On location today were our good friends at Tim Dolly. It's their used car side of things. We've been at several different Tim Dolly locations. This one's new for us though. It's forty five forty five South Main Street. Trust me, put that in your GPS and follow it. Don't try to get cute. You'll get lost like I did. Forty five forty five South Main Street here in Salt Lake City.
All right.
Our next guest, one of the best to ever do it at the University of Utah. On the basketball side, Josh Grant joined us not too long ago, and Josh, I've got a lead off with whether or not you got as much feedback about your interview on this show as I did.
I actually did get a lot of feedback, and a lot of people are really we're really excited about the direction of college basketball. But truly, I really appreciate you having me back on again so I can kind of clear my name from that massacre that came to the hands of Britt and Johnson.
I was I was wondering if you Britt you know, I mean, you know, Britt, He's tongue in cheek and obviously he was being a little bit facetious. But I was wondering if you heard Brick go at you a little bit, so the floor is yours, Josh go at him?
How can I not hear that guy? He's so loud. No, I mean he's not and talked about how we're such good friends. Man, the old adage is of friends like that, who needs enemies? But no, he's a character. He's a funny guy, and we have been friends. He's been, you know, busting my chop since I dated his sister when he was about five, and I think he was a BYU fan at the time. But no, he's a good guy, a good friend. He just has no filter. Even you know his brother Jeff as I was texting him, what
the heck is your brother saying about me? And Jeff even said that, you know, he's a loose cannon. Nobody can control him, so you just got to take it for what it is. He's a goofball. But I do have one thing I have to say about him. When he was talking about Alex being a coach on the floor and how he would grab Britt by the jersey and scream in his face, it's not totally because Alex
is a coach. It's because Alex knew that Britain did not even listen to what Coach had just said in the time out or in the whole week of preparation, and so he was trying to make sure he was at the right place at the right time. Britain has a little adhd. I think he can't really concentrate that well.
We got a little ute legend on Nute Legend Crime here with Josh Grant and Britton Johnson. But nonetheless, Josh, your wish has been granted, and I will give you the credit because you were the first guests I had on the show who said this job should go to Alex. So now that it is official, I just want to know your reaction and if you could share with us the reaction of people that kind of live in your cul de sac, in your community. How are people feel about it?
I think that first of all, I was so happy when I finally heard Okay, it's a done deal. You know, there's always going to be some bumps in the road and some concerns and things like that, but once I heard the contract it's been signed, everything's good. I was a static. I think that Alex is going to do such a good job. I think he's just such a good person and that and that good thoughtful person. He's
going to be the same way as a coach. He's going to get the most out of his players, he's going to recruit intelligently, and he's going to build a culture here. And I firmly believe that all those things that I've just mentioned are in a spreadsheet in his head and each one has, you know, each cell is filled with an idea of how he thinks it will work. He's just very thorough and just very thoughtful, and so
I'm very pleased. And I think the whole community is people that I've talked to, there's just an air in Salt Lake City and in Utedom that people are just really excited for the first time. I haven't seen people this excited for a really long time. I mean it's been it's really been twenty years that people as a whole have just been really excited about what's going to happen and the potential of what is in the future.
Are you find a little sign of chest thing, Josha bear with me. Are you aware of how this process went down? Like, do you know if this was Mark's one and only target or are you aware of whether or not Mark Carlin interviewed multiple candidates before landing on Alex.
From as I understand it and was told, it was you know, the decision was made that we need change directions from Craig and that they were they were gonna let him go a little bit early, and part of the purpose was we need to build a relationship with our players, because there's some good players on this team, and also they wanted to just jump right on the
fact that Alex was their number one guy. I believe that Mark talked to others, but Mark's whole mission was to make sure that Alex knew he was the number one guy, and we needed to see what it was going to take to get Alex to come, and so he may have had some back up just in case, but he was going full hearted at Alex and wanted to make sure that Alex realized that he was a humble choice.
Any any thoughts or maybe you know whether or not Alex was immediately open to this or was this a process. I mean, I know Dallas liked him. I know his wife really very much enjoyed living in Dallas, and I've been told that this wasn't something that Alex jumped at right away, that it did take some time. But if you're aware, can you illuminate us kind of how this process went down? Maybe the interest on Alex's side.
Yeah, I've been talking with Alex oh Man for a number of years, and not like daily, but obviously each time the season starts getting worse, I'll text him or we'll run into each other and I'll just say, are you ready to come yet? You're ready to come yet? In this situation, I sense in his voice a little more enthusiasm and excitement. You know that he was actually considering, like, you know what, that might be a really good, good option.
And then you know, of course, once you start to settle down and think, Okay, my family going to be okay with this? Do we have good support? What's the nil money? Like, what would our plan be? Who's going to be our just the behemoth that he now has on his shoulders trying to get everything figured out to kind of build the culture and the team and the structure and everything that he wants. And so I think his initial and this is just my opinion, Alex didn't
tell me. This is my read on it. He was excited at the opportunity, for sure, and then maybe the weight of all of the things made him step back a little bit and say, Okay, before I commit to this, we need to make sure we have some clarity on a few things. And I think that maybe is what took a little bit longer to get everything ironed out.
So, as I've been talking about ever since the news about Craig hit the airwaves, whether it was Alex Jensen, whether it was a Josh Jimmy Soto hybrid, whether you resurrected Rickmanjaris, no matter who the candidates were, they were going to ask Mark and President Randall the same thing, and that is what is the economic viability and the financial infrastructure of my program, of the basketball program? So do you have any insight on where we're at right now?
Because if you can't write checks, you're not getting talent, not in this day and age.
Josh right, No, it's true. I don't know the insight on that necessarily. I just probably have heard the same thing that you've heard, that people are excited enough about having Alex as the head coach that at least they're coming to the table to have discussion. There may be some donors who have verbally committed to say, you know what, if Alex is here, we're going to get more money. I don't have a shore known fact, but I also have a belief that this is something that you have
to build. I don't think somebody's showing up with ten million dollars to say, hey, Alex, here, you go, go and do it ten million what you want. I think he might be a situation where Alex has to kind of prove that that he's utilizing the funds effectively and that he's putting together a good team with good people. And I know that, I know that, you know, Britain has some crazy ideas about how it is completely nil money and I know a lot of people think that.
But and this was one of my issues when I would hear you say things about former coaches here that that we're good coaches. If you can't coach players that don't demand high nil money, how are you expected to coach players that do demand high nil money. And so I think that Alex is a good coach. He's going to be a coach, and I think that he's going to recruit the proper people and it's it's a little
bit about the personality. If you look back at Utah basketball history, and that's kind of how I always gauge a lot of the things that I say, is what has happened in history. And you look back at On and you look back at Keith and Doleyak, look back at Byron Wilson. In my era, they were good people. You know, they were raised right, They realized the importance of loyalty, They wanted to be coached, They appreciated people
who appreciated them. And so, yes, you're gonna have to pay those guys nil money, but you've got to find those good kids first. Don't just throw your money, you know, willy nilly, to just go get somebody kind of lived by the sword, you die by the sword. And if you're gonna just chase after kids who who are demanding this high nil money, is that really the culture that
you want to build here at Utah. And so, yes, he's going to have more money from what I understand, But I still think that it's just people are just barely starting to wake up again to the basketball program. They've been asleep for a little while because the program just hasn't been so stellar, but I think at least their eyes are open and they're very interested to see what's going to happen next.
I'm sorry, did you say that you had take an issue with me saying the coaches here in the past had been good coaches, genuinely curious.
Yes, yes, you're you're too nice and now you know, I hope Craig's not listening. Craig was a nice guy, but nobody said anything about Larry being a nice guy. The attitude of that was Larry didn't coach. And so it's a little bit of an unfair comparison when we're are we gaging people by their niceness? Are we gaging
people by their coaching ability? And so you can you can see obviously that, you know, we had some disparity in how our guy were they prepared well enough when they came out on the floor that they had confidence in knowing what they were doing. And to me, I didn't see that, And you could you could say that by you know, Gabe Madson is a great shooter, a great shooter, Why was Gate not able to shoot the ball? Well, well, they didn't really execute in offensive sets. Did he have
his feet set? Did he come off a screen. Did he set the screen up properly? Was the screen set properly. There's just a lot of those things that you know, Rick taught me to value and just to notice. And so that's why I say, you know, there's a big piece of this whole pie that includes good solid teaching and expectations and people have to be responsible for things that have been taught them, and that's I think what's been missing the most last twenty years.
Well, Josh, I'll tell you this. I have to say thank you because I've been doing this nearly twenty years and that's the first time anybody has told me that I am too nice, Josh, So I appreciate that.
Thank you. You're always very kind, always maybe to a cult.
Okay, all right, well you know what, I'll take that feedback. I'll take that criticism, and I'll try to be better with it. So let's talk about, now, Josh, how you would like to see this staff filled out. I've heard that they're talking Andre. I'm sure you have inside knowledge that most of us do not. But that's only one seat. So let's get your thoughts on whether or not you think Andrea's high speed head to home, and maybe some other thoughts on who you'd like to see city next.
Alex, Yeah, those are that's a great, great question, Andre. I think Andre wants to come. I'm pretty sure of that. He may be just trying to get the final parts and pieces together so that he'll be comfortable. But I hear it's very close. I don't know if the deal has been signed, but I hear it's close. And Andre will bring such an amazing presence. From a recruiting standpoint, I mean, who wouldn't if Andre Miller showed up at
your front door and you live in LA. Who's not thinking, Holy cow, Andre Miller is standing on my doorstep right now, and he could actually teach me how to get to the NBA. And so I think from a recruiting standpoint, it's amazing. Just from his feel for the game is amazing. You hear a lot of these pros on these YouTube channels and podcasts talk about how Andre Miller was such a great mentor to them, and he would ask questions
just simple like but what do you see here? And he wouldn't just tell people stuff, would make them think and learn and figure things out for themselves. So I think that's that would be an amazing partnership with he and al After that, I you know, I don't even know. Back in the old days, I think you had three coaches and you had one graduate assistant. Nobody else could be on the floor. Nowadays, I think I counted like what eight ten coaches on the bench the other day.
So I think you just have to be the number one higher or not the number one higher somebody. That's really important is getting somebody who can act as your general manager. You've got to be able to keep track of nil and make sure that values are maintained and how much money do you have, and how do we kind of put the players together, which is kind of new for college basketball. It's more of an NBA thing.
But I think Alex has got to get somebody in that position that would be helpful to him and just kind of keep an eye out on him and make sure that he doesn't hit any big potholes, you know, as as he's kind of figuring all this stuff out. So you've got to get get a good general manager who understands kind of everything. And then you've got to get somebody who can recruit the state of Utah. You know Britain again, I can't help it. I got to get back at him. It's just a love it room, Bacher, right,
love it, love it. Britain sat and talked about how I was wrong that, you know, you can't build a team with Utah players and so on and so on, and maybe you can win the Whack and the Mountain, but you can't win the Big Twelve. And I don't disagree with him, and I never said that. I said you have to build a core group of players who are from Utah. So I asked, I was talking to my friend Ryan Boyak about this, and we look back at the championship team. Do you know how many guys
were on that team from Utah? Pike A guess three?
Four?
There were six? Six? Okay, so you've got the two Johnson's, You've got Al, You've got Hanson, and then you've got the backup center. And then there was another cut kid who I can't remember his name. He didn't play a whole lot. I think he ended up redshirting because he heard himself. But six players, so you've got to be able to start to build that that that win of shooting the best players in Utah. So you've got to have somebody who understands and has relationships or can build
relationships with the local kids. And then after that, I think, you know, you've got to get people who can build player or do player development, and who can you know, fix people's shots and work on some of the basics and things like that. Do I have names for you now? I don't. And if they asked, if they asked Britton Johnson to come be a coach, don't let him tricky. He would drop everything he's doing to come and be a coach. He's he's trying to be mister Koy. But yeah,
and who wouldn't. I mean, it's a it's a it's an opportunity of a lifetime really to come in and to be able to work here at an alma the model that you love, that you have passion for, and I think that goes a long way. And that's another thing I think has been missing is this passion for the University of Utah. And that's another box that Alex checks. He loves the University of Utah. He has great feelings
of his experiences here. So he's gonna he's work a little bit harder and maybe have a few more sleepless nights. If things don't go well, which I'm not saying they will, but it'll still be a challenge for him. He'll just he'll be a little more concerned maybe and put a little more into it. So yeah, I'm excited as everybody else is, just to see who who is gonna come and sit around, and who's gonna have input, and who will have Alex's here, who will be Alex's Jeff Jutkins,
you know, like he was to Rick mcgaris. And it's fun. It's just exciting, it really is. This is such a good time.
Now at the next Utah basketball great reunion? Are you and Britt gonna be good? Are we gonna see some fisticuffs? Are Are you guys gonna be all right the next time you're together?
First of all, both of us are so skinny that we probably couldn't hurt each other if we actually did throw a blow. But no, no, that's just Britain. We've known Britain a long time. I'm not gonna hit him, he's not gonna hit me. We'll probably just start laughing. Okay, No, we're good, We're good, okay, And.
I would be remiss Josh. If I didn't ask you, I would imagine if Alex is interested, you'd be interested potentially in talking to him about sitting on that bench.
Right. Oh. Absolutely, Like I said, it's an opportunity of a lifetime. And as I as I've watched this whole thing go through, I've asked myself, is this something that I would like to do. And you know, sometimes people say, well, you haven't been coaching, and I think back, and I talked to Jeff Judkins because he had a similar situation where he didn't coach for a while. I mean, he was just working as an average joe when Rick mccheris
brought him back. And so I think that, you know, there was a time when I had to decide did I want to turn left and go into coaching, do I turn right and try to get into you know, work force America. And just because I decided to go right and to work Force America, the information and the knowledge that I had learned over my you know, fifteen year career or seventeen year career, it didn't just disappear. So it's always been in there. And I think it would be a lot of fun to just be able
to help in some way. Whatever that means, I don't know, but I think that, you know, I do have some things to offer for in state kids. I could go and tell them how awesome it is to be a hometown boy, because really that played such a big part of my life, just kind of being here, being an East High graduate. So, you know, if it's obviously it's up to Alex, but if there's anything I could do to help, I'd be more than happy to jump in there and do it.
At the risk of being too nice, you're Josh freaking grants. You didn't need to carry a clipboard around for twenty years to be able to be qualified. Josh, But let me move over here before I set you loose, because you referenced and we had Tim McMahon on the show who covers the MAVs or ESPN, and Tim reported it Alex would finish off the season with the MAVs, but MAVs ownership has given him complete carte blanche to go start doing what he's doing to lay the found work
for his new job. And I'm just going to read off the names of the players that are eligible to come back next year, and then I want to get your thoughts and we'll say you lose. So Ezra star as a junior and Kanu DAEs. You know, coach eilerd played Kanu more minutes than Craig did, and Kana had three double doubles in the five games coach Eyler coached. So we've got Ezra, We've got Kana Dawes, we got
Mira Little. We also have Jake Wallen and Mike shrab Jams are the main candidates to come back, at least on paper. So what do you make of that list of names? And who do you think Alex should look at to try to get back next year?
You know, I love all those guys you mentioned. I honestly think that you know all this is the difference of opinion between me and Coach Smith. But I think that you take either one of those point guards and then you add the other the other three, and then if you have somebody like Caleb Caleb Loner, it was such a beast on defense. I think if you started those five guys just to kind of set the tone defensively, they really will get after it and they would set
a good tone defensively. And so so I think you win some games if you just give them the opportunity to just go and get after it. So I do. I'm a fan of Waleen, I'm a fan of DAWs, I'm a fan of Ezra. I think Miro's in there and he can get in there and compete. He's very athletic, and Mike, for his lack of athletic ability is so long. I think that makes up for a lot of things. So I really believe that Alex should go and try to keep all of them because they do kind of understand.
They played with each other a year. You know, DAWs is starting to show what he's capable of if you just kind of let him play through and gain some confidence. Wlleen is the same thing. He needs to get some work with his shot, with his shot and being able to maybe have some other options to score. I think Mike just needs to get his feet set a little bit better when he shoots his jump shot. And Miro,
you know, he's just an athletic kid. Maybe give him a little bit more direction, but make defense the priority for him. And I think with those guys right there, sure you need a big center or something, but with those guys right there, you have a pretty solid team. And I just need to build, you know, some some good subs.
Well, Josh, I appreciate the time, and I didn't mean to cause problems between you and my guy Britt, so hopefully we're gonna be okay, okay. Bottom line is, no matter where you're at in the ecosystem, somebody like you who's a legend, or somebody like me who covers the program, I think this has been a really exciting week and I'm pumped to see what's next, my friend, So thank you so much for the time.
Hey, thank you, I really appreciate it. And yeah, Britt and I were still buddy, so no worries.
Ah, Right there we go. The great Josh grat one of the best to ever do it at the University of Utah.