Did Big Rick sabotage BBall program?

[UtesRule]

With this weekend, being the 25 year anniversary of the 1998, NCAA runner-up Utah basketball team, there have been a lot of interviews on local sports radio from some of the greats from that team, Britton Johnson, Alex Jensen, etc.  (if you didn’t hear the Britton Johnson interview live on DJ&PK yesterday, you should go back and listen to it. Britton was amazing! Great interview and great memories, especially for those of us who remember that 1998 season like it was yesterday ).

I do believe that losing that national championship game to THEM had a lasting negative impact on Rick Majerus, but I do not believe that he undercut the system or the program before he left it in the night on the airplane to Santa Barbara, California.

My main point in saying that is that he left a team that included players like Andrew Bogut, Tim Drisdom, et al who were not only good, but Ray freaking Giacoletti was able to parlay that group into a Sweet 16 team.

I am not a Rick Majerus apologist by any means. He was an unbelievably great coach, the likes of which we will probably likely never see again at Utah, but had some massive flaws that were ultimately his demise at Utah. That said, I do not believe that he purposely or intentionally undermined the team or the success of the future team. 

Thoughts?

[NarfUte]

Nah it was Chris Hill trusting the recommendations of Mark Few and Tom Izzo that really set Utah back.

[Tony (admin)]

If he undermined anything, it was himself. 

[D T]

Legend & always will be.

[dystopiamembrane]

During the interviews on local sports radio from some of the greats from the 1998 team, was there mention that Majerus sabotaged/undercut the program when he left? If not, where does this idea come from?

[utefansince79]

Losing the 1998 final hurt all Ute fans and was in particular a crushing blow to Big Rick.  

He never really did recover from that.  In his autobiography he wrote about what a massive difference it is between winning the tourney and finishing runner up.  

He certainly never wanted anything but the best future success for Utah after he left.

 

 

 

[dystopiamembrane]

This is what I have heard as well. Thank you. So, is there any supposition that Majerus sabotaged the program as the title of the original post suggests?

[dystopiamembrane]

Where is the question coming from?

[UtesRule]

The question comes from DJ&PK from this morning. One of them (don’t recall which one) claimed that they spoke to the Wyoming coach after the ‘98 season who said he stopped recruiting the same level of players as before the ‘98 season. The supposition was that this was because he was p**sed or crazy and was undermining the program on his way out.

[dystopiamembrane]

I see. Thank you.

[Rick]

Like so many, I have nothing but respect for Coach Majerus. I had the opportunity to get to know him a little and watch a number of practices simply due to connections at the time.

I do think he made one overall mistake. He did not promote his assistants enough. For whatever reason, Rick did not like limelight shining on his staff. I think that changed some in his years at St. Louis because I think he advocated for Alex Jensen. In fact, I know he did when Alex applied to be a member of Larry’s staff.

Jeff Judkins was the major fallout of Rick’s tendency. Losing Judkins when we did hurt the program. Rick underestimated Jeff’s role and I think even begrudged it a little. Jeff had such a terrific relationship with the players -as did Donny Daniels, but Rick and Jeff were not getting along well the last year together. 

I don’t mean to sully Rick. The program stayed strong for a few more years but losing Jeff was big. I know people were mixed on whether or not Jeff could become a head coach but count me as one who wishes he was on the staff when Rick left and had been offered the head job. It’s one of those “what ifs” for me.

[Charlie]

Even better, imagine how much better we would be if Larry would have brought in Alex Jensen. Then when Larry left Alex could have taken over which could have kept several players in place. Alex would be an excellent college HC. I liked Juddy, went to school with him, but Alex is a step up. I wish Juddy could have stayed with mens to have a better comparison with other mens coaching candidates.

[utefansince79]

Juddy did a great job coaching the lady Cougars team down in Provo.  Is indeed regrettable we lost him.

 

 

[belli1976]

I was good friends with a couple Juddy’s assistants at BYU and went on a lake Powell trip with the team one year. I think Juddy loved coaching the women but he did gripe that he missed the discipline of the men’s team. Specifically, talked about women’s diet and training were not as dedicated. And dealing with the emotional difference of women was a new challenge for him.