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SALT LAKE CITY - Replacing a legendary basketball coach hasn't been easy for the University of Utah. In the seven years since Rick Majerus's retirement, the Utes have managed only three winning seasons.
Ray Giacoletti and Jim Boylen have come and gone, each bringing their own styles to the table, both showing glimpses of promise before ultimately losing their place on the Huntsman Center sidelines.
Giacoletti's first season as Utah head coach was one of great success, under the leadership of veteran players such as Andrew Bogut, Richard Chaney, and Marc Jackson. The Utes finished with a record of 29-6, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen. Matters changed quickly, however, when that core of veteran players moved on the following season. In 2006, Utah posted its first losing season in 17 years. The following season, they posted their worst record since 1984.
After the firing of Giacoletti and the subsequent hiring of Jim Boylen in March of 2007, the Utes appeared to be on the upswing, posting 18 wins in 2008 and a conference-title-clinching 25 wins in 2009. However, Utah went 27-35 over Boylen's final two seasons at head coach, leaving Utah with consecutive losing seasons for the second time in just six years, something that hadn't happened in over 80 years.
What are some specific struggles that have plagued the Utes recently?
The winning culture has clearly gone AWOL. After posting twelve 20-win seasons during Majerus's fifteen-year tenure, Utah only managed one such season during Giacoletti's three years, and that was largely due to the veteran team that had been left for him. Even in Giacoletti's previous seven years coaching in the Big Sky Conference, he had never posted a 20-win season.
The focus on detail and discipline has also disappeared. After fifteen years of Majerus's calm, calculated approach, with intricate schemes and detailed preparation, the Utes became subject to Boylen's wild, erratic behavior and vague coaching tactics, such as the jack-up-three-pointer-after-three-pointer mindset. For some context, the 2011 Utes ranked 337th out of 345 NCAA Division I schools in assists per game, a stat that would reflect a team that doesn't run plays correctly, if at all.
Boylen apparently thought it was okay for a team to have consecutive losing seasons every few years. "We won 24 [in 2009]," he told reporters following his March 2011 firing. "Then [four] guys graduated and now you're rebuilding. That's what happens in college basketball."
But that's not what happens in Utah basketball. In a 50-year span from 1955 to 2005, the Utes had only finished with back-back losing seasons once, in ‘84/'85. You don't build a strong program on a foundation of excuses about rebuilding.
In-state rivals BYU and Utah State have out recruited Utah over the past five years in the recruitment of in-state prospects. Both Giacoletti and Boylen were unable to secure the top in-state recruits, despite Boylen's claim to be able to potentially find, recruit, and coach NBA-level talent, having coached as an NBA assistant for several years. At this point, none of Boylen's recruits have played in the NBA.
These struggles of the recent past combine with new challenges for Utah's new head coach Larry Krystkowiak.
Lots of new faces compose the Utes roster, as only four players return from last year's squad. They lost four of their top five leading scorers from 2010-2011, including their leading scorer Will Clyburn, who transferred to Iowa State. Krystkowiak will be implementing a new system on a team full of young players—the roster consists of only two seniors, with seven juniors and eight that are either sophomores or freshmen.
The Utes will be playing their inaugural season in the Pac-12. The competition will be tougher. They will face teams that have been together longer, and these teams will often have more talent and depth. And all of them will have the new kids circled on their calendar, to make sure they welcome them to the conference in just the right way—by beating them by as much as possible (the Utah football team has already been getting their new conference welcomes).
Needless to say, the deck is stacked against Krystkowiak and the Utes this year. But somehow, despite the adversity, they will have to find a way to bring back the winning culture to the University of Utah.
Like Giacoletti, Krystkowiak coached in the Big Sky conference, leading Montana to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances in his only two seasons with the program. And like Boylen, he also has experience coaching at the NBA level.
But during his Utah coaching career, let's just hope Krystkowiak ends up having more in common with Majerus than he has with those two.
