All right. Joining us right now is Jason Batacio from the Salt Lake Tribune. Of course, he covers the utes, uh and and there's nothing better than covering the utes right at this moment, because Alex Jensen officially has been named the basketball coach for the men's program at the University of Utah. Welcome, Welcome, Jason.
How are you doing, good man? Just a busy day, busy day. Been on the phones all day, working the phone, doing the job. So yeah, busy, but but fun time of the year. Coaching searches are always fun and they always have a good story attached to them. So it's a good time to be a reporter on the Utah beat.
So Alex Jensen, of course has now officially been named the head basketball coach at the University of Utah. Just happened officially. I think everyone felt that it was going to happen, and it's now officially happened. Tell me a little bit, you know what, why? Why? Why is he interesting to the University of Utah. What's what's he going to bring to the table?
Yeah, that's a good question, you know. I think the first thing is just he brings sort of the culture of Utah basketball back for so long, you know this program. I mean it's been nine years since his program has been to the NCAA tournament, and al really just knows what it takes to win here. He knows what it takes to engage donors. I mean, he was part of the nineteen ninety eight you know, national championship runner up team that had Andre Miller, you know, all those things.
I mean, he's a Utah man through, so you know, I can understand why fans are excited. But he also has just a bevy of professional experience. I mean, he's obviously on the Jazz. He was a big part of Rudy Gobert's development, and he was in the finals literally last year with Lucy Doncs before the MAVs decided to
trade him away. You know, So as college basketball starts evolving and the transfer portal is sort of becoming a big big free agency and all that stuff, I think Alex has a lot of the intangibles to bring a new foundation to the table for Utah men's basketball.
So yeah, yeah, it's interesting, and you wonder how how much of an impact of course down South, uh and hiring a guy was similar type of of NBA coaching experience and uh and and the impact of that, because clearly it's had an impact on recruiting. We understand that, you know, it's dollars and cents is what's really going to move the needle with recruiting, But it's also having a coach that has that kind of because all these
players want to go to the NBA. I'm all players football want to go the NFL, and and knowing you have a coach that knows what it's like, you know that that's been there. How I guess I guess my understanding with Alex was, you know, he was he was looking to kind of go a different path, you know, like, you know, he was well respected as a coach in the NBA and and and I think he was looking
to potentially becoming a head coach in the NBA. So why does why does he now come back to Utah as opposed to maybe sticking around for a shot at a coaching job in the NBA.
Yeah. I think the big part about it is, you know, Alex has I had this job for you know, a long time, I mean four years ago, he was he was in consideration for it, and obviously Utah opted for Craig Smith, which seemed like the good hire at the time, and you know, we saw how that worked out. And you know, from my understanding, Alex was really you know, looking forward to potentially having the job in his hands.
So now I think, you know, the opportunity to come back to his alma mater, to rebuild the program the way he knows it should be built, and the opportunity to not only you know, bring it back to its glory days, but you know, engage with donors, you know, engage with the fan base and all that stuff was in my mind a big selling point for him, you know, And so I think to kind of go to your point of you know, he was looking for new opportunities, I think, as you mentioned, he you know, he did
consider head coaching jobs in the NBA, but you know, as college basketball, in college football for that matter, and just all of college athletics, you know, continues to shift. And I know the house settlements waiting approval, I think in July, you know, that's just going to further professionalize
the model. So what better way to you know, basically have a quasi professional job and also be it your alma mater and re sort of lay the foundation for the program that he really cares about, a program that you know he loves dearly. I'm sure. I mean so I don't know that in that in my mind. You know, those were big selling points for him, and he's had this job for for quite some time.
So yeah, how much of an impact does this have with boosters because because really, I mean, boosters become a big part of your success today, you know, put your money where your mouth is and and uh, you know, what what kind of impact do you think were there possibly donors saying look, we'll invest in the program if you get the right coaching here, someone who understands the culture, or someone you know or or you know or would
they now be attracted because of him? What what kind of impact does his hire have on the pocket books of donors at the University of Utah?
Yeah, I think it opens up a lot of opportunities. I mean, you know, Craig before he was terminated, you know, I'd spoken to him at lengths about just the struggles that Utah was having in the NIL space, and you know, there's different factors for the multitude of those things. And I'm not going to go too much into that. But you know, I think Alex is the kind of guy that you know, donors look at and be like or just like, we can win with that guy. And he
also understands the culture of this place. He understands the culture and foundation of Utah men's basketball, and so yeah,
I think it can open up the pocketbooks. And I think, you know, that's something that he probably talked about with Harlan throughout this process of like, you know, how how can they activate the pocketbooks of donors, how can they activate that nil funding because especially in the league like the Big Twelve, it is so important, you know, it's important to have fact crowds, which you know, I'm sure that's something that they're going to work on in the
Huntsman Center. You know, I'm sure there are tons of things that they're continuing to look at as things move forward. So yeah, I think al can allog a lot of those things. You know, I'm not a donor, I can't speak to you know, certain people, but I'm sure there's a level of excitement bringing Alan into the program.
So yeah, what's your sense of the commitment from the athletic department, uh in the in the basketball program, getting back to its prominence it had in the past. You know, there's a lot of good It's a very competitive league basketball wise, and you know, I'm just curious if you if you have a sense of where where the the athletic department is on Hey we're all in on this or you know what, what what's your sense from them?
Yeah, that's a good question. You know, I think I think this higher kind of is just the start of a domino effect. You know, I can't speak to any particulars or anything like that, but you know, hiring Alex Jensen as sort of the figurehead for Utah E means basketball at this you know, pivotal juncture, I think speaks a lot to you know, the urgency that the fans field, the urgency that the administration feels, the urgency that you know, Mark Harlan feels to get it right because you know,
I've talked numerous Utah fans. You know, they've told me it doesn't feel right not having the running utes in the NCAA tournament. You know, it's one thing to you know, have deep tournament runs, but this program for so long has been so used to just being in the tournament and it's just you know, from from people on the outside looking in, it's like, what is going on over there? And so and by that, I mean that the ben's
basketball program. So I think hiring Al is a big first step in activating a lot of the keys that you know that haven't sort of been there for Utah men's basketball. I mean, and I Al a big part of it. You know, getting fans engaged is a big part of it. You know. I think he's the kind of guy that can sort of help bring back the energy that's been lacking for so many years, you know.
So yeah, you know, I'm curious now that Utah b YU are in the same conference. And you know, Utah has been in the Power Power five world in the Pact for quite some time, and and the and there hasn't been the same type of rivalry with with the folks down south. I'm curious how much maybe the success be why he was having with basketball this year, how much success they had last year in the football program.
I wonder how how much that's actually driving the the decisions and the determination, you know, because I know last year the football season was massively disappointed, disappointing for everyone, and and and it was made worse because you know, b why you did they played well. And you know, you kind of feel the same way with basketball right now.
And I just wonder how how much, uh you know, your your rivalry is is now upping your your game or your determination to not be second fiddle to to your rival.
Yeah, you know, obviously I come from Oklahoma. I went to the University of Oklahoma, and uh, you know, similar conversation I've never heard of had, uh you know, and so you know, the Texas ou Red River rivalry thing is such a massive thing. And you know, when Texas was bad and OU was good, it was like, when's Texas going to come back? But now you know Texas
is good. There's a sense of urgency in Norman, you know, I know they just hired Jim Nagy is their their general manager, and it's kind of with a fire under that administration to just get things right. And so, you know, I think the same could be said here for the Utes for Utah's administration. I mean, when when things are going well for your rival and they're also beating you, not only recruiting, but you know, whether it be fan engagement or just purely winning games, I mean that has
to be a driving factor. As much as people don't want to say it is, I mean it is. I mean you're you're compared to your rival just as much as you want to beat them, So it's it's yeah, I'm sure it's a big thing. For sure.
I think it is too. I do. And I think you know, rising tides raise all ships, and you you don't want your rival to to you know, outdo so, so rivalries are good. They're good for a lot of reasons. I'm excited about this with Alex Chance, I really am. I can't. I I think it's an awesome higher I think it's the best thing they could have possibly done.
And I really really hope that they surround and they give Alex the best opportunity and they put all the resources available and then some to to help him succeed, because it helps everything when that when that happens. Uh, let's flip gears here for a minute. If you if you're able to do that, you're ready for this, all right, we just flipped them. We're going to talk about football here. Of course, spring spring football is coming up pretty quick. Uh and uh, and there's you know, there's a sense
of urgency there as well. Where what's your kind of general view of of this team going into next year? A lot of new faces, But is it is it really time to panic? Can you know what what what do you think about things?
I wouldn't say it's time to panic at all. I think, you know, I think the biggest piece of panic, if if Utah fans were to feel that, was you know, getting the offense right. You know, I think I truly think that the defense is always going to be there.
I mean, even with their tackling struggles last year, with you know, some of the injuries that they had, like they were still a top unit in the country, you know, even though it didn't look like at some point like statistically they were one of the better units in the country, and they had the playmakers to make plays, you know, to do all those things. Really the problem was, I mean Kyle said himself, was the offense was the quarterback position.
And so I think this spring will really be sort of a kind of a glimpse into you know, what is this offense going to look like? What is it going to look like? You know, Devin Dan Pierre at quarterback with WI Shawn Parker in the backfield, you know, you know, can't Dori and Singer come back for a fifth year? You know, that's kind of still up in
the air. But you know, I think getting these pieces to acclimate quickly on the offense and developing them in the right way is going to be important for Utah because you know, if they don't get the offense right, then yeah, there's gonna be a sense of panic from you know, the fans, There's gonna be a sense of panic from you know, maybe even the coaches. But I think that's the biggest thing, uh, heading into you know, spring camp is is you know, what is this offense
going to look like? You know what what what does Devin damp Here bring to the table as a quarterback, you know, as a person, as a leader, especially replacing a guy like Cam Rising. Obviously, you know, he had injuries the past two seasons that held him out. You know, I think he only played two and a half games, but he was a vital piece to you know, bringing this program to you know, two back to backpack twelve championships.
He was a leader in the locker room. Everybody looked up to him, and so you know, not to say Devin has you know, big shoes to fill, but you know, he's he's got to sort of establish himself as the leader of this offense and the football team. And I think the same thing goes for Jason Beck, you know, first year offensive coordinator, and we saw the kind of success Andy Ludwig had early on as Utah's offensive coordinator.
So I think it's a big season for the offense to re establish itself as a good unit because you know, as we've all seen here in Utah, you know, when there's a good offense paired with a good defense, things can go really far. I mean, that's how they went far in two thousand and eight, That's how they made
it to two back to back Pack twelve championships. And I think for Kyle specifically, you know, I think figuring out the offense has been sort of the I wouldn't say the biggest struggle, but just the biggest piece for him to find success, especially as he's entering his twenty first or twenty second year. I'm losing track of the numbers here, but yeah, it's kind of my take on it.
No, it's so true, and you know, I think it's driven him nuts trying to figure out the offense quite frankly, and because you do you have you have any semblance of offense, not only not only do you win, and you probably win the conference because you know, you look at all the games that were really close and uh, you know, but it also helps your defense. It helps them not to get so worn down. You know, they're not on the field so long. So it's it's a
really valuable thing. And and it'll be fascinating with Devon Dampier. I was talking earlier in the show with Sam Brookhouse and you know, he's talking about these players who have transferred from multiple schools and and how well they're playing at at the professional level, and so so you kind of I'm fascinating. You see what's going to happen with Devn damp here and if he if he happens to be one of those players, you know, so moving to a new program and even an elevated you know, competition
level in a powerful for conference. So it'll be interesting. Yeah. So anyways, Uh that's all I got to today for you. Jason. Really have enjoyed this conversation and thank you so much for jumping on the show.
Yeah for sure, love love when you guys have me on. I wish I could be on more. Sometimes my schedule does not permit, but I always try to make time for you guys.
So clear your schedule, buddy, come on, let's go talk more on the radio. That's my motto. Right, be good, we'll talk to you later. That's awesome, We'll see you there. You have it. Jason Batacio from the Salt Lake Compune. Of course, he covers the huts, interesting stuff about Alex Jensen. And of course you know, it's always the it's always the freaking quarterbacks. It's always the offense. That's always the question. All the quarterbacks get all the glory and they get
all blah blah blah blah blah. So sick of quarterbacks. Actually I like quarterbacks. I'm a favorite