Really Kragthorpe? The U gets to play one season in the PAC 12 and you are already into full rip mode? Not that you weren't already there to begin with. Now that said, let's break down your Zoob rant.

Baseball: Historically, Utah baseball has never been very good. Over the last 6 years we have seen some overall improvement, and some great individual performers. Oh, and catching lightning in a bottle in 2010 was nice, too. But saying we have a long way to go to compete here is not a revelation. Will we ever be competitive? I do not know. It will take some serious investments in facilities to generate the recruiting needed to butt heads with ASU, UCLA, and the likes here. Even with the investment, we are still in the snow belt; and snow belt teams overall do not consistently compete here.

Women's Softball: We were always a good MWC program; but being good in a weak conference only means you got to go to the NCAA Tourney to get rolled by a power program. Going to a power conference, again, created no surprises here. Can we get competitive here? With all of the challenges baseball faces being the same for softball, again our situation is going to be very challenging, at best.

Volleyball: We have again had some success in the MWC; but it usually ended in a beatdown in the NCAA tourney to one of the power schools we now regularly play. Can we compete? I like our odds here better than baseball and softball; but it is still a challenge.

Basketball: The Women's team did OK. About where they were expected to be. The Men's team was awful. Over the last 10 years, the women's team has been competitive; the Men's team - not so much.

Moving into a conference where on the Women's side they play 4 of the national power programs means they need to step up recruiting to get into the conversation. Coach Leyvrits has been doing just that. We are a couple of years out from being in the conversation here.

The Men's team is a recovering dumpster fire. Coach Kystkowviak Got more out of this team than some of us expected. We lost more than any of us ever wanted to see a Ute team lose, but on the plus side, the kids didn't just lay down and quit. With the rebuild we got during this offseason, we should see some improvement next season. Going forward, there are some other things like the reconstruction of the recruiting pipeline; but it will happen. I don't see a timeline yet. Get back to me after the upcoming season.

Football did about what was expected. We also start the season in the conversation. All the indicators point towards this season being better than last season.

Overall, what Krag wants to bag on amounts to one big "Meh."

Now what he fails to say is Utah's step to the PAC 12 is pulling recruits from the Zoo to the U. Pick the sport, kids that would have normally gone to the Zoo are rethinking that commitment for playing on the big stage. Our move up, linked with the relegation the Zoo did to itself is what prompted hit sort of "hit piece." Hoping the younger crowd will somehow be dissuaded from committing to the U because we didn't just dominate the PAC 12 in year 1 is a sorry piece of journalism. I put the link to this piece of bird cage lining at the bottom of this post.

Here's to looking forward to year 2.

GO UTES!!!

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/utes/5441733 8-89/pac-utah-women-utes.html.csp