Alex Jensen did not turn down the job… that is a Harlan spin. Alex Jensen was very much interested in the job, reached out even. Harlan couldn’t be bothered to meet with Alex, he sent others on his staff to meet with him. Alex rightfully was not impressed by that lack of reception, saw that Harlan wasn’t even interested enough to talk to him and withdrew his name.
I can’t name my source on that, I’ll just say I have nearly the same confidence in its accuracy as if I had heard it from Alex himself.
I’ll say this, if Harlan doesn’t get a grand slam hire here I’m 100% on board that he should follow Craig Smith out the door.
Josh has some interesting takes on Smith and the future of the program. Specifically as to Smith he indicated that Andre made several approaches to join the staff and Smith was never interested. He indicated that a number of former players approached Smith but he was not interested in listening to them.
Josh believes that success in Utah comes from recruiting Utah kids and filling in the pieces with out-of-state talent. He points to BYU this year. Saunders, Hall and Knell are really the heart and soul of the team
Josh believes Alex is the only name on the list and that the firing was booster driven.
On the timing his view is that if you wait until the end of the year, the players are in the portal the next day. There will be a couple of weeks to try to sell the players on what you are trying to do. I’m not sure I agree with him, but when LK was fired, other then the kid who went to Arizona, the others were out the door before Smith was hired.
Well, The U still owes Craig about $5 mil on the last 2 years of his 6 year contract. I don’t know what it will owe the assistants and GM. They are all new from a year ago and all have a year left on their 2 year deals. Say $2.5 mil total.
If you know how to read a Bartle Article, I affectionately refer to as a “Barticle”, that final sentence in the Andre Miller section is veryyyyy telling.
I dont want to get my hopes up, but getting Alex AND Andre would be awesome!
That was a great interview. I would imagine Andre would have been a better assistant than most Smith brought in. The part where Grant said he would watch games and see how poorly the Utes were playing defense made a lot of sense.
It doesn’t make sense that Smith turned down offers of help from former players, I think that was a mistake.
Anyway, I’m glad we’re moving on. I always thought he was below average.
Josh’s interview was great. Very insightful. I smiled when he tried not to reveal too much about what he knew and then just went, “aw screw it,” and opened up about how they botched approaching Alex when they had the chance. That’s all on Harlan and it should be worth two strikes against him.
I’m in a humble economic bracket, and have a comfortable, but not luxurious living standard. Don’t have the deep pockets that some do. Still can afford football and hoops tickets, but investing huge money for player talent in these changing times is way out of my budget.
But I wonder if perhaps a few of the more powerful boosters with deep pockets indicated a willingness to pony up with some hefty contributions to the NIL $$$$$ pool provided certain changes were made.
It will get worse before it gets better and it will only get better if there is a group willing to payoff Craig and his staff what they are owed ($7 mil?) plus provide a guarantee of a minimum of $5 mil per year for 5 years for HC and staff and $5 mil per year for NIL and this will only get increase in the coming years. I really hope that group is out there but I have my doubts.
It’s inexplicable and makes me wonder if Harlan understands the Utah basketball environment–the “recipe,” as Josh called it. Maybe our AD has learned more since that mistake.
The only way this makes sense is if there’s someone or some group that cares enough about Utah basketball to commit $20M+… or some similar amount of money.
The timing suggests such an entity exists.
“We’re not waiting for BYU to establish themselves as a one-and-done factory. It’s time.”
After my experience mentoring the engineers trying to get into a rocket contest in the name of the University, I’m beginning to think that not taking advantage of people’s willingness to help and bad follow through on the school’s side has become a core competency up there.
That had started probably at least 15 years ago. They had a group of people who were fired up to get a massive North Endzone fan group together that included season ticket holders, Scott Mitchell and a veritable army of everyday fans and they somehow managed to fumble that.
I think Josh is mostly right. But I’d add that NIL and portal may mean you can’t build a team with a core of Utah players. The irony of BYU’s situation has made me chuckle, actually. But it may be a fluke.
We are seeing everywhere that the ground is constantly shifting beneath our feet and the biggest mistake anyone can make is to think that you should tenaciously stick with a paradigm you’ve taken for granted
Exactly. That part of the equation was never addressed. I mean, would Majerus’s style of coaching really work today without a hefty NIL chest? Heay be able to develop the talent, but would the talent stay?
I don’t think anyone believes all of Rick’s coaching methods would work today… but if we’re talking about the Majerus coaching tree… Jensen and/or Miller?
Alex and Andre have both that experience + more experience in the league than Rick did.
The fan favorite stuff is always what is organic and not dictated by someone in an office. This goes all the way back to Umbrella Man, to Bubbles, to Crazy Lady. Remember the colossal failure of the Japanese drum several years back? This holds for the non-stop aural assault that is the game experience when the ball isn’t in play at the JMHC the last several years. Too much shouting at the crowd to get loud and 100db arena hip hop pap.
volume in the Hunty definitely needs to be lowered a tad,. It would be nice to have a conversation with those I attend games with without having to shout