I would have been happy to land Alex Jensen as our head coach, but if you can get a talented young black coach, with familiarity of Salt Lake City and its uniqueness in a sport dominated by black athletes, I think that is the better option. I hope we can persuade him.
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One of 2 things is happening with Johnnie Bryant: 1) he really wants the job; or, 2) he is putting info out there to raise his profile and get his name out there.
You have major national NBA writers like Woj and Marc Spears putting out there that Bryant is interested in the job. That is clearly information that is coming from Bryantās camp/Bryantās agent. Normally, I doubt that without relationships with Bryantās agent that these NBA guys are talking about the Ute coaching job.
Word is Mike Whiteās brother is best friends with Harland and White wants out.
Shaka Smart to Marquette. Opens up Texas which (should) is another P5 opening that could get interest of top level coaches. Wonder if Porter Moser (Loyola) will have his pick of Indiana or Texas (or other job) - if he wants it.
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I did being a Texas alum (not the Marquette part, but Shaka leaving). I think Shaka, Marquette, and Texas are all happy (especially not having to pay a buyout and him leaving). Texas was tired of him underperforming. I would say he probably had some bad luck. The upset this year was not good. It was a tough year but they showed sparks of brilliance against some good teams. Big12 was pretty brutal up top and covid wreaked some havoc.
I donāt know who would take that Texas job. Even with a new arena being built and what seems like all the resources, Texas BB has not been great (has been good to very good at times). Beard (Tech) is the only HR hire, but I donāt think he would touch it - likely would just be a lateral with what he has built. They will have to throw stupid money to get a top coach (6-8M? 10M for someone like Stevens to leave the Celtics [which he wonāt]).
You canāt discount Lubbock vs Austin. For $3-4m a year you can live comfortably in Austin. You canāt live comfortably in Lubbock at any price.
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Haha. True. Iāve lived in Austin and drove through Lubbock and it was about the right time to stay for both. Beard is like the 5th highest paid coach ($4.5M) so Texas might have to pay Coach Calipari or Coach K type money.
Speaking of bringing guys back to the boardā¦ how do we get giacedup or boylenover back?
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I have listened to a number of national media types over the past couple of days who have been asked about the Utah job. None of them consider the Utah job to be as good as most of us view it. The reasoning appears to be that unlike the Majerus days when Utah was the top dog or two in a league that regularly got 3 teams in the tourney, the Utes now find themselves as dog number 5,6,7 or 8 in a league that will usually get 4 or 5 teams in the tourney. Iām sure there are those on here who would disagree with that assessment, but I think it is probably a pretty accurate assessment of where Utah and the PAC currently stand. I also think it is something that coaches around the country who might be interested in Utah would consider. This does not mean that we should throw in the towel and lower our hopes and expectations. Personally, I think Utah should be in the discussion for an NCAA berth 4 out of 5 years and make it 2 or maybe 3 of 5. I think they should get to the Sweet 16 once every 5 years. My hopes might be out of line with what is realistic. Unfortunately, unless we catch lighting in a bottle, it is unlikely that any of the coaches we might bring in can move the Utes from dog, 5,6,7 or 8 to dog 1,2 or 3.
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I donāt know where BoylenOver (later Redbird) is. He moved to the East Coast, and you know what happens to guys who do that. 
I think my son knows where he is. Iāll check.
I think you are right. Thatās why I think an up-and-coming mid-major is most likely to want to come to Utah, if he likes his chances to emerge from the crowd like Kyle has done in football. I do think that is harder in basketball than in football.
I think Utah has a lot of upside, but itās not apparent to most.
For example, how did Tinkle accumulate that much talent that both passes the eyeball test and has played well when it counted? (How many think Corvallis is a destination gig?)
Itās far easier & quicker to build a program in basketball than FB. With the right coach & development, SLC becomes a place to be. Whit has made it look easy, but itās not freakish to think it can happen in hoops.
It wonāt automatically happen, Iām not saying itās a slam dunkā¦ but which is more likely:
Utah becomes a consistent top 6 PAC 12 school in basketball, or Oregon State does the same thing in football?
We can get into our conferenceās top halfā¦ weāve done it before.
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before the last 2 years we had 5 straight in the top 4 of the conference.
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The PAC has 7 bowl tie-ins and for the most part coaches who make bowl games donāt get fired. Being 5 or 6 in a 4 bid basketball league gets you fired. As for Oregon St., they were 1 UCLA missed free throw in the last 30 seconds from not advancing in the first round of the PAC tournament and watching the NCAAās from home with the rest of us.
Truth. UCLA hadnāt woken up, and we didnāt play pretty basketball, and we kind of tapped out at the #4 position, unable to beat Oregon and struggling with U of Pay.
Whether it was health or poor talent evaluations or chemistry issuesā¦ we fell off.
10 years is a solid run. Larryās high road letter I think is appreciated & reciprocated by a high percentage of Ute fans.
We move forward.
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Welp
Thatās true if you either canāt rise above the 50th percentile, or youāre demonstrably, consistently on your way down from Top 4. Any coach who canāt rise above 5 will eventually be canned.
Unfortunately, the PAC often didnāt have 4 bids when we were in the top 4.
Are things looking up? Or are they flat? Or looking down?
(The expectations monster - whoever follows Whit will probably not sleep a lot.)
If JBās out, Craig Smith is the third option. Not sure how he feels about that, and the in-state aspect means an extra level of microscope.
What was the thinking on Leon Rice of Boise? (Or is he gone, too?)
Now Iām really excited about spring football!
The main difference between Utah with Majerus and Utah now is Majerus. Back then we owned the Pac 12. If we had Majerus now weād be in the NCAAs every year and have won some pac 12 championships.
Sports writers are stupid mostly. Iād ignore them. They donāt not do brain surgery.
It looks as if all the others looking for coaches will get theirs first. Smart going to Marquette surprised me a little. I wonder if we would have had a shot at him.
Bryant was a sexy candidate for a lot of fans, but what are your data points for thinking heās destined for greatness as a college basketball coach? Heās never been a head coach anywhere and heās only 35. Our last two coaches were NBA assistants, and you see where that got us.