Rick Majerus has owned BYU for the past decade. Lock, stock and barrel. Except for a spotty breakthrough here and there — never at the Huntsman — it's been red tracks right over supine Cougar spines.
But there was an era, when it all began, that former coach Roger Reid and Majerus rolled out squads that went toe-to-toe and screen-to-pick with each other.
These were battles. Real dogfights. Reid and Majerus were passionate in their competition with one another. There was no love lost in recruiting, the media or on the court. Reid was 9-9 against the Utes in his tenure at BYU. Subtract Majerus' absence in 24 games during the 1989-90 season and Reid was 8-7 head-to-head against Majerus. After BYU fired Reid on Dec. 17, 1996, Reid remains the only league coach that ever got the lean on Rick.
Today, Reid is coaching the Zhegiang Horses in the Chinese Basketball League that produced Houston's Yao Ming. He took over the 0-12 Horses this season, and now they have five wins. Horse fans ask Reid for his autograph, and wherever he goes, the Chinese recognize the former Cougar coach who last was an assistant with the Phoenix Suns.
The deal with Reid-Majerus is that these two men ended up forging a solid friendship. When BYU fired Reid, Majerus stuck up for his former nemesis, publicly voicing the opinion Reid got a raw deal. It was like an emotional lifeline thrown to Reid by Majerus at a painful time. Majerus then recruited Reid's second son, Robbie, who also played for BYU, following an LDS mission to Greece. Robbie ended up at Michigan.
Reid's oldest son, Randy, now working in New York City, said his father has never forgotten that and has deep respect and a deep friendship with Majerus.
It remains one heck of a tale in the storied history of the rivalry. Reid and Majerus remain legends in the rivalry. The take you want to believe depends on the spin embraced. But it's great fodder.
"Rick stood up for my dad, and that meant a lot to him at the time," Randy said. "Jon Huntsman and Chris Hill, behind the scenes, said even more to my father, which he appreciated. I think it's a tremendous loss to Utah and for the Mountain West Conference that coach Majerus is quitting. You just do not replace a coach like Majerus — he is irreplaceable."
Randy, always the object of ridicule by Ute fans and other league venues for being the son of the coach, said playing Utah under Majerus was always a battle. "His teams were the most prepared, and they executed the best. Other opponents we faced? Their time for preparation wasn't even close to what we faced when we played Utah."
Another BYU player in that era is Mark Durrant. He remembers being recruited by former Ute coach Lynn Archibald just as Majerus replaced him.
"I had committed to BYU, but nobody apparently told coach Majerus. He came to visit me at Provo High one day and spent 20 minutes telling me about Utah. I was very impressed. He did a good job. When he finished, I told him I appreciated him coming to see me, but I had committed to BYU. He got this look on his face like he kind of was at a loss for words. After a few seconds he said: 'Well, good, you should go to BYU. I wish you good luck.' "
That was the last personal contact Durrant had with Majerus. On the court, the action was always red hot.
"He was very personable to me and very convincing." Durrant said. "There is no question he is a tremendous coach. We had epic battles when he and Roger Reid were coaching because both were really prepared. We knew every play they ran and called it out before they ran it and ran to the right spot. They did the same to us. It was like a master chess match.
"We knew their plays as well as they did; same for them. It was a lot of fun. No other team in the conference was even close to the preparation of Utah in playing us."
Durrant, now a lawyer working in Salt Lake City, said he's heard all the negative stuff about Majerus.
"I heard volumes of it from Utah players. I thought the NCAA investigation last year was full of ridiculous allegations except one. The violation about practicing longer than allowed, well, that kind of irked me. We knew about it when I was a player and working longer and practicing more was a big advantage in preparation for them. It was unfair."
Randy Reid called Majerus one of the country's best. "To have a chance to compete against him and his teams at Utah, most BYU players would say it was the highlight of their careers."
Reid first. Now Majerus. Two men who ruled, yet had detractors nip at their sweat bottoms.
An odd couple? Or a remarkable mix of hoop genius that crossed our way? In the end, maybe it's a little of both.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com