Michigan basketball interim head coach Saddi Washington will coach the Wolverines in Spain, an opportunity he accepts with no hesitation.

At the same time, Washington wishes it had come under different circumstances. Washington has been chosen to lead the team while head coach John Beilein recovers from double bypass heart surgery he underwent Monday.

"Once we knew that he was obviously okay, it was humbling to some degree," Washington recalled of the moment Beilein told him he’d take over. "At the same time, though, it's like 'do your job.' That's what I kind of communicated to the rest of our staff.

"The expectation is,' let's do our job and let's now do it at a higher level,' because that's the way you honor someone of Coach Beilein's stature. We're going to do our best to hand the program back in good order and hopefully a little bit better."

The coaching staff and the team has given Beilein his privacy while he recovers, but Washington did provide an update, noting his boss is doing great while recovering. Beilein is expected to return before fall practice starts in October.

Washington said all he could do was be himself while running the team.

"One, I am not John Beilein. Nobody is,” Washington said. “He's the guru. He's the all-time excellent CEO. After being here two, going on three years here, I hope I am able to absorb some of that greatness.

“Coach has a very definite blueprint that works. The secret in the sauce is there, but at the same time, I've got to be me. In order for it to come out authentically, I understand what coach wants to get accomplished here. But then I have to put my special sauce on it so I can uniquely deliver it.

“Same message; just a different delivery."

Luke Yaklich and DeAndre Haynes will assist him, while director of operations Chris Hunter will assume the No. 3 assistant role. They’re all wishing Beilein a speedy recovery.

"We knew about a week ago. This was something that was scheduled. As always, coach B does a great job of preparing us," Washington said. "He kind of handed me a checklist of things from an administrative and basketball standpoint that we wanted to get done.

“Coach Beilein is not a micro-manager. He's always given us the ability to coach our players, so it's not our guys' first time hearing myself or Yak or Dre, or even Chris Hunter We run a ton of workouts, whether it's individually with position groups [or something else]. Our guys have handled it great.”

They proved it Thursday with a spirited and intense practice that ended with a hard fought scrimmage.

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