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Boylen fired as Utah men’s basketball coach

Don't really know if Randy Bennett from St. Mary's turned down the Utes, but there's no evidence out there that he even interviewed for the job. Would Utah extend an offer without interviewing him? Seems unlikely, but not impossible.

Spence Checketts from 700AM has just tweeted that Utah is set to interview Lon Kruger (UNLV) this coming week. That would be a pretty nice hire IMO.

https://twitter.com/#!/espn700spence
 
I wanted Kruger when Majerus left. I would be happy with that hire. I think he's a good coach that could do wonders for this program.
 
gregbroncs said:
I wanted Kruger when Majerus left. I would be happy with that hire. I think he's a good coach that could do wonders for this program.
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I also like the idea of Kruger. Chris Hill usually goes the route of bringing the next great up and comer but that has really backfired on him with the last 2 hires. He can't afford to strike out again. Kruger is a known commodity that is already actively recruiting the west and brings great name recognition to a program tha badly needs it.
 
Was Kruger a guy that got a lot of transfers when he was at Illinois and Florida as well? I'm just wondering if that is sort of a philosophy of his and would still apply at Utah, or maybe just a situation where guys want to be in Vegas?

In looking at his records over the years, the only question seems to be can he have great teams. He's good at having good teams but that next step seems to be the question. Either way, I do agree it would be a solid hire.
 
Duck Rodgers said:
Was Kruger a guy that got a lot of transfers when he was at Illinois and Florida as well? I'm just wondering if that is sort of a philosophy of his and would still apply at Utah, or maybe just a situation where guys want to be in Vegas?

In looking at his records over the years, the only question seems to be can he have great teams. He's good at having good teams but that next step seems to be the question. Either way, I do agree it would be a solid hire.
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I too wonder about Lon's ability to field a "great" team, but he has accomlished enough to at least give Ute fans some hope of future success should he be hired. He's posted winning seasons in 14 out of the 17 years that he's coached D-1 Basketball, has a Final Four appearance with Florida and a Sweet 16 appearance with UNLV. Probably the most attractive thing about Kruger IMO is his record of 160-69 since taking over UNLV.

I don't think UNLV is an easy place to win in either football or basketball. They were great for a little while when Tark was there, but Tark was also cheating. I think he's done some really good things down in Sin City.

I think you hit the nail on the head when you said he's good at having good teams. Quite honestly, that should be Utah's main concern right now. You've got to become good before you ever worry about being great and simply being "good" would be a huge step up for Utah right now.
 
Rumor is making it's way around the Tweet world that Larry Krystkowiak might be a leading canidate for the Utah job and has already met with Chris Hill.

Not a good hire IMO. Spent only 2 years as an HC in the Big Sky, has never recruited at the D-1 level and has bounced around the NBA as an assistant.

If that's the best Utah can do, they're in trouble.
 
jazzman12 said:
Rumor is making it's way around the Tweet world that Larry Krystkowiak might be a leading canidate for the Utah job and has already met with Chris Hill.

Not a good hire IMO. Spent only 2 years as an HC in the Big Sky, has never recruited at the D-1 level and has bounced around the NBA as an assistant.

If that's the best Utah can do, they're in trouble.
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You never know though. Sometimes unproven guys are the best hires. Look at VCU and Butler.
 
jazzman12 said:
Rumor is making it's way around the Tweet world that Larry Krystkowiak might be a leading canidate for the Utah job and has already met with Chris Hill.

Not a good hire IMO. Spent only 2 years as an HC in the Big Sky, has never recruited at the D-1 level and has bounced around the NBA as an assistant.

If that's the best Utah can do, they're in trouble.
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The Big Sky is D-1 level.
 
Darkwing Duck said:
The Big Sky is D-1 level.
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While it technically is, it's not the same as recruiting to a Pac 12 or even MWC school. I should have worded it differently because I certainly feel like overseeing recruiting at Montana for 2 years is going to be a far cry from what he'll be up against should he land the Utah job.

I do agree with Archie, maybe it ends up being a good hire. It's just seems a little too similar to the past 2 hires by Hill. I'd be much more comfy Kruger.
 
Darkwing Duck said:
Way to go Lon Kruger. Nicely done.
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Like a dagger in the heart.

Sounds like Utah's options are down to Larry Krystowiak and Mark Gottfried- former Alabama coach who's been out of the game for a few years since resigning from The Crimson Tide. Utah is paying the price for neglecting their basketball facilities in recent history. Granted, Chris Hill has done great in bringing the football program up to speed and with most of that work being done, it's now time to put a little more focus into Bball.
 
I like Kruger, but I wouldn't pay him 2/mil a year. Interesting implications for BYU as well considering Dave Rose turned down the Oklahoma job. I've said in the past that I believe BYU can sweeten the pot with their coaches more than they normally have, assuming the coach is a proven commodity, but probably not at 2 mill/year just due to perception issues.
 
Duck Rodgers said:
I like Kruger, but I wouldn't pay him 2/mil a year. Interesting implications for BYU as well considering Dave Rose turned down the Oklahoma job. I've said in the past that I believe BYU can sweeten the pot with their coaches more than they normally have, assuming the coach is a proven commodity, but probably not at 2 mill/year just due to perception issues.
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Isn't Dave Rice the leading canidate to replace Kruger down @UNLV? Don't know much about him but some of the Cougar fans I've talked to are very high on him and would hate to see him go.
 
I think Reggie Theus is probably number 1, but Rice seems to be right up there. Whatever the case, his time as an assistant is probably going to be over soon because people seem to really like him. I wonder if Chris Hill has interviewed him yet just to get a sense of why others are looking at him.

It does make you wonder sometimes if some head coaches get too much credit when really one of the assistants is pulling the most weight. But that's what the AD's of the world should know so I guess you just have to trust their judgements.
 
I would much rather see Rice at Utah than Krystowiak.

Rice would surely make a nice HC.
 
It's never a good sign when your fan bases' hope is tied up in a guy hiring a good staff, rather than just being a good hire. But fan bases are consistently wrong, so you have that going for you.

The best anti-argument I've heard against the guy is that he moves around too much....one of those grass is always greener elsewhere types. You could structure the contract so that there would be disincentives for him to do that within the first few years though so hopefully Hill worked that in and addressed that part of it for you guys. The other negative seems to be his perceived lack of willpower to recruit and lack of connections. Those could be legit concerns.
 
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