Larry K

[UteManX]

I have not posted in a while, but I wanted to make some things clear about Larry K. Larry is a wonderful man, lets not forget the person. I agree that the record over the past few years was not ideal, but he is still a great person. Personally I think he deserved next year, then let go if it did not work out. I will also say this. Timmy Allen has said he will not play for another coach at Utah, so I will tell you, he is gone. Great kid, but loyal to his guy. I doubt Martinez and Jones stay either.

Knowing some insight into the program. Many do not know this, but Larry has had a hell of a time this past year. His father in law passed away before the season, his mother in law battled covid, he battled it and his wife battled it. Larry promised his mother and father in law that they will always be taken care of by him, and he has kept his word. Larry has helped many under privledged kids through college and helped a lot with the homeless community here in Utah. His brother in Montana has a great bar where they commited to playing Utes games and there is now a little group of Utah fans up there. Losing Lohner to TDS was a huge blow to Larry, as he took him in and Lohner lived with his son and was fully commited. But what can you do when you are a kid afraid of disapointing your parents and your dad works at TDS.

I am not trying to say he should not be gone as a coach, I am just saying, he is a good person that deserves some respect and I can’t sit back and read comments about being excited he is gone. Why can’t we just say he hit his peak and its time to move on and thank him for rebuilding us from the hell that Boylan put us through as a team and fans.

With that said, I am VERY excited about what the future holds for Utah Basketball and can not wait to sit in the Huntsman Center and Rice-Eccles with all of you again, cheering on our Utes in all sport, high fiving great plays and jumping up and down to intimidate the other team. 

GO UTES!

[HoosierUte]

Thank you. 100% agree with this post. Larry seems like a great guy and if I was sending my kid to play ball I would be confident he had a solid role model. It is too bad that it didn’t work out, but it was time to move on. 

[Tony (admin)]

I don’t think anyone is saying he’s not a good person. I am thankful he brought Utah Basketball back from the dead. Now it is time to build upon where he got us to.

[UteManX]

Sure, nobody did. But I am saying he is a great person. I just think its wrong to read. Im so happy he is gone, or I am excited he is gone. etc. I just want people to know the kind of person he is. Personally, I am going to appreciate what he has done but also excited for the future. Thanks for the Website, Tony. you have done an amazing job and I love seeing the mostly positive comments on here in regards to the Utes. Far better than the UteFans days.

[Stone]

Fans saying they are “happy he is gone” or “excited he is gone” is not something I would view as a personal attack on his character – it is an issue of wins/losses. For better or worse, that is how coaches are judged. They don’t get paid huge sums of money because they are good members of the community and graduate student athletes. 

It sounds like you are close to him personally, and I imagine that makes it particularly painful to see the comments. But I think your closeness to him may make you read the comments with more sensitivity than they are intended. I do not think fans think he was a bad guy personally. He did not have scandals or act like an ass. I think people largely acknowledge that. Fans are excited/happy he is gone because they have lost hope in the hoops program and are excited for some fresh energy.

I think he did some great stuff on and off the court. I was a fan of his blue-collar style. Loved what he did at U of Montana. Alas, the school was not getting a good return on investment (in terms of wins/losses, which, as noted above, is really the main metric). I think any honest observer would agree. 

[CincyUte]

I don’t think anyone is saying he’s not a good person.

I wish that was the case. But unfortuantely, we have some serious A-holes in our midst.

[noneyadb]

A-holes on Utehub?  Would love to see these disparaging comments from numerous people towards Coach K as a person.

[Matthew Thomas Castleton]

He’s Utah Basketball’s version of Ron McBride. They now need their Urban Meyer.

[astUTE]

I agree with all the good things you’ve said about Larry, and never any pleasure in seeing a good man fired.

I will add, that Larry was on the path toward a number of high profile recruits that ened up somewhere else at the last minute, particulary AZ.  Had some of those fallen his way, perhaps the trajectory of the program six years ago would have continued.  

But it was time to move on.

[ironman1315]

I don’t know him. But based on this he seems like a good dude. I am sad for him as a person. But sometimes you get stuck in a moment that you can’t get out of without a boost. That’s where Larry and utah were. It could be mutually beneficial to both.

IMO that kind of sounds like the Holliday situation

[UteManX]

I totally agree with you. He had some big offers in 2015, which caused the raise. I will say this, it was not the Holliday situation, it was a donors situation. I do agree that it will likely be mututally beneficial. Basketball is in his DNA and he will find a better situation for his style. Truly I believe that in todays world, even Big Rick would not be successful. At his basketball camp Rick Majerus sat on me for missing a foul shot. It was funny at the time, I still think it was funny. However, it would not fly in todays world.

[Staples]

Andrew Bogut mentioned on his podcast that Majerus would never make it today’s environment. Bogues didn’t sugarcoat how Majerus was (the good and the bad) and all it would take now days is one disgruntled player to leak a clip from practice and it would be all over.

[Crazyforu]

Good perspective, unfortunately though, being a good person doesn’t always translate into wins. While the background of who is he, and what he has done is great, it doesn’t change the fact that his team wasn’t meeting expectations. I don’t see it as a donor issue, I see it as a winning issue. 

 

All the best to Larry, I am sure he will succeed wherever he goes!

[DrJazzy]

Great post, thanks for sharing. We do need to look beyond the W’s and L’s sometimes, and Larry did take us to the sweet 16. 

[OldAsDirtUte]

I will never forget his $80K Mark of Character. 

Priceless!

[noneyadb]

Excited Utah moved on. Thanks Harlan. Now make the right hire.

[AlohaUte]

Well put, I do have the utmost respect for Larry as a person and especially as a basketball mind. He clearly loves and knows the sport extremely well. And I do think you put it best, Larry hit his peak. He still has a bright future, maybe even at a different power-6 school, but I think he’d be perfect at a smaller D-1, like back at Montana or Cal Poly or wherever. I think at a place like that he could build a conference power that would make the tourney regularly and maybe win a tourney game or two.

And I do thank Larry for his time at Utah. A lot of schools have had a lot worse and while I wish these last few years were more successful, he did some really good things here as well.

[UteBacker]

Unfortunately with high profile professions come high profile firings.  Let’s not forget that his compensation was out of line with his performance.

Larry did some good things at Utah, but it was time for a change.  That’s all.  I wish him and his family a bright future!