Boylen not concerned about speculation

SALT LAKE CITY — Speculation concerning his future at the University of Utah isn't something Jim Boylen is concerned about.

"It's not a distraction for me. I've had that since Day One when I got here," Boylen said. "It's harder on the people around you than me. I just try to coach and teach this team. That's the only thing I have control over — is how I coach and teach these guys and develop these guys."

It's what Boylen takes pride in and something he vows to keep trying to do.

"It hasn't stopped me yet," Boylen said at his weekly press conference Monday at the Huntsman Center.

The Utes take a disappointing 10-15 record (3-8 in Mountain West Conference play) into Wednesday's home game against Wyoming. They've lost five straight games, having not won since a 75-62 decision at TCU on Jan. 22.

Fans looking for words of optimism, however, need to look elsewhere. Boylen doesn't consider it part of his job description.

"It's not my place to give a message to the fans," he said. "People told me a long time ago there's three percent of the people that are with you, three percent of the people aren't and 94 (percent) really don't care. So I don't know where that is here. It's not my place to even dispute that. Again, I want to stick with it's my job to coach this team and the best I can. I have a contract and I've been asked to coach this team and I will and I am and I'll continue to do it."

Not all has been bad since Boylen replaced Ray Giacoletti in 2007-08.

"I think people have a short memory," Boylen said. "We won the championship and the league tournament two years ago with four seniors. We were picked fifth that year."

Boylen noted that the core group from that team stayed together for two years and bonded on a six-game trip to Australia.

"We built them into a winner," he explained. "That was an 11-win team we took over the year we got here."

The Utes went 18-15 in Boylen's first season at the helm. They were 24-10 in the championship season that followed. Since then, however, Utah is just 24-32 and 66-57 overall under Boylen. Roster alterations have depleted the team of experience. Five players on this year's team, including scoring leaders Will Clyburn and "Jiggy" Watkins, are new to college basketball's highest level of competition.

"My job is to install a system and get guys to play in the system and with new guys, inexperienced guys, it takes time," Boylen said. "In saying that, we have to play good basketball and there's times where we've played very good basketball and not won. OK, so that's an issue."

There's others as well, including record-low attendance at the Huntsman Center and a 29-30 record under Boylen in MWC games. A 1-7 mark against rival BYU hasn't helped matters either.

The combination, thereof, has fueled water-cooler talk about Boylen's job status. Sports talk radio and Internet message boards have discussed the topic frequently.

On the official side of things, however, Utah athletics director Chris Hill has maintained his consistent stance not to discuss such matters.

"I don't feel it's appropriate to talk about personnel issues, especially during somebody's season," Hill said before last week's loss to BYU. "Like all sports, we evaluate it at the end of the year."

Boylen, meanwhile, maintains that the program is "absolutely" in better shape than when he took control of it. His list of points include being much better defensively, improved toughness, a Top 10 APR and a team grade-point average over 3.0.

And there's more.

"We have no compliance issues, we follow the rules (and) our guys go to class," Boylen said. "(We) graduate every senior in this program."

Question is, will it be enough to keep him around for Utah's move to the Pac-12 next season?

Boylen's contract, which extends through the 2013-14 season, calls for a $2 million buyout.

e-mail: dirk@desnews.com

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