It's a busy night in local college basketball byu is in Ames stake On Iowa State, Utah hosts West Virginia Senior Night. For these utes, head on down and say hello. Started the show off today with Sarah Todd. Tim McMahon joined us as well. Tom Now for our somewhat consistent visit. Although it's been a minute since the editor of the sports section of Solid Tribune graced us with his presence, Aaron Falk, Hello, sir, how are you?
I'm doing well? How about you, Spencer?
I'm well.
Can you explain yourself as why it's been as to why it's been a number of months since you've graced us with your presence?
You know, seasonal affect disorder? Probably?
All right, Okay, fair enough? All right, So there's some breaking news ish. We're still waiting for an official announcement, but now we've got Jeff Goodman and John Rostein, two of the college basketball news breakers, in addition to our very own Sean O'Connell reporting that Alex Jensen is going to be the next head coach of the Time men's basketball program. I wonder, from a trip standpoint, when do you guys wait to break things like this, what's the process over the Tribune?
Yeah, I mean, certainly if it's you know, if we have it from at least one and hopefully two solid sources. You know, we go through a process and we try not to use unnamed sources very often. But if that's the case, you know, my reporters would run that up to me and we would clear that. But yeah, just I'm seeing the same thing you are right now with Rostein. It does seem like that the direction things are heading. So at the moment where we're waiting with everybody else.
So Aaron, as a man around town and a local, not just a newsbreaker and editor, what do you make of the potential of Alex taking over? It's it's been interesting and we've talked about it, of course on the show since last Monday, after the news came down that Craig was let go. If we're honest, man, they have not had a consistent coach. They've not made the right
higre since Rick left. I mean, Ray Jacoletti, Jim Boylan, Larry Kriscoviak, they all had moments, they all had teams that went to the NCAA tournament, and you know, Craig never made the tournament, but it looked like there was some incremental progress. So this is a basketball community that is waiting for a hire. They can build this thing back up consistently as opposed to moments in time. Do you do you think Alex is the guy that can do that for this basketball town.
Yeah. I do think there's a lot of potential here. And obviously his name has been floated before, you know, when when Craig got the job four years ago, and at that point, you know, Alex's NBA head coaching potential seemed greater than that it turned out to be. And so maybe that window closed a little bit, and you know, he's a little bit older and more and you know, maybe there's a little bit more money on the line, and then this looks more intriguing. But I think there's
you know, for for a few different reasons. I mean one, I you look at that that that arena, and you know, the people that are there, A huge number of them are people that are there because they have some memory of those running youths, those majerias running youths, right, and and what Alex and Doleiak and Britt Johnson and those guys did and they're they're looking to recreate that, right, And so if you're looking, if you're Mark Harlan and
you're trying to turn this program around, you need money to do that. And the only way you're going to get more money. There are two paths, right, One to be a consistent winner that's going to take time. And then the other one is to find somebody who can tap into that that culture, that nostalgia, those memories and some old time donors and try to turn this thing faster. And I think Alex for you know, just for what he had done is a is a tremendous asset there.
And then too, I got to know Alex pretty well when I worked for the Utah Jazz and and uh, you know, got to spend some time with him in some different settings, you know, a long time in the
NBA bubble. I went to France with Alex and and Rudy Gobert and to watch him, you know, not just the work that he did obviously on the court and and that you know, you look at at Rudy's career and and obviously then you know that Alex Jenson can develop uh players from from ross talent into someone who is who is elite and so that that bodes well
for you as a as a college program. But beyond that, just to see the way that he fostered and maintained that relationship with somebody who's, let's be honest, a bit quirky, probably had you know, some some interesting uh you know, asks and needs. And the way that he was able to do that, I think votes really well for Alex to be someone who can meet people they are and be a recruiter, which which is the one thing that he hasn't done for for quite a while.
Right, Yeah, no, for sure, I wanted to follow up.
I'm glad you referenced the second part of your answer because I was going to refer to your time with the Jazz and getting to know him a little bit.
And it's interesting, Aaron.
You know, I've known Alex for a long time and he's very introspective.
He's quiet.
Don't mistake his quiet nature for anything other than being a little bit introverted.
But he's very smart.
He's a very good basketball coach, and he kind of made a name for himself with the Gobert stuff, right Like ultimately Rudy's growth and evolution, you know that a lot of the credit simply goes to Gobert. But we all watched Rudy as a rookie, and I'll be honest, I'm like, this is not going to work.
You know.
He just looked uncoordinated, he looked lanky, And again the bulk of the credit goes to Gobert. But what did you see as far as Alex's work with not just Rudy favors Cancer like that the Big Man group. But of course Rudy's success is kind of Alex Alex's success or as well. Tell me what you saw with the developmental side of him while you were with the Jazz.
Yeah. I mean, obviously Alex knows knows the game and knows knows the fundamentals and and has the ability to
teach that. But then I think to like I said, just to meet somebody where they are and and the the amount of time that that that Rudy wants to put in before and after Alex is there and ready to grind with you to uh, you know, to deal with some obvious difficult things, whether it was relationship with Donovan or or you know, challenges with with being sent to the G League in back and to be able to to kind of navigate those things. I mean, Alex was was there for him and he knew, you know,
that's why this this trip to France stands out. And he knew how important it was to Rudy for people to see him and where he was from and and to to where he got to and so I think, you know, just being able to put all of that together makes sense. And then you know, I mean, you're right, a lot of this is on Rudy for you know, being a physical freak and someone who did have drive to get better and be able to put that package together.
But the other thing I would point to is Alex came, came up under Majeris, coached and worked with Majeris, and then spent a long time with Quinn Snyder. And if you can, if you can deal with those types of demanding figures and and keep their respect and stay on their staff, I mean that I think that speaks to your talent as well.
Good point, because I think a lot of folks may not know that Alex was on the staff under Ty Corbin and Quinn came and took over and he got rid of a lot of people. Aaron as you know, and I always viewed the fact that Quinn Snyder, who doesn't do anything accidentally and is very organized and maniacal and intentional with decision making. I always viewed the fact that he kept Alex on staff, and not just on staff, but made him his lead assistant for his entire nine years.
Here are real testament to the type of coach in person Alex's.
I mean, you're you're spot on that that first year maybe maybe you have Quinnsider coming into a new situation and you have a front office ownership group that that hesa says, we've got some assistants here, we want you to to try to work some things out right. Year two, quinns able to bring in his own guys, and Alex stays that says everything you need to know.
One hundred percent. Let me ask you this, do we overstate?
And it's hard to kind of be analogous with UTAH and BYU with this dynamic because BYU is a little bit different. It's more unique where you know, Tom Homo steps down and the president, Shane Reese talks about we need a BYU guy. We're going to get a tried and true BYU guy that understands b Yu, that loves b Yu.
Then of course there's the really religiosity.
He even talked openly that he needs to love Jesus all those things that BYU brings.
Do we overstate the potent.
You'll need for a local for a ute when it comes to these types of things, or do you think it's a real thing. Like Josh Grant joined the show last week and was very honest, salient, and forthcoming about his opinion that it does need to be somebody that understands this community.
What what do you think about that?
I think, you know, and and I could be wrong, but I think it's it's maybe overblown in the sense that we've seen you know, we've seen people from the outside, and I mean we've talked about you know, Quinn and obviously it's a different situation. But people from the outside can come in and figure and figure it out and
become beloved within the community. Right takes winning. But I go back to, you know, fundraising as the reason I think that it has to be a YOUTE right now, because there's no they're not going to bring in somebody. You know, if you if you go around you look at you know, the people that are going to make the leap and come be head coach of the University
of Utah men's basketball program. You're probably dealing with a lot of you know, high achieving mid major guys or maybe middle achieving, high made, you know, Power four guys, or you know, there are some fringe like NBA types. You're going to go to the stars and grab Wooden bouncing here whatever, right, But that's just not going to excite a donor base and instantly, and this does. And I think this that's the number one thing. So you have a guy who who checked a lot of boxes,
like we've talked about. You know, it is nice that he knows the culture and wants to put his heart into it because I do think that's that's a meaningful thing that you can't replicate. But at the end of the day, money is going to make this thing go and and that good feeling of seeing Alex Jensen with a hand extended is going to bring in more money to the University of Utah. Family on three absolutely one two three love it.
So I wondering.
Look, we've got to be clear, none of this is official yet, but you know, I trust trust Sean, I trust Goodman. I trust Rostein and everybody who's reported on this has reported that it is Alex, but you reference and I've been talking about this a ton, whether it's Alex Jensen or the ghost of Rick Manjaris or Richard Patino or whoever it is, is going to ask Mark and probably President Randall, what do the economics of your
program look like? What is the financial infrastructure of Utah basketball right now?
And you know, whether it's.
UTAP basketball or Utah football or whatever it is. And we have house for s N Cuba. We're high speed ahead to the twenty million dollar number where you can start paying players. But do you have any understanding over the Solid Tribune of the current condition of the Crimson collective and whether or not the football program, the basketball program is being supported financially the way it needs to be.
Yeah, So you know, the last reporting that we had on this was, you know, going into this year, they had the basketball program had about two and a half maybe a little bit more in and IL money and football was I think, and I could be wrong, somewhere in the six to seven ish range, you know. And everything we've heard is yes, we're we're we're looking for more where we will have more, and the hope is
to reach that twenty million dollar revenue share max. And then how you allocate that Probably it's what you know, sixty seventy seventy percent of football, you know, twenty percent of basketball. Figure it out the rest of the way, right, and so you know, I think Utah's you know, looking at the Big twelve, maybe high middle of the Big twelve. One of the problems with this is it's so hard to know you see the big numbers that that flash
for a certain player or a certain program. There's just no there's just no public accounting of it that has to happen. And so right now it still feels like everybody, everybody wants to put their best foot forward and make themselves look better, and then everyone else is just feeling like we don't have enough, because all you can do is hunger for more, right because you just you're not
sure what everyone else has. And so I think they're you know, what we were told, you know, on the record, was two and a half million dollars for the basketball team this year. You look around the Big twelve, obviously there are guys that splash that for a single player. So you think you've got to get to that, you know, three and a half four relatively quickly. And I think that's where, again going back to it, money matters, Alex Jensen should be the guy that can help you get there.
And we'll see what the bench looks like next to him, Andre Miller talked about as an assistant coach, and we'll end on this let's operate off dipothetical that Alex gets the job and they hire Andre, and then we'll see what they do to fill out the bench. That feels like it certainly and to your earlier point about fundraising, that would certainly win the day, That would certainly win the press conference. Yeah, I mean the way I anticipate this going down, if it does as soon as that
announcement is made. My guess is that ticket office where he sees a lot of calls, four season ticket deposits, and Aaron, let's call it out, is man like. Whether it was Craig or Larry or Jim before him, it's been a number of years since that building has been
full consistently. And if your coach with you can bring in a recruit on a Saturday night and you can just simply say do you want to be part of this because Rice Eckels on a Saturday night when it's a great home environment is really attractive, and the Huntsman hasn't been that for a while.
So do you think, at least in.
The moment, in a vacuum, that would motivate a lot of people to buy tickets right away?
If this is the announcement we get.
Oh, I definitely think so. I think you go on a fundraising run, you go on a ticket sales run that you haven't really enjoyed in quite a while. And then you know, basketball, unlike football's roster, that's small enough that you can you can turnish and there's so much turnover you can turn a ship around pretty quickly. And that's that's got to be your hope for sure.
All Right, moving off, let's talk about some stories you guys have uncovered and written over the trip. And I thought our guy keV Kevin Reynolds, was some really good reporting about the BYU football nil collective situation and the meeting that was held prior to the last season where two BYU starters outline this situation where the nil was cut quite a bit as a result of a less
than stellar year year one of the Big twelve. And then you know, equal time you talk to some of the people at the Royal Blue Collective and they're trying to step up, and you know, this is an interesting story. And of course, whenever you guys decided to go with something like this, you take a number of different things into account and talk to a number of different people. And of course BYU fans like to use the Internet to feel brave, so they've come at you quite a bit.
But tell us take give us a little background how the story kind of came about and how you guys decided to go about your report.
Yeah, well, I mean Kevin Reynolds, our by U beat writer, Uh, just a tremendously talented, uh young man who's who's come in from from Texas and over the last three years, I mean, you know, developed a foothold in in you know, the the athletics department down there and and the locker room, and you know, I was, I think kind of made a name for himself as someone who's willing to you know, hear people out and and and tell their stories and and like you like we talked about earlier in terms
of of you know, we prefer not to use an anonymous source if if if at all possible. And you know, here's a situation where, you know, through relationships developed over the course of a season working a beat, and you know, being there and and and you know, being uh perceived as as someone who's who's counted and and and good at his job, developed some relationship with with players and
was able to tell their story. And obviously, you know, I think there are there are going to be people on that roster who did get some pay bumps or don't see it that way, or were frustrated. But here's here is the account of two young men on the record who say that, and Royal Luflective comes in and says, yes, we did cut you know for certain players. Maybe it weren't be eighty percent that from people said, you know, they weren't able to give us a firm number on
what that was. And at the same time they say, hey, we're gonna we're going to up our numbers this year. We'll spend more in twenty twenty five than we did in twenty twenty four. And it kind of goes back to what we talked about earlier. It's one of those things where you know, if you're winning, you know you look, you start the season and everyone, every youth band is feeling like, we know, we're on top of the world.
We're gonna we're gonna run through this conference, and then BYU outperforms and feels like, oh, the Cougars must have had everything right and il lies and utug and in disarray or whatever, and it's the truth is somewhere in the middle.
As it always is, of course, as it always is.
All Right, one quick jazz question here, because again we kind of all know what time it is, and no one is under any illusion as far as what they've tried to do all year. You've got a really good jazz reporter and our guy Andy, you know, Andy Larson.
What have been see.
It's a challenging thing whether you're in this space as a sports talk radio host to try to cover our local NBA team, and of course the Jazz have always been the big dog here a we are a basketball city, where we are a basketball market. But when the deal is what the deal is, it's tough on a fan base.
It's a weird kind of infrastructure as far as NBA basketball right now, where you know, the incentive structure is such where about a third of the league has fan bases every year that has to outwardly cheer for them to lose in order to get a great draft, in order to get you know, things back on track. What have been the biggest challenges in covering a team that is in year three of a rebuild that quite frankly does not have a light at the end of the tunnel yet.
Yeah, I think it's it is difficult to know how to strike that balance right of you know, trying to to to provide a level of criticism and I mean that, you know, so hopefully constructively. You know, in terms of uh, the goal of once I throw the ball up is
to win. Well, that's not the goal here. But can we be critical of a performance, you know, if it if it doesn't meet a must or maybe you know, look at the last couple of games, right and some of Will Hardy's comments, right and or or does none of that matter because everybody knows what the end goal is here, right, And so strike trying to strike that balance of you know, when when do you say, hey, let's talk basketball and this wasn't very good and and
you say it doesn't really matter that the basketball is not very good, because that's not the point. And so I mean, it's it's a it's a tight rope that you walk, and I don't think you please everybody all
the time. But you know, I think Andy's picked his spots and tried to, you know, say, come at performance as he did last night, when when maybe you're trying to speak to a bigger picture issue, you know, not necessarily that it's a poor performance, you know, and it's going to cost the Jazz some great thing this year, But how does it speak to the quality of the players in the locker room now and maybe what that projects going forward and trying to look at it through
through that lens. And then the other difficult thing is just like how do you keep people engaged and caring? And you know, I think we're at kind of at a point in the season where everybody knows what's up, and you've got the people on the wagon who have been on the wagon all along, and everyone else is just waiting for the ping pong balls.
So I wonder how the engagement has been.
We saw some data a couple of weeks ago that the local TV ratings for the Jazz of tanked when it was Quinn and Rudy and Donovan and that great run for about five years.
Well, I know, for a couple of years local TV.
Ratings and pro basketball went like this one Golden State to Utah.
I know that was at least a couple of years.
And the Jazz, from what I read, have the third worst drop in local TV interest. Now I've been to maybe ten games and the building's still full. I have my dashboard, and Jazz interviews are not downloaded the way that they typically are. So the engagement on the media side seems to be a little bit down. How is it over at the trip when you guys ride about the Jazz?
Now, yeah, I mean, for sure down relative to a year. And you know, I think that's just just to be expected. I mean, you you, people have so many options for how they spend their time and and their money and and you know, where they put their their energy. And if you know, you don't feel that that the sports team is giving it back to you, you know, it's I think it's completely reasonable that you're not you know, invested in uh, you know, how Isaiah Collier is doing today? Right? Like,
I think that that makes sense. To me as a human being. There's there's diehards and and you know Annie's triple team, which he does after every game gets you know, we we've got as a newsletter goes to straight to your email inbox and that gets read reasonably well by you know, a group of diehard Utah jazz fans who are who are extremely invested in the things we talked about. How does Isaiah Calluer factor into the next good jazz team?
What's you know, how to explain sort of lorry marketings dipped in numbers this year and should you be concerned people that really care about that, but my parents who will certainly care about the jazz when there's a playoff push happening, or you know, my friends who who you know, there are a lot of people out there who are jazz fans who know nobody on this roster right and they consider themselves jazz fans, but they're not going to put any time into it until they're getting something back
from the franchise. And that's just going to mean everybody's numbers are down.
Friend of the program, Belle Frasier has been very impressive. Good hire by you as the Utah Hockey Club continues their chase towards the wild card and they're right in the mix. What's it been like to learn this sport for the first time and what sort of interest are you receiving from the community when you guys cover the hockey club.
Yeah, I think it truly has been a learning experience for me, and Bell has been uh, honestly as much of a resource for me as as as anything, and so I appreciate her knowledge and her passion for the game. You know, I I think there are a lot of barriers to entry to become an NHL fan, certainly an NHL die hard. It's you know, there are there are rules you don't understand that doesn't get talked about on Sports Center with any regularity. There there's just it's just
it is. Again, there are diehards, but it is relatively niche. And so I think we're looking at a situation where, you know, a playoff appearance maybe helps jump start a generation of hockey fans, but I think that's something that's going to take a little bit to get going, you know, if it does, because right now people are feeling out, People enjoy going to the games, They care about what
this team might be named some someday. I don't think your average person at a sports bar, even with a with a game on, is going to know who played in keller Is and that's going to take some time.
All right, buddy, Before I say you loose question about the lads, of course you've been writing about the lads. Ultimately, First of all, a Mecca Anelli captain shout out? Is Nate Bench a soccer genius because he saw this this talent before any of us and now he's he's the captain,
So I want you to address that. Then then, secondly, what's fair to say about a team that allegedly pocketed between fifteen and seventeen mil after a number of different transactions and they have not reinvested that into the talent just yet.
I think to answer your first question, Nate Bench absolutely soccer savann Okay, if he doesn't he needs an office in Harriman, he does, no doubt's what's fair to say? You know? I mean, I was I'm curious to know the timing of the Chicho orongo ask and how close that might have been to start of the season, and you know, maybe how much runway they would have had to find a high level replacement, right, because I do think that they they brought in some players that they
knew were not at that level. Even even you know, or disgruntled Brazilian friend who was going to basically be an Anders to Julio replacement was not going to be a Cheecho Orongo replacement, right. And so I would be very curious to know how much time they had to fix that problem. And if it was a lot of time, I can understand some of the frustration. If it was a little bit of time, you know, maybe the windows
just not long enough to get a deal done. And you know, scouting and making transfers in the international football world seems to be absolutely an insane thing to try to accomplish, certainly in short order, and so I need I need to know that before really passing judgment. That being said, you know, it's it's a really long season, and you look at what RSL did last year, and they were great in the beginning and they stunk at the end, and none of those fans were very happy.
And so if they can get somebody in the in the second window, and you know they're they're within striking distance, and they can you know, erase the memory of maybe a lackluster first half with a strong second and a couple of playoff win it's you know, it's probably.
Better congratulations in order to our guy Kevin Reynoldson. How about my man Gordon Montson dusting off the fastball winning some APSC awards.
Yeah, I appreciate it. Yes, APSC Associated Press Sports Editors. It's probably our biggest sports writer award showcase out there nationwide. We compete in the B division, so just below the New York Times and ESPN and all that, we're competing way you know, the Oregonian, San Antonio, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis. There's very good sports sections if you're not perusing random cities newspapers and so to be in that group, we're we're honored and we appreciate everybody who reads and subscribes, and
even to all my haters. You motivate me every day.
Shout out to the haters. Sl trip dot com eron. I'm relieved that you're still allowed to come on the show, because I'm not.
I'm not sure you're allowed to hang out with me. But thanks for your time today.
Okay, anytime. Brother.
Aaron Falk, the editor of The Solid Tribune appreciate his time. Sl trip dot com support our friends over the trip