For many of you, my thoughts on Rick and Utah Basketball are simply old news, but i feel compelled to respond (once again) to some of the criticisms levied at Majerus -- continually.
First, and foremost, as Al McQuire told Rick before coming to Utah, "Utah is a basketball wasteland." As of today, this statement seems largely irrefutable. All of you long time Utes, who feel outraged at what i just said, need to take a breath or two of fresh air, and recognize the limitations of building a basketball, or any athletic program in Utah (high school talent, culture, conference etc.... i don't want to belabor these points again). Yes Utah, like BYU --at least in football, can have a good program without majerus or edwards, but neither (assuming the cougs ever did, at least outside of utah)will achieve the prominance that majerus has, not in the foreseeable future. This is not to say that things wont change in the future,( a new conference, larger recruiting pool etc ), but right now Utah has very few seeds of basketball greatness, beyond what rick brought here and cultivated.
New York makes the assertion in one post that he believes Utah has reached a new plateau in basketball, yet in another post he criticizes majerus for courting other schools, apparently because of the impact on Utah basketball, and also because of his emotional love of the Utes. I think this reveals the true problem: Utah basketball, from a national perspective, doesn't exist without Majerus. Great programs outlive coaches. We are not there yet, and maybe never will be there. In fact, there may be no there, there. Jefferson, Anderson, Zimmerman, Kapono, Mims, Zahn, Bryant, Brown, Duhon, Ridnour and on and on continually state time after time that the reason they consider or considered Utah is the coach. Period. That's it. End of story... i don't care how much you love your state, the utes, zion... or whatever, this is reality. Even Meads has made this observation.
Certainly, this could change with a few more years from Majerus, but if he leaves, we won't sustain the level of prominance he has brought. Will we be good?--- yes. It would be hard not to be with the increased talent Majerus has attracted, and it is likely that a good coach could ride this talent to some consistently good teams, and perhas even surpass our expectations. Only time will tell if anyone could do what rick did, under the same conditions. I WOULD VENTURE TO SAY THAT MAYBE ONE OR TWO OTHER COACHES TO COULD DO WHAT RICK HAS DONE.
Second, loyalty. I get enraged when people challenge majerus' loyalty to utah. he has never mislead anyone here. he has never told the fans "i'm here to stay", "utah or die", "i want to end my career in zion," or anything of that nature. He has been honest, yes, extremely honest. Also, every time he has been asked about why he inquires into other jobs he gives the same, straightforward answer: his previous experience at Marquette. Apparently, ten years of unfettered devotion to University of Utah academics and athletics is not enough for many of you, evne when he originally stated that he would not be here that long. Perhaps we are angered because deep down we know that this isn't Majerus' last stop. Hell, this is a 'pretty great place', why doesn't majerus just set up permanent camp here? I think its complex, and many of you have gone into great detail on this point. But many people have past up this parched desert to head elsewhere, and it shouldn't be a surprise if one more follows... Instead of attacking Majerus' loyalty, maybe we should reverse the analysis and look at it in another way...as suggested, if he stunk we'd throw him out of here. End of story. I say let him browse all he wants, every day, he has earned it... there should be at least a little reciprocity...
Finally, if Rick departs, my loyalties to Utah will not stray, but part of me will cheer for the fatman, wherever he goes. He is a basketball specimen. And a wonderful person to all of those who have had the opportunity to confide in him beyond second-hand news articles. Yes he has quirks. Hell, we all do. Rick just doesn't try to hide them as much as others do. But i think it's a bunch of crap to assume he's an egomanic for looking elsewhere. Rick deserves whatever suits him best, be it Minnesota, St. Mary's or Gonzaga. Approximately ten years ago Rick had the foresight to see the potential in Utah; at least give him a little credit about knowing what is best for him, and what he can do with a basketball program. There's no virtue in degrading Rick because he thought somewhere else might be better for him. In all likelihood it might be, if not worse for all of us. But that's no justification for desparaging Rick
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