Jim Boylen might be one helluva mic screamer - but...

There were choices the last go around.

This time, though, Utah needs to hire someone who has been a head coach in the past.

I followed the coaching search extensively on Block U back in 2007 and there was some high interest in the job.

Of course, I liked the Boylen hire because A) he was highly recommended and B) He seemed like a very personable, enjoyable guy.

But there was a risk with the hire. He hadn’t been a head coach before and sometimes career assistants are just that, career assistants. Though I thought his ties to the NBA & Tom Izzo, one of the best coaches in the game, would only bolster his potential.

In the end, I don’t think he’s right for his own program. It’s not easy being a head coach and some guys just aren’t cut out for it.

But I have no doubt he blew the socks off Chris Hill. I remember reading how he was thoroughly prepared for the interview and discussed the weaknesses and strength’s of the team he was vying to inherit. It was, by all accounts, a very impressive interview.

He had a similar great interview with Texas A&M when they were searching for a head coach back in 2004. They almost hired him, however, his lack of ties to the state of Texas was the deciding factor and they went with Billy Gillespie from UTEP instead.

Boylen was also mentioned, prior to his arrival at Utah, for a few head jobs in the NBA, though they never materialized.

Maybe that should have been a red flag. Boylen was an assistant under Jud Heathcote with Izzo at Michigan State, then an assistant under Izzo there, then was an assistant under Rudy Tomjonovich at Houston, Eric Musselman at Golden State and Terry Porter at Milwaukee before returning to Michigan State.

Yet throughout all that, a career that spanned 20 years, Boylen never received a head job. He was an assistant coach for a long, long time and it’s rare that, unless the coach inherits the program, that a coach goes two decades without at least a shot as a head man.

To compare, Majerus received his first head coaching job at Marquette after 13 years serving as an assistant under Al McGuire there and then his replacement, Hank Raymonds.

So while 13 years is a long period, he remained at the same program and was fairly young when he became head coach – as he was only 35. Boylen, when hired at Utah, was 42, which is still fairly young.

But he was a coaching journeyman, so to speak. Lots of jobs and they never led anywhere, even though, at Michigan State, he was considered one of the best assistant coaches in the country. In fact, he made the most money of any assistant coach in college basketball at the time, I recall.

Certainly, when Hill made the hire, it felt like a good one. He had coached under two sure-thing hall of famers (Heathcote & Izzo) and one that has a strong case (Rudy T). Not a bad coaching tree to come from.

So I can see why Hill made the hire. On paper, it was a very good choice.

But that’s the risk you take when hiring an assistant coach. There is no proven history of that coach producing his own success. He was only a product of the men ahead of him.

Back in 2007, though, there was interest from coaches who had experience.

From the top of my head, coaches who showed interest in the game:

Blaine Taylor – Current coach at Old Dominion.

Larry Krystkowiak – Former Montana coach, who might’ve used the Utes to get an offer to coach the Bucks (which ultimately ended in a firing).

Mike Montgomery – Former Stanford coach, currently at Cal.

Donny Daniels – Former Utah assistant under Majerus, head coach at Cal State Fullerton.

Reggie Theus – He was at New Mexico State at the time and there were rumors he showed interest.

There were other names, but nothing too concrete. Overall, Hill passed ’em up on what he thought was a rising assistant from a program that has produced great seasons the last 20 years.

It was a bad hire. But it’s not a hire that looked bad at the time. Certainly it felt better than when he hired Ray Giacoletti.

In the coming days, I’m going to write a post about the qualifications of Utah’s next head coach. Hopefully Hill will have the same qualifications because we’ve got to set a set of parameters here to minimize the potential of another bad hire.

And sorry for the long post – but it’s a very difficult subject.