You folks help me with timing, but I thought about the K3 era a lot yesterday after I learned that he and Utah are parting ways. My view is that a decade is enough time to take a program from below rock bottom to a contender. The Utes contended once or twice, made a deep run into the NIT…once. So even as some of us are saddened in his departure, I believe Utah can find such a coach. K3 has reached his level, we have seen it in the last few years. Further, I don’t buy the narrative that Utah cannot recruit good players to SLC.
The last decade of Utah basketball has three phases. The Big Recovery, the Wright- Pöltl Peak, and the Long Slow Slide.
The Big Recovery was a fun period because of how hard the players worked. Those games even when Utah lost were fun. Full of surprise and potential. Larry had not much to work with, and did well with so little.
The Delon Wright - Jakob Pöltl Peak period was magic. Even though Utah did not go that deep in the Dance, the Utah we used to know seemed to be back. Utah was on the road to being great again. During this period, some issues began with players. At the tail end of this period, turnover began to accelerate, and we heard about “turds.” Beginning in this time, I noticed that K3 would call out a player on the post-game show if they had not done well in a game. That struck me as odd, even then.
The Long Slow Slide characterized the last five years really. The zenith of Utah’s recovery was relatively short lived. The team over achieved according to Pac-12 analysts, but it felt like a rebuilding year, only year after year. The increase in turnover in players was puzzling, and continuous, such that the team really became a new project season after season. I remember once commenting on the toll and sheer cost in recruiting only to have a kid leave the program after a year, or two, or three. And the team began to lose players you wish did not leave. Obviously, Utah has not done well in the Pac-12 tournament during this period, with its only win coming this season against a team they should beat.
Anyway, time to see what the program can do…again.
Here is a summary of K3’s career at Utah:
Coach’s final record is 183-139 (.568) over a 10 year period. Under K3, the Utes played in five postseason appearances, two NCAA Tournaments and three NIT. In one of the NIT runs, the Utes lost the final to Penn State in 2017-18. K3 never won a conference title. In the 2016 Pac-12 conference tournament, Utah finished runner-up.