RICK MAJERUS IS BACK on the job, so look out. Here he comes, lugging his 250 pounds through his morning 45-minute jog. There he goes, driving off in his Ford Bronco, off for breakfast with a few hoop recruits. He hates to eat and run, but he's off again, this time to Oakley for a player's mission farewell, then over to Fielding to see a recruit, then back to his room at the University Park Hotel, where he tackles a long list of phone messages.
"I'm back to work," he says, hardly sounding like the owner of a heart whose plumbing looks like a road map. Just 2 1/2 months after doctors performed seven arterial bypasses on his ticker, Majerus is back, 35 pounds lighter (35 down, 35 more to go), and going strong on fruit, vegetables, chicken and exercise, hold the red meat and stress, please.Lifestyle changes, the doctors call this, but one thing doesn't change. It's time to recruit for another basketball season, and Majerus, Utah's head coach, is making up for lost time, but at a speed that is supposedly a few steps slower and more sensible than his former frantic pace.
During his recuperation, Majerus, on doctors' orders, avoided Utah basketball games, so he got out of town. He stayed with his sister in South Carolina, watched practices at Indiana and Northwestern, did some light recruiting. Still, Majerus says Utah's recruiting suffered, what with him laid up and assistant coach Joe Cravens preoccupied with coaching.
As a result, the only thing Majerus uses his hotel room for these days is to sleep in. The rest of the time he's on the move, resuming his efforts to raise Utah's basketball program from nine years of mediocrity.
The feeling around the U. is that Majerus will get the job done. Utah administrators and assistant coaches rave about their coach. Majerus has the kind of approval rating normally reserved for Republican presidents nowadays. Which is a curious thing for a man who has coached all of six games. But for whatever reason - the Majerus charisma, his drive, his credentials, his apparent knowledge of the game, his take-charge, no-nonsense approach to Utah's previously undisciplined program - the new coach has made believers of his peers.
Ball State, the team Majerus coached the previous two years, has made the Sweet 16. Surely Majerus can produce similar results at Utah, or so some thinking goes. Utah did exceed all expectations this season by winning 16 games under the worst of circumstances.
That was only a beginning, say the Utes. Looking ahead, Cravens says, "Our team will have a whole different complexion, both figuratively and literally."
Next season the Utes return veterans Josh Grant, center Walter Watts, Jimmy Soto, Craig Rydalch and Larry Cain. They lose three starters to graduation - point guard Tommy Connor, guard Jon Hansen and forward Keith Chapman.
Connor will be the most difficult to replace. Soto had a superb freshman season, but mostly while playing the big-guard spot. He wasn't ready to play point guard, but, at 5-foot-9, he'll probably have to in the future.
The Utes have four, maybe five, scholarships to give away. They signed one junior college transfer during the early signing period - Paul Afeaki, a 6-9 center who played at Snow two years ago. Their top two prep recruits - Deon Mims, a 6-foot-11, 235-pound center from White Water, Wisc., and Kenneth Roberts, the 6-8 forward from Bingham - are still undecided, but Utah appears to be among their final choices.
Even if the Utes don't sign a single recruit, Majerus says, "I'm happy with the players we have." The Utes have four promising underclassmen who redshirted last season.
- Phil Dixon, a 6-5 swingman from Canada, played in six games last season, which was just long enough for anyone to see he can really play. Then he fell through a window and severed a major nerve of the lower leg. The Utes say Dixon is recovering well from the injury, but no one can know just how well until he plays again. Dixon has four more years of eligibility (if he had played in one more game, he would have lost a season).
- Tyron Tate, a 6-foot point guard from Chicago, was a Prop. 48 case this year. He and Soto presumably will compete for Connor's job.
- Byron Wilson, a 6-3 guard from Gary, Ind., was another Prop. 48 case. He's reputed to be the team's most gifted athlete.
- Barry Howard, a 6-5 forward who transferred from the University of Washington last year, is the workhorse type and a strong defender, coaches say, and not yet a strong offensive player.
With all of the above players, and a healthy head coach, the Utes could do better than 16 wins next season. In the meantime, Majerus is back on the job.