“We have greater aspirations …” — Mark Harlan, Utah athletic director
As of Monday, Craig Smith is out as head basketball coach at the University of Utah, the latest in a long line of breakups with coaches, each about as costly as a Hollywood divorce. The audition to find the next undiscovered, future star — the next Rick Majerus — is not going well, but at least it’s expensive.
It’s been 21 years since the mercurial Majerus and his sweat-soaked sweater left the bench, and the Utes have never been the same. Finding Majerus was a lightning strike. Who knows if it will happen again.
The Majerus years showed the Utes that it’s possible to run with the big boys of college basketball. They found him at Ball State. At Utah, he amassed a record of 323-95 in about 15 seasons, missing all but a handful of games in two of them with health problems. Under Majerus, the Utes collected 10 NCAA Tournament appearances and advanced to the Elite Eight twice and the national championship game once. He put the Runnin’ Utes on the map.
The Utes have fallen hard since then. They have dropped out of national relevance. If Utah coaches have failed, so has the Utah admin. The Utes’ hiring process gets a big fail.
Majerus was followed by Ray Giacoletti, who was followed by Jim Boylen, who was followed by Larry Krystkowiak, who was followed by Craig Smith. One after another, they failed to recapture the magic of Majerus.
Giacoletti resigned one day before the end of his third season. By then, there were petitions to have him fired, so the rest was fait accompli. The Utes had to pay the balance of his contract to the tune of $175,000 annually for the next four years.
Next!
Boylen was fired after four seasons, one year after the university felt compelled to award him a new five-year contract worth $850,000 annually after the coach drew interest from other schools. In the end, the Utes had to pay $2 million to buy out the contract — a monthly salary of $30,000 for three years.
Next!
Krystkowiak endured a decade — long enough for us to learn to spell his name. He had two stellar seasons in Year 4 and Year 5 of his tenure, which reportedly earned him three new contracts. By the time Utah got around to firing him, they had to buy out the last two years of his contract for almost $7 million.
Next!
Craig Smith, who was poached from Utah State, lasted (almost) four seasons. He was fired with four regular-season games remaining on the schedule, with a 15-12 record, 7-9 in conference play. He is owed about $5 million from his six-year contract.
“We have greater aspirations for our men’s basketball program,” Harlan said. " … our expectation is to regularly compete in the NCAA Tournament.”
Next!
No one knows who it will be that will guide them.
If the Utes were a car, they’d have a few dents in the fender, a tail light would be missing and the solenoid would need replacing. The Utes have qualified for the NCAA Tournament only four times since Majerus left (one of them being the year after Majerus left). Their first year in the Big 12 — the country’s premier basketball conference — has not gone well (they are tied for 10th), although it’s going better than expected (they were pegged to finish last in the 16-team league). They hadn’t had a winning record in the Pac-12 since the 2018-19 season.
Attendance has fallen with the winning percentage, and that hurts the bank account. It’s a different game than the one Majerus coached. It’s all about NIL money and how many top players a school can rent for a season. According to a report in The Salt Lake Tribune, the Utes have an NIL budget of about $2 million for the current season; that’s enough to buy one quality player in today’s world. It’s a vicious cycle. To attract NIL money, a team must win; to win, a team must have NIL money. Utah’s highly successful football program reportedly has $7 million per year to buy a roster.
As of Monday, the Utes were once again searching for someone to resuscitate the basketball program.
“I believe a change is needed to get us to where we want to go,” Harlan said.
