Although Ute boosters meant well when they said it, Utah athletic director Chris Hill didn't want to hear that his new basketball coach is "another Urban Meyer."
Ray Giacoletti was introduced as Utah's new man at a Wednesday afternoon press conference at the Huntsman Center along with his wife, Kim, and immediately the comparisons were evident.
Like Meyer, Giacoletti's a Midwesterner (native of Peoria, Ill.), he's 41 years old (Meyer is 39), and he knows how to work a crowd. He looked his questioners in the eye, answered queries directly and displayed an energy that made believers of the group of boosters, staff and players on hand.
Sure, Hill would be excited if the former Eastern Washington coach turns out to have similar success that Meyer had with the football team this year. However he wants Giacoletti to make his own success so that "three years from now people are going to be saying, 'How are you going to keep Ray?'"
With an announced seven-year deal worth $500,000 per year, including base salary, radio and TV compensation and camps, Giacoletti plans to stay at Utah a long time and was already anxious to get started Wednesday afternoon.
"I've grown up in the Midwest and know about the University of Utah basketball tradition," he said. "It's one I've had the chance to follow over the years. We'll do our very best to maintain it and, if possible, extend it another step."
Giacoletti is skipping the Final Four in San Antonio, where nearly every college coach in the country will gather this weekend, so he can get right down to business. He was going to meet with his players a half-hour after the press conference ended and as he put it, "start building relationships."
Just like Hill doesn't want Giacoletti compared with Meyer, Giacoletti prefers not to be compared with his predecessor, Rick Majerus, who resigned his job in the middle of the season.
"There's pressure in anything you do and something that's going to come with any job you take," Giacoletti said. "I'm excited about being in a situation where you have expectations that many people care about. Coach Majerus did an unbelievable job here. But I've got to be Ray Giacoletti . . . I can't be somebody else."
If first impressions mean anything, Giacoletti hit a home run in his first public appearance in Salt Lake. Dressed nattily in a camel sportcoat, white shirt and bright red tie, Giacoletti was introduced by Hill after University Interim President Lorris Betz said a few words.
Betz said he had met with Giacoletti 10 days earlier and "was immediately impressed with his understanding of athletics fitting into a major research university. But I was probably more impressed with him as a human being."
"It's clear to me that Ray is the kind of person we want to have here at the University of Utah," said Hill. "You want someone who's obviously a great coach, who treats people well, is a team player, a good fit in our department, somebody that cares about academics. All those things have to be added together."
Hill had made brief contact with Giacoletti during the season and then brought him in for an interview four days after his team was eliminated from the NCAA tournament by Oklahoma State.
However, Hill also wanted to talk to Nevada coach Trent Johnson, who took his team to the Sweet 16 and was a former assistant at Utah. That meant waiting a week for Johnson's team to be ousted from the tournament.
Johnson flew into Salt Lake Monday to meet with Hill but decided to stay at his old job at Nevada, where he was given a new five-year contract Tuesday worth $450,000 per year.
"Trent was obviously someone we considered," Hill said. "He was at the top of the list, but he wasn't interested and Ray was always up there with him. I'm excited to have Ray."
Giacoletti is equally excited to be in Utah.
"This is an unbelievable opportunity," he said. "I've been coaching 18 years and never dreamed I'd have this chance. This is one of the top 20 jobs in the country."
Giacoletti said his team's style of play is aggressive and defensive and that he doesn't run just for running sake.
"We've always tried to be the aggressor," he said. "Defensively we want to set the tone. The first line of offense is our defense. That gives opportunities to get easy transition baskets. To run, we need to get stops or turnovers."
A lot of Ute fans are hoping Giacoletti will retain assistant coach Kerry Rupp, who took over for Majerus as interim coach over the last 13 games going 9-4.
Giacoletti met with Rupp for about a half-hour right before the press conference, but according to Rupp they mostly talked about the players.
Rupp was on his way to the Final Four in San Antonio, but Giacoletti said they would talk when he returned about a possible job.
He did say he was planning to retain one of his Eastern Washington assistants, Mike Score, who has been with him for four years.
While some people might have wondered why the Utes didn't end up with a coach from a bigger league than the Big Sky, Hill was more than happy with his newest find.
"Utah doesn't attract household names," Hill said. "What we do is make household names.
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