Randy Bennett close to deal with Utah

Pipeline or not, that could play at Utah considering our greatest player of all-time (Andrew Bogut) is an Australian and so was our last really good center (Luke Nevill).

I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the idea.

I think Smart could turn out to be a fantastic hire and certainly could be a very good coach. However, I am always wary of coaches who inherit strong programs and haven’t been there long enough to make it their own team.

Shaka Smart is only in his second season there. He took over a strong program (built by Anthony Grant and Jeff Capel – who, if you’ll notice, just got fired from Oklahoma) and yes, he’s had a great season and a strong run to the Sweet 16. But does that translate into success here at Utah? Especially since he has zero western ties?

I’m not so sure.

Back in 2007, I wanted Chris Lowery of Southern Illinois. He, like Smart, guided his team to the Sweet Sixteen and had produced a ridiculous record in a three-year span. The guy looked like a home run due to his success there.

Of course, he didn’t build that program. Matt Painter, the guy before him, had a successful season before taking off to Purdue and Bruce Weber saw similar success there (he was really the one to build the program).

Lowery kept that program humming for three years and then when the players recruited by Weber and Painter left, and he was forced with building his own program, things fell off dramatically.

The year after we hired Boylen, his team dropped to 18-15 (not bad). Then they fell to 13-17, rebounded a bit last season at 15-15 and finished this year at 13-19.

When it became his own program, he failed. He couldn’t maintain the success created by the two head coaches before him and even though he saw initial success, it just didn’t keep.

Now that isn’t to say it will happen to Smart. But it is a big risk because it’s not his team. It’s no more his team than 2005’s Utes were Giacoletti’s. He’s won with talent, but can that happen here at Utah? Can he build a program – not just inherit a good team and keep it good?

This is why I like Bennett. Bennett built St. Mary’s. He didn’t just walk into a decent situation, ala Mark Few, and kept it humming. He took a team that won three games the year before he arrived and had ’em at 19 wins his third season.

The program had three 20-win seasons prior to his arrival and he’s produced five.

So he’s proven he can build a program. We need someone who’s built a program. Smart just doesn’t seem to be that kind of guy. He might be, of course, but then again, he could be piggybacking off Anthony Grant’s success.

We just don’t know. What I do know is that at St. Mary’s, Randy Bennett hasn’t piggybacked off anyone’s success – because there was absolutely none whatsoever when he took over.

But WOW! She is always behind. I dont know if you have twitter, but my buddy @fuegote is always making up re-tweets from her, and they are flat out hilarious.