I said first off we’re never going to cheat and secondly, we won’t recruit any turds. – Larry Krystkowiak
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak was disappointed that the first question he fielded at media day Friday afternoon wasn’t about the Runnin’ Utes.
Instead, Krystkowiak was immediately asked about the ongoing recruitment bribery scandal that has cast a dark shadow over college basketball. The investigation has already led to the FBI arresting an Adidas executive and assistant coaches at Arizona, Auburn, Oklahoma State and USC.
“I’m sleeping well at night,” Krystkowiak said of Utah's program.
Krystkwoiak then addressed the situation as a whole.
“I think there’s going to be immoral people and people that break rules in any category, in any profession and we’ve chosen not to,” he continued. “And I think it’s probably just the tip of the iceberg, and more than anything I’m curious to see what the ramifications are as far as the NCAA goes.”
Krystkowiak added that the wrongdoing in college basketball is neither a surprise nor shocking.
“It’s been an underlying tone that it’s been going on in some capacity,” he said. “The NCAA has never had the ability to enforce rules.”
Over the summer, a coach told Krystkowiak: “If you’re not cheating, you’re cheating yourself.”
Krystkowiak noted that certain conferences are notorious for doing that and if you’re trying to compete in those leagues and you don’t, you’re going to be subpar.
Despite the scandal that is overshadowing NCAA basketball, Krystkowiak said the Utes plan to remain upbeat and get ready for the upcoming season.
Utah’s coaching staff — Krystkowiak, Tommy Connor, DeMarlo Slocum and Andy Hill — is entering its seventh season together.
Krystkowiak explained that he had two directives when the group was assembled.
“I said first off we’re never going to cheat and secondly, we won’t recruit any turds,” Krystkowiak noted.
As such, Krystkowiak doesn’t see the need for any sort of internal review in his program.
After losing out on a recent recruit, one that the staff put a lot of time and energy into, the Utah coaches got word of some improprieties that took place. Krystkowiak was understandably frustrated and vented to a media outlet that at least the Utes weren’t cheating.
An unnamed Utah booster, someone very supportive of the program, asked for a meeting with Krystkowiak and expressed his concern that the coach sounded like a victim and he shouldn’t.
“It was really an eye-opening deal because I had gotten to the point after a few years where I was getting a little disenchanted with what goes on and not being able to do some of those things,” Krystkowiak said. “I didn’t want to do some of those things, but at the end of the day as I started off talking ... each of us has to make a decision how we’re going to live and how we go about our business.”
The unfortunate thing about that, he continued, is that it sometimes comes with second place.
“But you can always look in the mirror and know that we’re doing things the right way,” Krystkowiak said. “It’s not to say we’re perfect. We make plenty of mistakes. But when it comes to this particular topic, we’re not going to get involved with that. So it was kind of a renewed deal for me.”
Krystkowiak noted that the Utes have the right kind of kids and those types of things involved with the scandal were never discussed.
“Who knows what the fallout of something like this is. Maybe kids start to seek programs that they know are clean,” he added. “Because if I’m a college player I don’t want to go somewhere where we might be on probation for three years and don’t play in the NCAA tournament. So it may have some far-reaching effects on us.”
Krsykowiak wasn’t sure if he’d see anything like the lid being blown off of the situation in his lifetime. It’s something that has been going on for a while. He was hopeful at some point, however, that someone would pay the price.
“Now when you get the feds and the FBI involved, obviously, it takes it to a new level,” Krystkowiak said.