Finally, Rick Majerus' "99 percent" became 100 percent Tuesday night.
"I am definitely not interested in Notre Dame or any other job," he told the Deseret News. "I am the coach at Utah. I am looking forward to coming back next year. We should have a good club."The news about the Notre Dame coaching job came a day after he officially turned down the San Diego State job. So what happened in the intervening 24 hours to make Majerus take his name out of the running for the Notre Dame position?
According to Majerus, he just got tired of all the inaccurate reports concerning his interest in the Notre Dame position. As late as Tuesday morning when he was interviewed on the nationally broadcast Jim Rome Show, he was still leaving the door slightly ajar in regards to the Notre Dame job, while saying he was "very happy at Utah." However he decided to end all speculation Tuesday night.
"Some guy called me about an erroneous report about me flying to Notre Dame tomorrow. I'm going to Tampa tomorrow (for the Final Four). I finally decided to say I'm staying at Utah and that's where I'm going to coach next year."
Majerus said he was "frustrated" with all the attention he has been receiving in connection with the job openings at San Diego State and Notre Dame. He claims he never seeks publicity and tries to keep job inquiries quiet. "People just ask to talk to me," he said.
An article in today's Chicago Tribune paints a different picture on why Majerus dropped his interest in the Notre Dame job.
According to the story, Majerus was prepared to accept the Notre Dame job but was rejected by Notre Dame president Rev. Edward Malloy and executive vice president Rev. E. William Beauchamp, because of"questions about his character and a perception he was not fit for the Notre Dame spirit." Reportedly athletic director Michael Wadsworth had recommended Majerus to the Notre Dame leadership.
The story said Notre Dame's rejection was partly based on excerpts from Majerus' recently released book, "My Life On A Napkin." In the book Majerus said it would be hypocritical for him to discipline an athlete for academic fraud because of the cheating he had done as a student at Marquette.
When the Chicago paper reached Majerus Tuesday night he said, "I'm kind of sad. Through the meetings we had, I thought there was mutual interest. But the more I look at it, I have to conclude it's not a good fit, and I'm going to stay at Utah."
Unless some job offer comes out of the blue, Majerus will coach at Utah in the 1999-2000 season, which will be his 11th at Utah. He expects to have a deep, talented team with everybody back except all-American guard Andre Miller and reserve forward Brad Crockett, who has informed the coach he will leave on an LDS mission.
With three players already signed in the fall signing period and one or two expected to sign letters of intent next month, the Utes will have more than the 13 scholarship players allowed by the NCAA. Majerus said he'll have to sit down individually with his players when he returns from the Final Four next week and make some decisions about their futures.
Next year Utah will be one of the eight charter teams in the Mountain West Conference. The Utes will open the season by playing in the Preseason NIT tournament for the first time.