Coach K needs to be fired IMO.

[ProudUte]

He has way too many kids transfer.  I know with all the new rules, you are seeing more of this.  But, there is never any continuity from one year to the next because of the dumpster fire coach K has created.  I think he is a decent Xs an Os guy, but that’s not enough to keep him IMO.

I’m sure he will not be let go because of his longterm, very expensive contract.  But, I certainly would not be renewing his contract.  It’s time to move on IMO.

 

[leftyjace]

This might be a place where our new AD tries to come in and make a substantial impact.

[undispUTEd]

I don’t think the U can afford to buy out his massive / ridiculous contract. That said, he absolutely needs to be sh*tcanned. P12 is soft, we’ve had a golden opportunity to rise with our new facilities and relatively weak competition. The sweet 16 run had little to do with Larry and mostly came off the backs of 3 NBA players they were lucky to land in the first place.

[ProudUte]

No, we cannot afford to fire him, which is sad IMO.

[AlohaUte]

How much longer do we have him?

[Tony (admin)]

I don’t think he’s a decent x’s and o’s guy. Somewhere less than decent.

[EagleMountainUte]

It feels like once he got his deal it just began to spiral. I still love the guy hate him as a coach. 

[UtMtBiker]

Yup. He came in and built momentum and had a good thing going but it’s over. He’s lost whatever he had. It happens and it’s time to move on.

[Brichaute49]

I took this off of a post from another Ute site. Makes pretty good sense to me. No panic.

The NCAA is making it extremely easy for players to transfer, and this current generation is of the mindset that they want to play now, and they don’t want to sit and wait for their opportunity. I took a peek at the NCAA transfer portal for the Pac-12 and this is what I saw.

There are 41 Pac-12 players in the portal. Arizona has the most with 7. Utah and USC have 6. Oregon and Wazzu have 5. Cal has 4, OSU has 3, UW and ASU have 2 each, Stanford has 1 and UCLA and Colorado have 0. So that average is 3.5 players per school, so we are above average, but not the top.

Also going by last years final standings, the top 4 teams have 15 players, the middle 4 teams have 10 (mostly due to UofA’s 7) and the bottom 4 teams have 16.

I am not sure what to think of this. Players are leaving great teams, and they are leaving bad teams. Is this a sign we are just recruiting better and better players every year, so the cream is rising and everyone else is leaving for greener pastures? Or are players coming to Utah, clashing with Larry and leaving? One of the concerns with the portal is that it turns into feeder programs for bigger schools, but we really don’t seem to be losing players to bigger schools… with just Hendrix going to UNM and Tillman to UNLV (though… who the hell knows what is up with Donnie’s situation).

I like Larry, I like that our teams are consistently good. I would be more concerned if we were losing. And I am not trying to be a old “get off my lawn” Gen Xer, but looking at resumes for new employees, it is rare to see any sort of school or work longevity out of that generation. Most resumes I see the candidate attended 2-3 different schools and work 1 to 1.5 years per job before they move on. It is just a different day and age from what many of us grew up with.

[Utah5410]

Preach

[UteThunder]

The Tillman transfer should put to rest the “transfers are happening everywhere” argument.

Returning star player announces he will be taking the year off to take care of his mom’s health, then days later announces he is transferring? There is something that just doesn’t smell right.

We might be losing one or two guys per year due to the new transfer rules, but we are losing more than that due to Larry, IMO. There seems to be something about his coaching style that is chasing kids off.

[tedward]

Actually, though, Tillman never said he was taking a leave of absence. The University said that (the week season ticket renewals were due, iirc). Tillman tweeted that those were never his words. 

One interesting point in all this– can you name a single player that publicly stated that Coach K (or some other factor, for that matter) was the reason the player was transferring? Hendrix is the closest I can think of, and I don’t know of anything he said publicly, but his body language on the court certainly suggested he wasn’t getting along with Coach K. But if Coach K is not the issue, what is? Why did Jayce think he was better off spending his senior year somewhere else? Why do players who seem to have good prospects for playing time at Utah choose to go to lesser programs (UNM, UNLV, etc.)? 

I’m sick and tired of all the transfers, the weak rosters full of filler (who are likely to transfer once they get recruited over, see. e.g. Popoola, C.), and the lame excuses that we’re just a year away, and once these players get a little experience, we’ll be right there. Exceeding expectation each year, when expectations are so low due to transfers, is cold comfort. I want to play in the tournament. I want to compete for conference championships. Is any of that too much to ask of our top-paid coach?

[UteThunder]

That just makes Tillman’s transfer look that much worse. 

On the lack of statements from transfers regarding Larry, I think it’s similar to the Majerus years. We’ve all heard horrible stories about Majerus and the way he treated players. We’ve also heard stories about how amazing he could be. His players had a love/hate relationship with him so most of the stories didn’t come out until those players were long gone or after Majerus left. I think there is a similar situation with Larry’s players. He’s a good guy and the players like him as a person, but as a coach they probably don’t like the way he does things. So they choose to leave without throwing him under the bus.

[EagleMountainUte]

Bitching about the coach publicly isn’t a good way to start somewhere else. What new program thinks yeah I will take this kid who left because of coaching.  Unless you are transcdent talent why the hell would you want to take that kid on?  

[Gilly Boy]

Agreed. Granted players today are transferring at high rates, but most often this is players in search of more playing time. More often than not players that are playing and are program defining players stay put. Devon Daniels, Donny Tillman, Hendrix, Jayce Johnson, and the list goes on. It is getting painful to keep seeing our better players, as well as bench guys transfer away each year……only to keep starting entirely over every year