community College in Parsons, Kansas, where he was responsible for skill development of the guard and wing positions as well as game plans, film analysis, marketing, and out-of-state recruiting.
 
He started his career in marketing with the Fenway Sports Group and the Salem Red Sox, a minor league baseball affiliate of the Boston Red Sox. There he developed short and long term marketing plans as well as building relationships with Fortune 500 companies.
 
The Aurora, Colorado native is a 2009 graduate of the University of Colorado with degrees in marketing and business management.