From the Stands: Time needed to rebuild Utah hoops

Estimated read time: 6-7 minutes

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SALT LAKE CITY - It seems like forever ago to many Ute fans of having a successful basketball team up on the hill.

The truth is after the final season under Rick Majerus, Utah men's basketball has been to the NCAA tournament just two times. One of those two times yielded a significant run in March with the Andrew Bogut lead 2005 squad.

What used to be a tradition for the Utes with the annual March Madness runs have now turned into a dream. Now the Utes are on their third coach since Majerus left the U, leaving many Ute fans wondering where it all went wrong.

Even after the storied championship run the Utes made in 1998, many people believe that is when the decline started for the program. First of all, when you get that high there is no where else to go but down.

Utah Postseason Play by Season (since 1998)

Season	Coach	Record	Postseason
1998-99	Rick Majerus	28-5	NCAA Second Round
1999-00	Rick Majerus	23-9	NCAA Second Round
2000-01	Rick Majerus (*1)	19-12	NIT First Round
2001-02	Rick Majerus	21-9	NCAA First Round
2002-03	Rick Majerus	25-8	NCAA Second Round
2002-04	Rick Majerus (*2)	24-9	NCAA First Round
2004-05	Ray Giacoletti	29-6	NCAA Sweet 16
2005-06	Ray Giacoletti	14-15
2006-07	Ray Giacoletti	11-19
2007-08	Jim Boylen	18-15	CBI Second Round
2008-09	Jim Boylen	25-10	NCAA First Round
2009-10	Jim Boylen	14-17
2010-11	Jim Boylen	13-18
2011-12	Larry Krystkowiak	--	--

*1 - Majerus coached first game (1-0) before taking a personal leave of absence. Assistant Dick Hunsaker finished the season.
*2 - Majerus coached the first 20 games (15-5, 3-2) of the season before retiring from Utah. Assistant Kerry Rupp finished out the year (9-4, 6-3).

But I think the erosion didn't really start happening until he left. From 1998 to Majerus' final year, he had 20 wins every year except one, when the team had 19 wins. Yeah, the last couple years Majerus was in and out of the program, but it still had his stamp and personality - not to mention his recruits.

Year one without Big Rick the Utes won 29 games and went to the Sweet 16. Everything appeared to be on track, but of course hindsight is 20/20. Looking back it is much more apparent that team was the Andrew Bogut show with a nice cast around him. Sure Ray Giacoletti had to recruit Bogut back to the program and brought back Marc Jackson, but they truly weren't his recruits. Once Bogut left for the riches of the NBA, the erosion of the stability of the program began.

Giacoletti did bring in some good players like Shaun Green and Johnny Bryant. He just couldn't get things to translate on the court. Giacoletti's next two years are below .500 and that spelled doom for him.

Jim Boylen then took over with those nice players in place, including Luke Neville. After a minor rebuilding year with 18 wins, Boylen took the Utes back to the NCAA Tournament with 25 wins and a five seed. But yet, once again, the big Aussie leaves and the team falls apart.

However, with Boylen it seems like there was a different issue altogether. He recruited some pretty good players, he just couldn't get them to stay once they got here. Names like Carlon Brown (current leading scorer at Colorado), Josh Sharp (transferred to BYU), Jace Tavita (one of the better recruits out of the state of Utah at the time), and Morgan Grim (a contributor at Utah State) are names that cycled through this program - thus really beginning his down fall by not being able to hold on to talent. Between those two coaches and seven seasons, Utah basketball has had two 20 win seasons. Once considered an average season is now a rare accomplishment.

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Once Boylen was dismissed, there was some talented players that left with him. Namely last year's leading scorer in Will Clyburn and freshman sensation JJ O'Brien. Under Coach Boylen the Utes had more turnover in players in just two seasons than most programs may see in four.

That brings us to today with Coach Larry Krystkowiak. Coach K had quite a task to piece a roster together after the Boylen defections. Coach K has been tasked with changing a culture back to what was once so successful.

His first order of business was to build new habits. I've heard Coach say in some of his interviews and coach's shows that he is trying to build those habits. Early on in the season that wasn't translating, but let's be honest, with a new coaching staff and basically a patch work team, that wasn't going to happen.

After the last two games against Pac-12 foes with a win against Washington State and a close loss to Washington, I think we may be seeing progress. The fact of the matter is that Utah just doesn't have enough scorers on this team to put a lot of points on the board, as evident by the 40% shooting percentage as a team and a shooting percentage of 27% from three. I know as of now most Ute fans want to see hard work and the team compete and not fold. Shoot even most Ute fans think the football team may have ended with more wins (8) than the basketball team will get. So expectations aren't real high, they just want progress.

Utah Utes head coach Larry Krystkowiak watches his team play Washington in Salt Lake City. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)

Ute fans may also not want to get to attached to a lot of players on the current roster either. Utah has seven new players coming in next year with recruits, transfers, and missionaries.

My interpretation is, no body is safe and we are doing what we need to do to get better and no body is guaranteed a spot next year.

Ute fans should be excited for that kind of talk - it shows the staff is not content and is being proactive. So the mass turnover rate will continue for likely one more off-season, but this is different than the turnover between Boylen's last two seasons, where he had to fill in for the transfers out of the program. This turnover is to infuse talent and youth into the program. Coach K also mentioned in his introductory press conference that they need to win the state of Utah in recruiting - music to a lot of fans ears. He has started nicely by landing arguably the best player in the state, Jordan Loveridge.

Looking back on the last seven seasons should give Ute fans the context they need for where this program is at. There has been a lack of stability from the coaching staffs to the roster. There has been a lot of firings and defections. Coach Krystkowiak started the stabilization process by hiring on a former Ute coach in Tommy Connor, he has already made a little noise locally with landing Loveridge, and he is bringing in what many people hope is an infusion of talent into the program.

Many fans are impatient and what to see results now, and even some fans have called for Dr. Chris Hill's head (as absurd as that is) and already don't like Coach K. But after all the shaking up in the basketball program for all these years, it will take time for it to get back on its feet.

Time is something that fans now need to give, even if there are growing pains.

Shane Roberts is a producer/writer for the U Fan Cast on TheUFanCast.com, a Utah-centric podcast that gives a voice to the fan. Twitter: @Shane_U_FanCast