WED POD @SpenceChecketts on Runnin' Utes coaching change, Arizona matchup, RSL roster, Jazz tanking + more

packed local and national sports day. Not a ton of local stuff. Last night at the Utah Hockey Club, got a win and a win they need it. Chicago's not very good this year, two to one. So the march toward the wild card continues for the Utah Hockey Club. But tonight bevy of local action jazz taking on the Sacramento Kings at the Delta Center. University of Utah is at McHale take on Arizona. Tough task for Josh right out.

lot of local basketball action to get to tonight. Some great NBA basketball last night that did not include the Utah Jazz. We saw Luka Doncitz take on his old team in Los Angeles, Lakers and the Maps. Luca had a triple double. Kyrie was awesome, but the Lakers were able to hold off the Mavericks. The Warriors moved to six and one with Jimmy Butler in the lineup, and the Grizzlies and the Suns combined for two hundred and ninety nine points. We saw a great game between the

Bucks and the Rockets. So a lot of really fun NBA basketball last night, and moving over to kind of the stretch run. And I will say, as the guy that oftentimes complains about NBA basketball employing basketball players that don't seem to like to play basketball, some good hard NBA action over the past few days after the All Star break, you kind of see players playing a little bit harder with more intention. And I wish they did it all year, But what are you gonna do. We'll

take it as we can get it. The NFL PA survey was released today. Whatdy Johnson is the worst owner in the NFL? Eons to New York Jets. I am a New York Jets fan. The annual Team report Card survey of nearly seventeen hundred players who graded their teams in various categories.

different topics, both with the Jazz and the NBA. Then get Smitty's thoughts as somebody who's been in our community for forty plus years on the current vacant head coaching position at the University of Utah. All due respect to josh I don't think he's a candidate to take it permanently.

Wednesday afternoon. If you're Josh Eiler and not, but I know well if you were, that would be weird because he has a game to coach. How do you feel that the first game you're in charge of is potentially one of the two or three hardest places to play in the country. McHale is a nightmare.

to establish is going to be. But hey, if you're going to start anywhere, if it's not at home, why not a historic venue on the road, because you really don't have much to lose as the interim head coach going into a game against a ranked team in that venue.

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with a horrific call. It wasn't a super well officiated game, period, but that call at the end was just a tough pill to swallow. And I think the Arizona fans made their feelings known with a ridiculously, you know, inappropriate chant after the game. But Arizona is going to be grumpy and it'll be interesting to see how Utah comes out when it comes to this matchup. Arizona is a fourteen point five point favor that's a massive spread. The over

under is one fifty two point five. We've talked to a bunch of guests throughout the course of the week, Bill Riley, Sean Mooney, Josh Grant, et cetera. And yesterday bringing on Bill and Sean live in Tucson, my question was like, how do the players seem how do these young men seem to be doing? And unfortunately neither Bill or Sean had access to them yet because the players

were in route form Orlando. But I'll be really interested to see how these young men look when it just comes to their body language.

teams in all of college basketball. But according to Ken Palm, and it was Roxy Bernstein on the show yesterday, Arizona the second best team in the Big Twelve. And so the Utes with a tough tough task tonight, A really tough ask. Now this feels a little bit if I could draw the parallel, and it's not a perfect parallel, but you know, what sort of improvement, what sort of systematic change, what sort of concepts does Josh Eiler believe in?

And will that manifest itself immediately? You know, Josh coach under Bob Huggins for a number of years. Bob Huggins seemed to be a little bit of a grumpy man, but a defensive minded coach that really believed in a lot of full core press, a lot of pressure, you you know, right up and down the floor, different sorts of looks when it comes to a press, different sorts of looks when it comes to wanting to make the other team uncomfortable defensively.

talked about it all week long. You know, we can talk about the lack of results, in the lack of winning that happened under Craig, and certainly when you're the head coach, the issue is if you have a talent issue, you're also partly to blame for that. In this modern day and age of college basketball, you can't entirely blame the head coach, but the head coach in college basketball

is also in charge of recruiting talent. It's different, and I do think we're actually moving into a different kind of era of college basketball and certainly college football, but we're kind of already there, and I don't know if the mechanisms to acquire talent in college will look exactly like the pros, I mean nil essentially as free agency,

we just call it nil. But will we move into this era where you have to have like a salary capologist and somebody that understands the economics and you're actually offering contracts to players in college and it looks a lot like the pros. And I do think if we get there, by the way, it will be very good news because it will solve a lot of issues. I've been on this for years. Just lean into the pro model.

If you want to understand the easiest way to eliminate players coming and going via nil, guess what it is? You sign a two year deal with a three year you know, with a third year option. Okay, so here Gabe Madson. Will use Gabe as an example. I guess

let's use Ezra because Gabe is a senior. But here Ezrasar is a two year contract to play for the University of Utah, and then we have a third year option, or hey, you have a third year option as well, and if you want to leave after two years, then you can leave, but at least you know that you have Ezra for the next two years. And college basketball programs, like college football programs, are starting to hire general managers.

They're starting to formulate their personnel to look very much like NBA and NFL front offices, and so as we kind of move into that era, you will have the ability to sign contracts and sign players just like NBA teams do via free agency. I seriously doubt we ever get into an area where you can execute trades. Right. Can you imagine if BYU and Utah just started trading players, so instead of Utah losing Kiba Keda, it's like, hey, just send us Richie Saunders. You can have Kbakeda and

a second round pick or whatever. It sounds so weird to be talking about this, but ultimately, if college football and basketball move into the pro model entirely, maybe we do start seeing trades. I don't know, but I do feel that Craig as a coach is top shelf and high level. I just don't think he had talent night

in and night out. So when it comes to what we'll see now, this feels a little bit the way we talked about Utah Football's offense when Mike Bajakian took over after coach lud was fired, Like, what is Josh Eiler going to figure out? That Craig didn't, and is he just going to keep running Craig's concepts because that's what these kids know, which may tonight kind of interesting and worth tuning in to see if there are any

defensive philosophies or offensive concepts that change. You know, is Josh Eiler a coach that believes in different things than Craig believes? And I honestly have no idea, but that's what makes tonight kind of interesting.

and Eric Olson. But a lot of people are leaning in heavily to the idea of execut of executes, namely Alex Jensen as your head coach and Andre Miller's your assistant. That seems to be the rumor that's getting the most attention. That seems to be the scenario in situation A lot of alumni and boosters would lean into we'll talk about this with Smitty coming up in a little bit. And as I said yesterday with both Bill and Sean, I'm not usually a hey, let's win the press conference guy.

I don't think it's really germane to results. I don't think it's something that's necessary. But I do feel like part of me feels like a little bit with this scenario, trying to win the press conference and win the day, and win the moment, to inject this college basketball community with a little bit of life, life that we haven't really seen consistently for a long time.

consistent energy brought by the community. And so if you get a release and the University of Utah sends out an announcement like the new head coach of the Utes is Alex Jensen and his lead assistant is Andre Miller, I think instantaneously the basketball building up there receives a ton of phone calls from interested consumers wanting to put down deposits for season tickets next year.

they started dancing to country music. Okay, somebody liked my shirt and they asked for it, and I gave it to him.

going to be competitive. And there are some pieces I think you can say on this team, but Craig Smith is a good coach. But looking at his track record, even going back to Utah State, he generally performed really well with guys he inherited. Namish Kita is the one that I can really think of that he brought in. Difference Maker went pro is in. I think he's in the Celtics rotation.

new head coach. You got to get plenty of very exciting talent. That's the bottom line.

this isn't the NBA. Will Hardy did not draft these players. Will hard you to not acquire these players. That's Danny, that's justin. That's the jazz front office in college if you don't have talent. It also comes back to the head coach. Now, in the new day and age of college of basketball, it's not as on the coach as it used to be because you have to have a healthy economic structure behind you to pay these players in a way you didn't used to. And I still have

questions about where Utah's collective is. I honestly don't know. Mark Carlin releases a statement. You hear certain things about where they're at now, the excitement for where they could be moving forward, But from a basketball standpoint, it's pretty clear that economically Utah at this point has just elected not to lean into the basketball financing the way that

Brigham Young has. How much of the consternation around Craig and Utah basketball do you think it's tied to what Kevin is doing down south?

the fan base get apathetic. The fan base has been apathetic for a long time. Let's be honest. I mean we've talked about I think the last time they had a really good team, that Sweet sixteen team with Kuzma, Yeah, Delon Wright yaka Perl. They haven't made an NCAA tournament almost ten years. It's so wild, that is insane. Haven't had a player drafted since Kyle Kuzma in twenty seventeen. And I know, and I know the draft thing. You know,

like you need pros, you needah. Not only do you need pros, but you need guys who can go over and play at Barcelona or realmand just like Utah hasn't had it right. And I know who is the dude who wants sat John's that everyone was mad about.

we can look at with the University of Utah. The s teams Rick ever had had, Andre Pro, Alex Jensen, European pro Britton Johnson NBA, and europe Mike Doliak made money playing pro basketball. Hanald Metzla like they I mean, yes, probably the best example. So all of these teams that we all watched in the nineties that didn't just make the tournament but made runs, one of them came within a red bull of winning a national championship. They're up ten and at halftime with Kentucky and then I I'll

never forget man. They come out of the locker room in the second half within five minutes and like their gas. Because Rick was essentially playing seven guys. He wanted his top shelf players playing. And it's not just Utah. I mean right now, Kevin Young down a BYU has two pros for sure, two NBA guys for sure in Yegor Demon and Cannon Catchings, and a guy in Richie Saunders who's playing his way onto the radars and scouts. He's really good. He is a European guy for sure. I

think that's probably it. I know Dallen Hall talks about wanting to play pro basketball, but as John on Kalipara used to say, when somebody asked him, Ami prosy yat, he said, I have twelve go ask him. Right, they all think they can play, but no, to your point, like, if you want to win championships, if you want to compete for championships, if you want to make the tournament and advance, this is a player's game at the end

of the day. Luke Walton took over the Warriors from Steve Kerr and won like thirty seven of thirty nine games. Luke Walton couldn't get a job. He just had that group of players. So the unfortunate reality is the coach is the one who falls on the sword. He's the one that loses his job because you can't fire the players. This to me is a talent issue, period, and not a coaching issue in my opinion.

and then I think it's about four with Craig. So in three and a half years, the athletic Department has had to pay essentially eleven million dollars of dead money to coaches that have been released from their contract for a school like you taught, that's a lot. It's a lot. We're not talking about a blue blood program that has cash rolling in. And to your point, I think one of the main reasons why this move was made was because the apathy within the donor booster supporter base reached

a level that was untenable. And what is next is people going to try to live in the past, which I think is a very dangerous game, especially a thirty years ago type past. But if those are the people that are cutting in checks all these years later, you kind of have to listen to them. So how this thing shakes out will see, But safe to say you have to nail the higher man. But you have to nail the higher.

I know there are other sports outside of basketball and football, but these are the revenue generators, and these are what people watch more than anything and are interested in more than anything. Shout out to the other coach hires, you know that were made outside of it. But Tom essentially went five for five. You know when you look at Dave Rose and Bronco Menenhall and Mark Pope and Kladie Satake and now the early returns on Kevin Young seemed to be positive.

I don't know how much of it was boosters. I don't how much of it was Taylor Randalls one of the Taylor Randall's like an underrated figure and all this stuff, because that dude is sharp, He's very smart, and.

could take. Here, there's a list of young coaches at smaller schools that have done a great jo and kind of the college basketball ecosystem has always worked like this. You take a small school from a smaller conference, you get an auto bid to the NCAA Tournament because you won your conference. You win a couple of games, and your life changes. Craig did it right, and so Mark has already followed that model. You have names like Eric Olsen from UC San Diego. You have Nico Medved from

Colorado State. You have Eric Henderson from South Dakota State. You have Leon Rice from Boise, Russell Turner from UC Irvine. This is a list put together by Jeff Borzello. So that's one avenue the young college coach that's done well at a small school and you're gonna make him rich to coach in the Big twelve. The other avenue, as you outlined just now is the Johnny Bryant, the Alex Jensen, de Andre Miller, the former utes to sit on the bench.

Let's start here. Do you think in our state it is over sold to need a BYU guy, need a Utah guy, need a guy that understands the community. Do you think that's in Do you think it's Do you think it's overrated? Because every time one of these jobs comes up and Chris, this is what we do. As soon as Bronco left, it was Kilane right. Kevin's different, you know, but LDS b Yu it's kind of a different thing. Do you think you have to understand Utah to take this job? Urban didn't?

it's insane. I personally think the Utah fan base as a whole doesn't show out the same way some of the other fan bases in this stay tue for basketball. They they just don't and they haven't for a long time. And maybe it is just being fed up with being so average or below average. But I can tell you the one time I was at the Huntsman Center where I felt like it was at the Marriott Center or up at up in Logan, I can't And I've covered a bunch of games there for fifteen years. Can't remember it.

think was wrong in putting that out there either. There are many layers into what constitutes building a winning program in college basketball, in college football, in twenty twenty five now, and you mentioning the talent, looking at the talent, is there a indispensable player on this roster that absolutely has to come back next year? There's not. No, there's not no,

there's not there's not. I mean, like, you can't be a power for conference team in a market that is growing, at a school that presumably is in a decent spot that should be in a better spot when it comes to nil, and not have a single indispensable player.

He has shown Spurts got the same deal. Think you'd like him back, not a big deal if you don't have him. Hunter Rickson's gone. He's a senior. Of course, when you look down the roster, so is lost and lovery and Gabe Madsen as is Gabe's brother, Mason Shrob Jamps is a junior. Jake Wallen might be the answer. Jake's sophomore. He was a pretty good player. But no, to your point, none of these players leaving would kill your program.

twenty eleven, almost fifteen years. Yeah, you know, taking Andre Miller out of Grand Rapids or wherever he is G League, Yep, I just I can understand the draw, the desire for, you know, the legacy to come back, but I honestly just don't know what the right move is.

you cannot compete. Kyle talks about it every time he has a mic, like he leans into yes, like this is what we need from you as our community if you want our football team to be good. There are wild reports, mostly on the football side, that top Shell football recruits won't even answer the phone until they get like fifty k and then they'll talk to you.

a lifeline. I think they need an injection of energy and you know, just something to jumpstart the basketball community interest that we haven't had here to your point, if we're honest, in a very long time, consistently outside of moments Jacko letty boge boilin Dertcha Neville.

ticket deposits. That doesn't answer the question of what it looks like long term, and I can't speak to that. I know Alex better than I know Andre, and I think Alex is a very very smart basketball mind, and he is credited with a lot of development of very good players, namely Rudy Gobert. Five years ago, when Mark decided to move on from Larry and Alex's name came up, I said, I don't think so, because I just think he's going to be an NBA head coach at some

point five years later. I'm not sure he's at an interview. Back in the day, he had one interview with Cleveland before they hired Bickerstaff, and he was Quinn's lead assistant and that was such a successful run here in Saal Lake under Quinn Snyder. If I'm an owner, I'm looking

at his lead assistant. But at this point Alex himself might be resigned to the fact that the NBA has labeled me as a lifetime assistant, and if I ever want to be a head coach, it is probably going to be in college, and this would be an opportunity that I think at this point he would lean into in a way that I didn't think five years ago. So I think it makes more sense in my mind that I thought it did a number of years ago.

the reach globally with the church as much wider. And I'm not saying there aren't rich members of the church that went to the U. There are, but that is also a very big part of this as well. The really rich people who want to donate money, they are fewer and far between.

two are. But before we catch a break, to your point, if the Echos and the Huntsmen and the Garths and whoever else up here is donating money at a large level, if they call Taylor President Randall and they say we want Alex, you got to hire him. I think it's

kind of that simple. Because the people with deep pocketbooks are running this thing in a way they never have ye last thing because I wanted to ask you, what, what's your opinion on kind of the pressure that Mark is under to get this thing right based off of the rough year he's had.

going to be up on Sunnyside. But at the end of the day, Man, I've said this on the show Ad nauseum, the product is all that matters. Fans want to pay to see their teams play an exciting style of sport, whatever it is, and you have to nail it otherwise. If you don't nail this higher, then people are going to start to get really, really frustrated.

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seven hundred. I got a Tom Bowter tweet. Wow, this is a little serendipity according to uh what do we call him? C K Tommy, Tommy Scoops.

pieces that hopefully pan out. But as we saw over the weekend, Man and Trey knows this, like the teams that were winning and scoring goals, they were having goals scored by guys that came into this league and were paid five to ten million dollars. That's where we are now. You can't moneyball it anymore. You simply can't. Yep, And I think RSL knows that the bones around the number nine position is there. But without that, without an alpha, I don't know what the ceiling is for this team

beyond scraping for sevent eight. I don't know, Tray, Are we still top seven?

In MLS, you're traded, much like in every American sports league. And and this guy and his agent two days before training camp said hey, we're not going to show up until you triple my salary. And we said, it's not how we were.

in Brazil. So I think RSL will end up being made whole for the for the gam that we sent New York for him and a bunch of draft picks back on December twentieth. It's a little disappointing, right, Like, you know, he sounded like he wanted to come take Julio's place and maybe compete to take Chicho's place eventually, but he was viewed internally as a Anderson Julio replace him.

you had several and it's just part of it. But for RSEL to get back into contention in a league now that is spending a bleep ton of money on attacking players, they got to nail these moves.

become what everybody believes they will be. I think between Diego Luna, Diego Gonsalves, Dominic Marchuk, there is a belief that we can set these guys up for success, but clearly we've not seen that in the first one hundred and eighty minutes this season. I think Forrester has had a couple of good breakaway opportunities that.

Robbie Finley client. Yes, Jason went brutus e two on his best friend tredon Mela, but you know, Robbie shows up and then you know, you never know when a hobby air type thing. I know rself fans hate when I go back to two thousand and nine, But Chris, is there a chance that the way that two thousand and you know, seven eight nine team was able to make up for Cunningham's goals by committee?

were talking about with the running Newts. Spend money, nail it and you'll be okay. Yeah, But if you don't spend money and you don't nail it, you will not be okay.

I never will. Like if you sell Diego, I'm gonna be bummed, But I understand that you kind of have to. But to Chris's point, with this money that's being spent, is there is it time to maybe take a look at the model and maybe adjust it a little bit as opposed to being a developmental club, like we're in this game, we need to go spend some money to get some big dogs.

or the Red Bulls have started to do. The Andres Gomez sale was important not only because it was six times our previous highest sale, but because we are now a participant in that global market. We I'm sure that at some point we will have opportunities to sell Diego Luna for big money, and sell Dominic MARCHUK for big money, and maybe now Kobe Henry for big money once you know, maybe we bought him from the team that is loaning

him to us, now from friends. This is the one silver lining, maybe of the rumored calendar change, is that then the biggest transfer market window in the world doesn't happen in the middle of our season. It will happen at the end of our season. But there's a lot of obvious problems trying to play games in fourteen fifteen

MLS markets in December, January, February. Yeah, so that's but that's the that's the trade off is that MLS could become an even more prominent economic player in the global marketplace.

they have four or five options there. I don't know enough about the keeper to have some sort of that he gave up four, but the team gave up four against San Jose.

of goals in Seattle. They won MLS Cup, they won Conca CAF. Find guys that do it, do it often, and do it at a high level, and you'll be okay. But you can't go out and give and give the fan base that is satiating for some star talent right now, Oh, this is going to be a guy who can potentially develop, and we already have two those guys on the rostra.

You need to go out and say, oh, this is a dude who who has scored forty goals in Mexico in the last two or three years, or this is a guy who scored twenty five goals in Brazil the last two years, or a guy who scored fifty goals

in the Netherlands over the last four years. Bring in guys who have track records who can do it, and as Trey mentioned, the earlier you do it, you don't have the lull that all of these guys hit when they come in the summer transfer window, because they're adjusting in real time in the middle of the dog days of summer. As we saw with Diego Gonzalvez last year, it takes a very long time, especially for attacking talent, to adapt to a league that will beat the crap

out of its attacking player. Still, it is a very physical league, and that's that is part of the acclamation process.

most beloved RSO player hmm. I mean, I'm thinking like he's up there with like like maybe Demir Crylocker and even before that kind of like the star.

sweet kid. But obviously it helps that he's awesome, right, Like it's one thing to have a player that you love, but it helps that he's really, really, really good.

up and talk about his challenges. And then we saw it last year in Chicago because he had been benched and Pablo is very much a father figure and a mentor to this young guy. And then he scored that fourth goal in Chicago, ran right over the bench, had a nice embrace with Pablo and those two have become very very close over last year.

will be heartbreaking. But at the same time, it is part of the sport that you didn't grow up with Spence and it will be cool for us in Salt Lake to see him at a different club potentially you know, hitting a different stride. Yeah, making maybe more inroads with the national team, because that is the reality.

every day looking very tan and very rested. Forty years with the Utah Jazz Richard Smith on a Wednesday afternoon, Smittie, Happy Wednesday, sir?

and and the first few days I worked. The first day, who walks right by me? And I do one of those double takes with Steve Nash and I go, is that's Stevenash? And then like the minute, lady, he walked back, you know by. And then the next day, who walks by Derk Novitski, you know, just cruising, cruising, uh, cruising along the plaza there. So it's it's a it's a

fun event. It's considered by tennis officionados as the fifth major and so everybody plays both the the A t P and the w t A play uh, and so it's a fun tournament to be be part of. And so so we're heading down there, uh this week.

at it. His teams really get after especially defensively. I'm surprised they did this. I don't know if it was a move made because of the coaching or they expect more. I don't know what you would expect more out of this roster. I don't think it's it's a great roster. I think it's what it really is when you look at the standings, is that they're a middle of the road Big twelve team at the moment. I don't know if it was an indictment on recruiting and not getting

better players. I don't know what the thinking was behind the scenes, but I think it was, for me, my own personal opinion, very premature and very short sighted. When you have a good coach like Craig Smith at the helm of your program, I think there are other ways to go about trying to strengthen and increase what you're trying to do with.

because of his career. There's a family that has things, you know, kind of thrown into a little bit of chaos when a father loses a job and you've got to figure something out. The money, obviously, is a nice parachute in college sports. The reason why coaches negotiate buyouts like this is you're hired to be fired oftentimes. But like you, I was a little bit surprised. I kind of raised my eyebrows a little bit. So let's talk about the timing of it and why this could be.

I've heard people say this gives the program some runway to retain some of the players, to get them back next year. I honestly don't know on this roster who you really want back next year.

or works with him in those kinds of things. If they were talking about this and it was something they had decided in their minds, we're going to do this anyway, it's an eventuality that we've come to the conclusion of doing, then you might as well do it, you know, when you feel comfortable that that that's the decision we're going to make anyway, you cut it clean, you cut it early.

And then it also gives it gives you a chance a leg up on maybe other coaches who are either out there or coaches who might be uh interested or and or available, uh to get a head up on on maybe getting in with them in terms of conversations

about about the job. The flip side of it for me, Spence is when you do this in the college ranks, it really in some regards, it really smacks of a little bit of urgency by the program, uh, you know, a little bit of maybe excitability by the by the decision makers that they're they're nervous or they're anxious about what's going on, and they're not they don't quite like what's happening now, so they're just gonna they're just gonna cut the cord. Uh. With that, I don't I don't

like that feeling. I don't like the fact that that, uh, that you're not letting that coaching staff and those players see through the end of the season to see what could happen. You know, they've had some good wins, but but hey, you know the the the other part of it also is there they're one and seven on the road, uh, you know in the Big twelve. H But but you know they look at the standing and say, well, do you the Big twelve or sixteen teams and their tenth

and they're right in the middle. To me, we talked about that spence when the season began. That's what I expected them to be. I didn't expect them to be any world beaters in the in the Big twelve.

If I'm a perspective coach and I'm looking at that as a possible landing spot for me, the first thing I would say would be, Okay, who are the people calling the shots? Is it the the booster club, is it the athletic director? Are there other people involved in that decision making process? And who are they that I'm going to be working with that would make this kind of a decision during a season with the current coaching staff.

That's a thing that would would come back to me as a question I would want to have answered, you know, as a perspective candidate, because that tells me that that you know, maybe the you know, the people you're working for aren't with you in the row boat when it's sinking and aren't willing to stay with you when it's not going as well as they want it to, that they jump ship on you. And that that's a concern that I would have as well.

was just Mark making the call. Uh, you know. I could foresee a scenario where the Huntsman's of the world, the Echos of the world, the Garths of the world, called Taylor Randall and say we're not with this. It's not working, it's not moving the direction that we want. I know, you're out of town. Josh Grant came on the show two days ago and just went scorched earth on the entire thing, and he even said he was excited.

the checks aren't happy with the Directionsmitte. If you're Mark Carlin, you probably are kind of forced to do something.

who who is your your constituency? You know, Look, if you know anything about basketball, if you're if you're a student of the game, if you profess to love the game and watch it, and you're sitting courtside and you're you're watching these players, and you're watching the teams that come through and who you're playing against, you cannot look at You could not look at the roster you know, for the for Utah this year and and say, oh, that's a highly competitive team that's gonna be you know,

you know, battle for a top four spot in the conference standings.

you that you think you're hanging your hat on. But but this team, you know, this program the way it is at the current time, and and and I can see some of this. You know, I'm a Craig Smith fan because I know him somewhat not great, but I know that he's a very good coach, and I know that he works extremely hard, you know, at it, and he's got a sincere will uh with his team and gets his team to buy into his approach and what

he's trying to do. His issue this year has been that he just doesn't have the horses to stay in the race. That that's just that's a fact if you study basketball, if you know anything about it. They also had what, to me Spence was a very soft pre conference schedule, and so that makes their record look maybe a little bit better than what the team really is.

And I understand that also in terms of college scheduling, every college team tries to get you know, what they call built in wins in November and December to get your team, you know, positively affected and get them confidence

for going into their conference seasons each year. But if they made this decision based on boosters and based on you know, people who are paying you know, the money into Nils or whatever it is, and they're letting those guys you know, have a loud voice in the room, then then that's really a major problem for the whole program in my opinion, because now you're you're you're expecting a coach to do miracles with a limited roster and and limited resources that they have available to them.

out on the road and going into gyms. That Houston game, it wasn't even fair, Like, it wasn't even a fair fight. At one point, I think they had eight turnovers in three baskets because Houston defensively overwhelmed you. They could not even get a shot off. So I do believe that there is a ten a issue with the current roster. Do respect to the young man who are working, young men who were working hard to get better. But the problem committee is in college that's on the coach too,

you know. So like of course, ultimately I am with you when it comes to, you know, being gutted and seeing a good man losing his job. But there is part of me that doesn't mind this statement that this is not good enough. We are a basketball community that once upon a time had a team at the University of Utah not just make the NCAA tournament, but make

deep runs and almost win national championships. And I don't think it's a bad thing to want a different standard while at the same time feeling bad for a good man who's lost his job. I think two things can be true there.

Kansas very well. You know, play b YU very well, which is a very you know. So you know, yeah, it's been an uneven season for them. I understand that. I have to. I have to guess that they wanted to get ahead of the curve on a decision that had already been made at some other point, and they were just trying to figure out the best way to do it and to maybe uh, you know, get up ahead of the pack on a new hiring.

I mean, your life literally changes if you're one of these coaches that rises up through the ranks. So there's that direction, and Jeff Bordella from ESPN to put together list of these young coaches that are in line to get a bigger job. U see San Diego, Eric Olsen, Colorado State, Nico medved South Dakota State, Eric Henderson, Boise State,

Leon Rice u c Irvine, Russell Turner. Those are the four coaches he lists as candidates for Utah that fit the mold of younger coaches at smaller schools that are kind of rising through the ranks. Now on the other side, the community seems to have latched on to this idea of Alex Jensen as your head coach and Andre Miller's your assistant. Five years ago, when Mark fired Larry Ciscoviak, I was asked about Alex as a possibility, and I thoughts many at the time you were working with him.

He was Quinn's lead assistant. With the work he did with Rudy and how many games you guys want, I thought Alex would get a look and get an NBA job. Five years later, he still hasn't had an NBA job. Maybe he views this as I am labeled as a lifetime assistant in the pros, and maybe he looks at the Utah job. What are your thoughts?

you know, I think people are just grasping it. Stars Now, these guys might have interest, they may come and do it. I don't know any of that. I think what you're trying to do as a program is you're trying to find the best coach that you think can get you

good players where you can compete. And again, I'm going back to what I think in my own opinion as to what they were probably looking at in this regard with Craig Smith, is that is that they probably looked and said Hey, we just don't have We got to have someone who can recruit and get in better players to be able to compete, you know, the way that we think we should be. Because his basketball knowledge is acumen, his approach, all those things have proven to be successful.

Do they think someone else they have on their radar can bring in those players? Do you bring in those It's not like the old days, Spence, where you're recruited and you just tried to recruit on reputation and co ing and and the things that you can give to a player to help them along their path. Uh, and then you know you didn't have to worry about na l stuff. Now it seems to be all related to

how much money you have available. And and you know, the whole college thing to me is so out of whack and it's so so way out out there in

space because this is really not college athletics. This is now just another version of a pro approach because you're in fact it's it's really even you can even look at it and and as you study it say that it's even more so another step beyond like uh, the NBA, for example, which has salary caps in certain restricts in in in college you can just offer guys whatever you can you have to offer them, and then there's no there's no contracts. So the player can come, he can

come for a freshman year. It doesn't work, it doesn't you know, whatever it is, he's playing better than what you thought he was or the ni L that you have available for him. So he goes to another school the next year. You know, he doesn't have to sit out a year. He doesn't have to you know, get out of conference. You can just do whatever he wants. And so you know this this notion of the wild

wild West in college basketball is really true. And if you if you want to be one of those one of those guys that is competing, if that's your thing, then you have to do like the approach the b YU is taken, which is jumping all in and saying we're gonna set it up like an NBA program, or we're gonna we're gonna get a lot of money in the n I L and we're gonna start recruiting guys. And you know, there's no way a b YU program

gets in with a conversation even with an aj debanza. Uh, you know, five years ago, of course, there's no way. So so if your if that's what your goal is, if that's what your aim is toward, then you jump all in. And maybe that's what this is about, is about out to you saying, Okay, we gotta we gotta get we gotta get some headway here. So we got to get a new start, and we got to figure out how to redirect the program from from where it is at the current time.

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attention to detail. You know, those those are the things that that he really has has taken as part of his his playbook, so to speak, you know, in the in the coaching ranks. But but all you have to do is look at any coach and and the and the coach right now with Oka see is a good example of Mark Dano, who coached the G League team for ok C. They hired him as a young coach. I think he was the youngest coach in the NBA

at the time they hired that's right. But they hired him because they felt confident that he knew what he was doing as a coach, how he was approaching the job with with with his team. And obviously they've gotten players and they've been able to build their team up to what it is now. And and but just think of it this way, Spence, and we used to talk to the guys about this all the time who are

on our various G League teams over the years. The the the tough part about coaching in the G League for a coach is is that nobody who's there wants to be there.

you're player, your you're our backup point guard. Well I'm giving you some leeway just being a backup on the team period.

think of it from a coaching perspective. You've got twelve guys, thirteen guys however many they have on their rosters now in the G League, and you're trying to coalesce those guys and get them all moving in the right direction and trying to trying to get something done in a positive way in terms of learning, in terms of playing, in terms of executing, and ultimately trying to win games.

At the same time, as a coach, you know, all these guys not only want to be in another situation, but they're all trying to look out for their best interest good.

it is. And it's because you're as a coach, you're trying to keep all your guys moving in the same direction and trying to get the same result, and it's a very difficult job to do. So if you have done that and you've shown you have success there, then to me, that's always been a big factor in looking at someone as a potential candidate for some other coaching job that they might be interested in.

about yourself. Right, He's a tough guy to probably work for and work with, even though I respect him, he's a good coach. So Alex as a person as opposed to a basketball coach tell us about.

respectful to the people around him. And in other words, it's not a yelling match, it's not a shouting match. It's not a you know, waving your hands all over the place kind of making a spectacle type of thing. You know. He does it in a very succinct, very matter of fact, step by step process to try and get to where you're you're you're trying to go. And Uh. In that regards, he's a very calming influence, you know,

for them. I think with the Jazz staff for the several years that he was working with Quinn, he was a good balance to Quinn's fiery nature. Uh, both on the court and and and you know, off the court, in practice and and meetings and that kind of thing. I think he brings a certain a certain resolve and a certain uh steadiness uh that that is uh, that

is needed. And in a lot of situations, especially in the pro game, when you have so many games coming at you and and you have so much stuff, you know that that's changing almost every day, you need someone who's organized, someone who thinks through things, someone who has an approach uh that that is a step by step approach that makes sense to get you to where you want to go. And he's, uh, he's that kind of guy.

coaching opportunity. I don't know that this is something he would be interested in, based off of just where he's at in his career. But that's a name people have thrown around, you know, Johnny as well, what do you what do you think?

assistant coach, uh and that kind of thing. But he's he's always been a very structured, organized guy with a quiet leadership and and and you know that would be somebody that that would be interesting for because he also had ties. You know, he's from the Oakland area originally, so he has ties outside of Utah. You know that would potentially in that kind of scenario possibly help in terms of recruiting and and uh, you know, having contacts with people you know in other parts of the country.

don't have anything else going on in Tucson. And so the Arizona the University of Arizona men's basketball team for years has been like their pro team. And so all of those people come and they invest a lot, not only you know, financially, but also you know, with their

activity at the games. And so it's an interesting crowd, but it's a tough, tough place to play, you know, partly because of the crowd, but more more, more importantly because Arizona always has very good teams and very good talent on the floor.

to b wau's benefit. But they took advantage of it, and UH and made a payoff with those two Richie Saunders free throws at the end and UH and held on for for a big win for them, and and UH a great win for their program in terms of where they're trying to go.

certain level of fearlessness, which I like. I really think he's he's been been a terrific player for them. I think he's been their MVP this year. Totally agree, you know, and I really like him as a pro prospect.

The Duke team that won the National championship with John Shire and the zu Bec kid maybe your only exception, right, I know, John got a little bit of a look to be a pro, and I think zu Beec got a couple of contracts. But even our teams here, you know, Rick had teams with and horn Metal, uh uh, you know, Hanno of course, and then Doleiak Britten obviously Andre multiple NBA guys, multiple pros, not just NBA guys, but European

pros as well. How many pros do you think Kevin has on that by U roster right now?

the course of the year. Uh to uh to warrant coming out in the draft. Uh you know, but again who knows. In this day and age, you never know, Spence. It's one of the things that is set up and for these kids, uh that that helps them is that they can always go into the draft and do workouts for NBA teams and then there's a certain date where they have to make a decision I'm staying in the draft or I'm pulling out. And the smart kids every

I've always said this for years. Every college kid should enter the draft, no matter what year of school they're in, because then that gives them a window in the spring to go and do do pro workouts. You go to the Jazz, you go to the Denver Nuggets, you go to the Phoenix Suns. You get a workout. You a see where you measure up against the other guys who

they happen to have in a workout that day. But more importantly, you get direct feedback from the NBA personnel people who say, Spence, check its you have no left hand. You cannot go left. Everybody knows it. It's in a bold lettering and the top of it. So you need to go back to school and work on that. That's

what's going to help you in a potential program. So they get this kind of feedback and then you can always you can take that and go wow, I got a lot of good feedback from these workouts and from the pro personnel guys. Tell me what I need to work on. Now I'm pulling out of the draft and I'm going back to school. I don't know why every

college player doesn't do that. You know, it really makes a lot of sense for them, and it's there for them to help them make rational decisions about what they want to do with their you know, their careers going forward. So BYU has some guys will who will be in that position I think in the spring, and it'll be interesting to see how it plays out for them.

make it all that interesting. But the latest Jazz young player who has played pretty well is Kyle Philipowski, who over the past six games he's fifteen points, he's seven boards, he's sixty two percent from the floor, and he had his first two twenty point double doubles during you know, the past six games. So he's looked pretty good as of late. He's the latest young player we talked about Kyante and Isaiah kind of the the rotational decision will Is made to start Isaiah and bring Kiante off the

bench last time. But what are you seeing as of late now that Kyle's getting some minutes.

will probably get some good run again. And and that's the way they're playing it. And it's you know, you can say they're not trying to win games. You can say that they're trying to uh develop guys, you know, give them opportunities, and that's where they that's where they get them, that's what they've chosen to do. Instead of a Kyle Philipowski, who in a so called normal NBA setting would be doing this in the G league situation,

he's now doing it in the NBA situation. So there's arguments both ways, because you say, well, you know, he really should be at the G League and they should be working on specific things with him in terms of his improvement and development. But then you say, hey, he's now he's playing in the NBA and he's being able to to play with against NBA guys, and so he's getting that kind of experience that you can't get anywhere else. And so that's where you find how how the guys

can can get better? How can they improve? I think the Collier kid has improved this year. Yeah, you know, he's he looks like you know, I mean, there's a lot of holes in his game, not the least of which is his decision making at times on the fly and the and the passes to go into the fourth row in the stands, and or where he tries to make a pocket pass with his three defenders in the lane, and it's it's just ill advised. And and and he and he's and he's, uh, you know, he's having a

tough time shooting the ball. So that's something that he's gonna have to get get better at. But but he looks like he has a feel for the game and maybe that's something that uh, uh that will continue to improve for him. And and these will be a couple of guys that they can work with uh during the summer on certain things that they see. And it's just part of that developmental package that that the Jazz have chosen to go in that direction.

they're the favorite with Luca and Lebron. How much of a legitimate threat this year are the LA Lakers?

If they're able to do that, if they're able to play in in in games where they're not playing back to backs and they don't have to travel issues that you have during the regular season, and they're and they're healthy, Uh, then you surround them with some some complimentary role players, whether it's Hachimura or whether it's the Reeves kid or whoever you got uh to help you in that regard, But those guys will have to do a lot of

heavy lifting. Now you can also do that in playoff situations, Spence, because playoff games tend to be slower, they tend to be less possessions, they tend to be more controlled possessions. And with James and and Doncic, you know, those are things that could help them during the course of a potential six or seven game series where where they're able to to save some energy, uh and be able to play at a pace that that suits them a little

bit better. So, you know, I've always said this, any team that has Lebron James on it, and he's another guy, meaning a top level guy. He had Anthony Davis for years. Of course before that had Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. But with this team, if Doncic is healthy and James is healthy, I don't put anything past him because Don Chic is a special talent and James has shown that he can he can do this, you know, against anybody

at any time. And it's still is still getting it done at age forty, So you know, is it possible, Yeah, yeah, it's possible. You know, will it happen? Well, you know, we'll see. There's a lot of good teams in that mix. I think there's a lot of teams in the West that could come out if they're healthy and playing the way that they expect to play. I think it'll make for the playoffs to be exciting.

at Delta Center. And by you is an action they're taking on Arizona State, trying to continue their hot streak. That's a seven thirty star time and that can be seeing on ESPN Plus. So busy, really busy night in local action with the Utah Women, the Utah Men, BYU and RSL in addition to the Utah Jazz. The Utah Hockey Club got a good win last night over a

bad Chicago team, but that almost got loose. They went down one zero, scored two goals one two to one, and that's the type of game at this point you cannot let slip away. If you missed our Bill Armstrong interview earlier this week, the general manager of the Utah Hockey Club, it was a really fun conversation. Seems like a great guy, and he basically said, this is a

situation now where we have twenty three game sevens left. Currently, the Utah Hockey Club finds themselves three points behind the Calgary Flames and seven points beyond the Colorado Avalanche and the race for the wild card, so they are right in the mix. Man, got to win more a home. Gotta make sure you protect to ice. They're gonna try

to hold off to Saint Louis. Blues are on sixty points, Vancouver is on sixty three points, and the Utahey Club is on sixty one, so they are right in the mix for a wild card, which really would be a phenomenal accomplishment for how quickly they had to essentially get

this team here. Gary Bettman joined our radio show the Commission of the NHL and said, the first conversation apt with Ryan about this was in March, and they basically were able to get it done by May, and now they are three points beyond Calgary for a wildcard spot in the world of pro hockey.

it's just an odd timing to do it. But in retrospect, I mean, if you've got your guy that you want and you want to act fast, I mean it's it's I don't want to call it a perfect timing, but I think it's a good opportunity to be able to just jump while the irons hot. So, you know, I think I think Utah has in a good spot in terms of what they're doing. You know, it always sucks to be able to fire a guy that a lot of people liked in terms of personality, But I think

Craig was always kind of fighting an uphill battle. He didn't quite have the full support of, you know, the athletic department the second he was hired. He had a fan base that really just wasn't you know, energized by him. They obviously wanted an alumni to be able to be the coach and bring back some culture there, and so I think he was just always trying to fight for

something that was ultimately never going to pan out. So, you know, the timing, the timing stucks by all means, but I think that the reality is is, you know, you don't want him to get hot in the end of the season, and then suddenly what do you do? And then you're kind of pinned trying to figure out what to do. So it makes sense to just it's just a tough situation, and you feel for the guys that are on the team that absolutely do love Craig.

You know, this was a team that the one hundred percent bought into who he was and kind of his personality, and it's just hard that they don't get to be able to spend senior night with him and do different things that way.

But I think you're looking at situations like that where you were starting to see he was on the hot seat, and there was rumblings that you know, people were trying to talk to Andre Miller to come work for the team and come being the assistant, trying to get something in there, and they were just there was just a general sense of frustration that he wasn't able to get you taught to where they needed to be, especially in what we would consider to be a weaker PAC twelve.

Right if you look at the Big twelve, it's going to obviously be much challenged, much more challenge. The fact that they were going to the Big twelve with this mass exodus, I think everybody just kind of had that written out there that this was his you know, last year. If he couldn't do anything with this, that doesn't help, and so then you get picked as the sixteenth worst team in the conference. You know, he was just coming

into this already just under fire. I know some relationships have soured, whether that be from the athletic department with donors, with with alumni trying to help him. I know there was frustrations all around and some of that look you look at somebody like in Craig Smith spot like he wasn't always given a great opportunity. He had players that got injured that hurt them and take their run. You know, you've got this alumni base that wants to come in and say, hey, this is how we do it here.

You understand why a guy wants to come in there and say, hey, look I want to do it my way, like I with all due respect, like I don't need you as a handout ted situation, right, And I know that rubs people the wrong way, but I can see why somebody would want to do that. So it's just a challenge, you know. And I think he felt the heat and he was doing everything that he could to be able to get there. It just it was just

never really going to work out. And it felt like this was a foregun conclusion no matter where Utah finished, barring you know, then finishing in the top four or getting d NC tournament and even then, I don't know. I just think that Utah needed a galvanizing moment, and I think everybody around that and the donors around it feel like it had to be somebody related to the old era of you know, Rick Majeris and the winning times to be able to bring back that culture.

your job better. Your job is to run a program and build a program, and it's so hard to do and such a grind, and certainly with the way the sport has changed, I actually don't know how much I really give a rip about whether or not Craig is answering the phones when the alumni call. And I heard a lot of alumni I say the same thing about

Larry Kriskoviak. They had the kind of the same beef, like, Hey, we're reaching out, we're trying to help him, and he doesn't really seem to be, you know, all that open to help. How much of this do you think has to do with that at all, Like alumni reaching out. Look, it's one thing if your last name is Huntsman and your last name is Echols and your last name is Garth, and you call the president of the school and you say, hey, you know those checks, Well, I'm not writing them anymore.

If this is your guy, Like, if that's the deal, then we have a different conversation. But if like players that played twenty five years ago want like tickets or access to practice, I don't think that's Craig's job to give them that.

like you're screwed. So on that side of the vein, like, yes, Craig hurt himself there, But to your point with this alumni, Yeah, his job as a coach, and obviously, like it's important to be able to have a coach that understands the culture, understands what it is to be a member of the running Utes team, try to pay homage to, you know, kind of that era. But at the same time, he's there to win games. And you know, I wouldn't fault him for not wanting to do it the way that

some other former player wanted to do it. You know, it's easy to come into a job and be like, well, our boss did it this way. That's not how it, you know, always works for people. Right, there's obviously glory days and quite honestly, the Rick Majeri's days would not work probably in today's are well. Just a lot of the things that Rick Majaris did wouldn't work in today's era.

But that's not the point. I think a lot of people, especial actually alumni, they want to return back to that culture, and you know, that culture is a very specific culture to a guy that had his perfect way of doing it that worked for Utah, Like you said, Larry Kostoviac, he was closer to that, I'd say than Craig was. He obviously had the ear of Huntsmen, and they you know, the reason he got a massive contract that he did is because of Huntsmen, because they were, you know, good friends.

But I think the difference there is is you've got a guy that he's already had his back against the wall. He's already been told, you know that he's not going to get that same support that he's had from previous coaches, and so when other people kind of swoop in and say here's how to do it, like, you can see why he's going to say, no, I'm going to do it my way. If I'm going to go down with this ship, I'm going to do it my way. And so you can't fault unnecessarily to that. I know it's frustrating.

I know that really rubbed people the wrong ways. You know, the fan base absolutely wanted to buy into this team, and I think the hard part was is Craig's way worked at times, but then they would go on and

lose these games that were like boneheaded games. You know, you go beat Kansas and Kansas State and then you go lose to a team like UCF that had only won five games in the regular or in the Big Twelve conference schedule, and so you've got the situation where that was the kind of the model of his career where he can go out there and you can go beat in Arizona and then you go drop a game against a team like an Oregon State and you're like,

what the heck just happens? So, you know, for me, it was just Craig, if he's going to do this, he's going to go down with the ship and understand that he's going to do it his way. So I don't know that I, you know, care too much that you know you're not doing it the way that other guys do, But I still think you have to kind of pay some respect to that. And unfortunately Craig kind of put himself on an island that ultimately made it so that he had to sacrifice a job for.

talked about it. Gabe Madson and Ezrasar have kind of taken on that leadership role and have been the stars of the team. But for the most part, this is kind of a team that is greater than the some of its parts, right, Like I mean, I think it's one of those things where even that UCF game, there was more talent on that roster than there probably is a Utah top to bottom. And so the fact that UCF isn't performing the way that they are isn't indicative in the terms of their talent. And so I think

what Craig did was pretty remarkable. They were in contention for a potential buy into the Big twelve tournament by getting into the top eight seeds. Now that's a tough challenge and you still had a tough slate, But the fact that you're even in contention in that in the last part of the season kind of shows that he's got the chops. It's not perfect, right, Like, there's many flaws of what Craig Smith did and the things that made it so that it was really frustrating to watch

turnovers or whatever that may be in consistent play. But the fact that he's able to pull together a group of players that he has that don't really have a star yet and still be almost five hundred and big twelve play kind of shows the talent that they had. So, you know, it's frustrating for him. They obviously exceeded expectations, but you know that's the nature of this sport, and you e didn't get them to the nc A tournament. So the donors, you know, aren't happy, fans aren't happy.

They're obviously not turning out as much, and so that's the nature of the game.

kind of lean into and land on. I was told part of the timing was trying to lean into some player retention on the current roster they want back next year. Now, if you just go down the roster, that to me is a little bit difficult to believe that you would fire your head coach to get Like, I think Jake Wallen's a nice player, right, and I think Ezra is a nice player. I'm not saying these kids can't play, but the bulk of the better players on the roster

are seniors. You know, ultimately lost in Gabe. You know, you know Sharav Jamps is a junior. Jake Walleen as a reference, he's a sophomore. Ezra is a junior. He could come back as well, Keanu Dawes, who's showed them some minutes as a sophomore. Meral Little is a soft Do you think there's any meat on that bone that they decided to pull the trigger now because they think they have a better chance at getting some of these kids back without him. That doesn't seem to resonate a ton with me.

do the last part. But if you know, if you can keep some of that core, then yeah, maybe maybe that helps. But as we've talked about, like there's not necessarily a player on this roster that's not graduating that you're just saying, oh, it's a muff half, right, Like it would be nice to have Ezra come back one. And I think if you could get him with a new coach that can kind of coach him up to be even better, that is one hundred percent of guy

you don't want to lose. But I don't think this is the end goal here, right, Like the end goal here is to get a coach quickly to be able to make sure that you kind of stabilize things you're out front, especially if it's the guy that we all know, and I'm just gonna say it's Alex Jensen. If you can get him, especially while the Dallas Mavericks in disarray,

it's a perfect time. Then if you do have him hired and then he can help with the roster management and kind of ease some expectations there, then it's better, right like, and then I think it works. But I just I don't buy it that the timing right now had really anything to do with roster retention. It's a factor, but it's not one of those big factors where it's like you couldn't wait till later, especially with the roster that.

always been a difficult place to play. And this is for most teams, right You just don't go into Arizona and win, And so I think this is a tall task for them regardless. Now I'm really curious to see where you know, this Utah team. It may show how galvanized they are around Craig Smith. That was their guy, you know, like I said, they didn't he didn't lose the locker room by any means. You know, there was

a true emotional connection there. So I could see them playing really tough for their coach, really trying hard there to be able to compete. But once again, it's Arizona. You know, I wouldn't expect to win, but we'll see. As far as Josh Arlette goes, I mean, this is a guy that last year, you know, you have him put into the interim head coach position at West Virginia kind of win in there, was expecting to be returning

as head coach. Everybody kind of expected him to be this guy that could probably take West Virginia to the next level from the East. You know, he understands that area Big twelve very well. And then suddenly they decide to go in another direction and he's lost without that job. And so now he's in a similar position at Utah, and you know the writings on the wall where they're not looking for Josh Eiler to be the head coach

moving forward. He's this is very temporary. Obviously, you'd want to keep him on staff because I think he provides a lot of value. He's a phenomenal coach of biggs. He understands the game at a high level. He understands the Big twelve at a high level. Coming from it. This is this is a guy that you know you can build rosters around, and especially as a coaching staff. He's a great person to be able to have on the rosters. So I'm curious to see how it is.

You know, he's a great guy, he's a friendly guy, he's he coaches with passion, but he's also got the voice of the players right like he understands and he wants to be able to have them heard. So I'm really fascinated to see how this goes. I don't envy him by any means. I mean, this is a tall task.

Any game after you lose your head coach is going to be tough, but this is arguably probably the toughest game you probably could have had on the schedule to be able to put Josh eilerd in to really kind of take over as Utah's head coach.

coaches from smaller programs that have had success. And it's a really cool thing when you watch March Madness when to coaches, you know, coaching at a smaller school, they get an h bid and they go win a couple of games and then he's hired by Illinois or whatever and he makes a bunch of money, and it's great, it's cool, it's really fun. And Jeff has a list on his piece that includes UC San Diego's Eric Olsen, Nico Medvedad from Colorado State, Eric Henderson from South Dakota State,

Leon Rice Boise State, Russell Turner from UC Irvine. He even has Jared Calhoun on his list. And my guess is that's not going to happen. And Mark has already gone this route. That's how he decided to bring Craigan. It's the very same thing now that is not a bad route to take. Okay. Now, on the other side, of course, as you know and you've written about and you've covered over at KSL, there's the former ute contingent that is pining for a Alex Jensen head coach and Andre

Miller assistant coach. Bench and you know, when it comes to either of these routes, the final route is trying to grab somebody who's been on the sideline for a while. It's kind of a bigger name that wants to get back in the game. So of all the routes, what's the josh for a long take, what do you think Mark Harlan should do?

picked Craig Smith. And I you know, that's still not a bad route because you're seeing coaches that do it all the time that can succeed. I think we're at the point now where if Utah is going to take that next level, they have to at least try their hand at somebody that the donors want. And I know

that's a tricky game. You see this all the time with coaches and other institutions where when you go with the alumni it doesn't always pan out, you know, and then you're in a disaster, and now you've just kind of changed the name of a guy that people have loved forever. So it's risky, but I think Utah's at a point now where that money, whether it be nil or just athletic support people coming into the Hunting Center, that's not coming unless you actually bow down to the alumni.

And so all those names that were mentioned are great, and honestly, you could throw in, you know, Richard Patino in there and Blanket, I'm a guy at Grand Canyon, what his name is, But you've got there, you go. You've got a lot of these guys that you know would absolutely be a great fit for Utah in my opinion, But in this era where there's been so much apathy towards Utah men's basketball, you have to at least pay homage to that Rick Vinjerisara, and what better way to

do that than with Alex Jenson. Obviously, Andre Miller would be a great fit there, Johnny Bryant would be a great fit there. But I think just the experience that Alex Jensen's had. He's a hometown kid, grew up in Centerville, went to Viumont, went to Utah. I mean, this is a kid that is Utah threw and through. If you can get him, and there's been a lot of traction about you know him, him being the next guy, this becomes a home run for at least perception standpoints right.

Obviously he's been a great coach. A lot of credit to him, or there was a lot of credit given to him for what he did with Rudy Gobert and made him the defense. It's a player that he is.

If you can get him to be able to coach at the college level alla you know Kevin Young at BYU, and take it from that NBA route to the collegiate route, then you potentially get a lot more dollars, You get a lot more support, and it may fizzle out still and you may be back at this conversation in three four years, but at least you're getting some sort of

galvanizing moment to help the university do better. And any coach that comes into this has to get some sort of level of support from the university, from the donors, you know, from whatever it takes to be able to get money there, because if you come into this in a similar situation, this is not a good job. Nobody would want to pick this job because you're destined to fail. You've got to be able to have that support. You've got to have much more nil money. You can't just

have two million dollars. I mean by us playing, you know, one player two million dollars, and if you're doing that against your rival, you have to at least compete. So you know, I know they have circled Alex Jensen as their priority number one. As I said, there's there's been a lot of conversations about him progressing that way. My understanding is that they have met already met the things of progressing in the right way, and so I think if you can go that route and get that support,

that's the best case. You know, it doesn't matter what other great coaches are out there.

what you bring to the institution. Mark has always done a good job of being able to bring donations and fundraising to the university. So he's you know, he's doing his job as an athletic director. But if you're not able to bring in a coach that is sustainable and able to get your team to the level that you expect them to. You know, NCAA tournaments is always the benchmark inside basketball, then you know you're on the hot seat.

of your hands. He could go out there and hire Richard Patino, he could go out there and hire somebody because they're an up and coming coach and you know, have a legacy and family name of being able to win at the highest levels in basketball. But if you still don't get that support from the donors, you're at the same level, right, And so I think some of this is out of his control, but at the same time, this is kind of a position that he's painted himself into.

He's also been lucky that he's had a head coach in the football program that has lasted as long as he has. They've identified the heir apparent. You know that everything's gone well there. And then in all of his other spots, he's been able to keep longevity with coaches, coaches that have been with softball or gymnastics, you know, where you're promoting. Even with the women's basketball, you just had to promote with them. So you know, he's had

a good time doing that. And so you're going to be judged on such a fine uh, you know, timeline, especially when that's really the biggest tire that you've made.

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