Yeah, Rick’s knowledge of the game—the X’s and O’s, his game planning, teaching of blocking out, playing man-to-man defense, setting screens, getting open—would transcend any time. But without question, he wouldn’t mesh well with NIL. And his treatment of players would certainly not fly today.
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Agreed. Certainly haven’t seen anyone here who has expressed such. I was referring to the expectations of many Utah fans who keep on going back to Rick days.
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Whoever gets the job has to build a staff around him to make these players want to come here. If it ends up being the tandem of Jensen (HC) and Miller (Lead Assistant) it will give them a good rolling start. They will need a great GM, too.
Craig was a nice guy, but coaching in a P4 where expectations are very high…the teams have been simply not up to snuff. You don’t beat K State and Kansas then lose to UCF. I can remember having hair before this season, but this one got it all pulled out.
Limited props to Harlan for not firing him on the runway at the airport. That is a special honor best left forever to U$C.
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Recruiting college athletics is (at least) a two-pronged approach. The first and most pressing question is how much money are they going to get, and the second is can this coaching staff get me into the NBA.
If I were crafting NIL deals I’d start setting them up a lot like coaching contracts, with pay increasing in each subsequent year to encourage sticking around and bonuses based off various milestones (wins, tournament appearances, etc). They’ll figure it out, it’s pretty tough to shell out a millions to your star player who jumps ship immediately.
Pipe dream today I think, and even though it feels this way the money isn’t a bottomless pit. Boosters are going to start demanding some assurances their money is getting results.
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Yep. Doesn’t byu have two players making a couple of million each? byu fans were claiming they were both going to be lottery picks in the 2025 draft but I don’t think either of them are even playing to the level to be a first round pick. They might have to take a pay cut for next season.
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Here’s the thing, since we moved on from Rick, we’ve hired two mid-major HC’s and two NBA guys. I actually think the LK hire was good and going great…until it didn’t. (I’m not sure how he went from a Sweet 16 to a quick downward spiral.)
But as for getting back to Majerus, I think we mostly want to get back to the NCAA tournament with regularity. Have some sustained success, and not have a peaking, mature team only get to the NIT. We want the kind of recruiting that builds hope and excitement for upcoming seasons. Smith failed on all of those metrics.
So while people are crying that we fired a guy after beating BYU (so what?) and a down Kansas team, this program has no momentum. What would we point to to think we’re suddenly going to jump in our recruiting next year if we stay the same?
It’s time to try something new. I’m willling to try the “Utah man” hire route and see if it yields fruit. If a hire like Jensen can excite the boosters, fanbase, and recruits, let’s give it a shot.
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I think almost everybody would measure the “back to Majerus” nostalgia as with respect to the on-floor performance and without the drama Rick created that ultimately led to the program being fairly average by the time he left.
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Rick’s Utes certainly dipped in his last few years, but I wouldn’t say the teams were average.
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I listened to both the 1280 & 700 Josh Grant interviews. In both of them he insinuated that Smith’s teams weren’t really being coached on basic things, like the proper way to run a pick & roll, proper defense, etc.
I just want the next guy to get them to do those small things, the right way. I would expect if Jensen & Miller are on the staff that would happen.
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I have attended men’s BB games all of life at the U. I think I was no more than about 5 when I attended with my father and grandfather the first time in the very early 60’s. I shared season tickets with my in-laws during most of the 80s and early 90s, and purchased season tickets with my wife and son from 1996 until a couple of years ago…
My son now lives in Portland and the noise became such a turn off to my wife that she stopped attending with me completely I think sometime in 2022. I attended with friends for a while, but the noise, the lowered performance of the program (for a couple of decades), and the lack of regular people willing to attend finally did it in for me.
I suspect that a lot of the crowd, particularly the younger portions of the audience like the new game time experience, but I’ll always prefer a lot of supportive crowd noise from an enthusiastic knowledgeable audience for a well performing team.
If the next coaching staff can develop successful teams, I might start buying tickets regularly again, but I’ll still be pretty unhappy with the noise.
And I suppose I should close with… get off my lawn!
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Average, at least when compared to what he had done previously. It’s also true that Rick was having his own difficulties toward the end of his time here, with recruiting at the level we had become accustomed, as he kept openly considering other jobs, and kids were not certain they wanted to come here if he was potentially leaving.
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The last two years didn’t do anything of note and included way too much off the court drama (Lance Allred abusive treatment Marc Jackson having a gut full, etc.)
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This got very tiring every year.
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Smith was better than, but more like Archibald, LK more like Rick. I wish Larry didn’t run out of gas. Too many high level recruits who “almost” got here, like Markennen.
Hope there is solid money coming and we get both Alex and Andre.
If so, the grass will come back. (Maybe not national championship game level “back”…but that game undid Rick).
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Rick certainly seemed to run out of gas a bit toward the end. I have always believed the 1998 finals loss to UK had a tremendous effect on Rick. Recruiting fell off. He went through a lot of assistants, and a bunch of players transferred out.
But in 2002–2003, Utah won the MWC, went 25-8, and beat Oregon in the NCAA Tournament. The Utes were 15-3 to start 2003-04 but then lost at UNM and at Air Force. Then Rick was done.
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All the talk about the Majerus years gives me a chance to air something I have been thinking about recently.
It has been 27 years since our final four in 1998.
It had been 32 years between our final four in 1998 and our previous final four in 1966.
Because we had some success after 1966, I don’t imagine there was a lost of grousing about, “why can’t we have teams like Gardner had”.
It wasn’t until Smith that our head coach for men’s basketball had less than a .524 winning percentage (Foster). Even Archibald (.533), Giacoletti (.574), Boylen (.535), and Larry K (.568) had higher winning percentages. It could be said that Smith has been the worst basketball coach in Utah history since Vadal Peterson took over in 1928 (almost 100 years).
Are we becoming a bit zoobish longing for 1998 they way zoobs have for 1984?
Or is hoping for another 43 year run that Peterson and Gardner gave the school not possible anymore considering the way college athletics has changed?
I don’t know, but I would think any fanbase (not us here specifically) that longs for the “why can’t we play and be good they way “x” coach had us playing” is fools gold.
About 15 years or so ago, WaPo columnist John Feinstein wrote a very enlightening column after Georgetown had to fire the coach that followed John Thompson. The thesis was that a coach makes a program, not the other way around.
When was the last time we heard about Georgetown? Oklahoma State was a power in college basketball for a long time, now look at them. Even UNC and Duke had pullbacks after legendary coaches retired.
So, is it the coach, is it the program brand, is it the facilities, is it how many cute girls there are on campus? Nope, it is all about the money. You look at UVA’s coach and Miami’s coach stepping aside because they didn’t like the way the sport was going. Both coaches having taken teams to multiple final fours.
The possibility of there being a 43 year run of Peterson, Gardner, a 12 year run of Majerus (less those years he missed), is gone, unless that coach can get the players paid. Nothing else matters. If a player ends up not liking the coach, not liking the facilities, not being satisfied with the number of cute girls, well, so what, did I get paid?
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That was an excellent post LuckyUte.
The entire system has completely changed, in just a few years. As long as a few wealthy boosters claim they “will never be outbid” for a recruit, it’s the wild west. Team’s rosters are going to have a huge turnover of players from year to year.
I kind of hate how things have changed. I hope the Utes can compete in this new era of nonsense.
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If the intent of loud piped in music is to attract younger fans, in particular students, it doesn’t seem to be working. I too always prefer noise coming from fans rather than artificial sources. HATE the train horns drowning out fans celebrations after a goal in the NHL and after TDs in many college stadiums.
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Im with you. Also concerts today are too LOUD. No need for jet engine volumes with modern sound systems. Annoying.
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Best example in my memory, the unmatched din in RES when we scored the winning TD against TCU in 2008.
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