I am definitely not a fan of Kinnehan, but this article brought back some great memories, notwithstanding the tough ending.
The Final 4/championship game appearance is either 1 or 2 in the best moments in Utah athletic history in my opinion (the 2009 Sugar Bowl win may be bigger). It’s just too bad the program couldn’t sustain the success. There have only been two Sweet 16 runs since and nothing farther.
I didn’t help when Majerus was flirting with high profile jobs every offseason.
Can’t believe it’s been 25 years. What a great weekend. Putting together a flight on Southwest that took us from SLC to Phoenix to El Paso and then to Austin was wild. So much fun. A great memory for this guy.
For decades, I’ve done my best to avoid anything Kinnehan produces, so I didn’t read the article. However, the fact that he actually wrote something that may have been in anyway positive, about Majereus, means that some 20-ish years on, have softened some of the (deservedly) rude treatment Majerus used to dole out to Kinnihan in the post game radio interviews in the old days. If that’s true, perhaps I underestimate the possibility of human growth.
In any case, thanks for posting. All of the memories of that entire season are fun to recall and were a spectacular Ute accomplishment, right up until Andre, without any rest started to become “punch drunk” in the second half. I still have a video that I recorded that night, and have never watched. Perhaps it’s getting close to being long enough to go back and check it out.
Billy Packer put the kiss of death on us. At halftime he said “no team has ever won a national championship after being down 10 points at halftime”. I turned to my son and said, “Packer just cursed us”.
I also didn’t read the article. I don’t want to give Kinnehan the clicks.
where does this rank on your list of all time Ute athletic accomplishments? In my opinion, its second: 1) Sugar Bowl 2) 1998 NCAA Runner Up run 3) Fiesta Bowl 4) 2021 Rose Bowl 5) 2022 Rose Bowl
Fiesta Bowl would be higher for me had we played a better opponent
Agreed. With all due respect to the gymnastics and skiing programs and tbeir national titles, football and men’s basketball obviously resonates much more nationwide. Had Utah beaten UK, that would top the Sugar Bowl win.
I like that you included the 2 Rose Bowls. Despite the losses those were 2 of my favorite sports experiences in my life. There is just something special about going to the Rose Bowl when your team is playing.
I wasn’t sure where to put this? This is probably as good a spot as any.
The Runnin’ Hoops podcast had assistant coach Chris Burgess on a recent episode. He told a Majerus story that I’d never heard before. Its starts about 39 minutes in. Its Classic Rick.
Also I noticed Mark Harlan was on with Cazano and Wilners most recent podcast. That had some good stuff too.