Krystkowiak has inherited a mess of a program
by JazzyUte on Apr 6, 2011 2:44 PM MDT
in Basketball
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PrintImagine if, when that comet took out a good chunk of the United States in the movie Deep Impact, Morgan Freeman looked to his Vice President and said, "I'm out sucka...good luck..." and left a destroyed and smoldering nation to his bewildered and, maybe even a little, unprepared sidekick.
That's what Krystkowiak is looking at right now. The Utah basketball program has all but been obliterated by a comet and the rebuilding process is just starting to begin.
It's not going to be easy. If anything, Krystkowiak is inheriting a program potentially at its worst state. Which, if you even remember the Ray Giacoletti days, seems unfathomable. But it's true. As Jim Boylen showed in his first two seasons here, there was talent.
Fault Giacoletti all you want for his part in ruining the Utah basketball program, but at least he left enough talent for his successor to come in and win right away.
That isn't the case this time around. Instead, where that talent should be, is a massive gaping crater - a cavity worsened by the hastened departure of Will Clyburn.
So now Krystkowiak has been handed the keys to this mess and left to rebuild a ruined program.
I don't envy him.
As Ute fans, we've got to prepare for an ugly first year. The Runnin' Utes will most likely be picked to finish either at the bottom of the Pac-12, or damn close to the bottom of it. The prospects facing Krystkowiak in his first season are probably more grim than any first-year head coach in program history.
Rebuilding this thing the right way, with the overall dearth of talent and less than satisfying prospects waiting in the wings, could take a couple years.
Ute fans must realize how low this program has sunk the last six years. Because that climb back to respectability won't be easy and we need to prepare ourselves for each pitfall.
Are you in for the long-haul?
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Honestly,
The Utes won’t even sniff even the CBI Tournament either of the next two years. I’m fine with that, as long as in years 2 and 3 there is movement. Not the lateral, or decline that was Boylen’s 3rd and 4th, year, as well as Giac’s years after year 2.
But there’s no reason, other than we made the wrong hire again, why we couldn’t be sniffing some legit postseason bubble hype in year 3.
Yeah...
We’ve gotta look at progress in terms of play and not necessarily wins. If this team plays better and more disciplined, even if it still manages only 13 wins, I’ll feel a lot better.
But the most important thing has to be progress. This is where Boylen failed his last two years. There was almost zero progress from the start of his third season to the end of his fourth.
I y agree
Boylen had success the first two years using talent that he had no hand in bringing to the U. His last two years were a mess, and I question the type of kids/players he was bringing to the U.
I’m willing to give Larry a decent shot at building this program with his recruit. We won’t know what kind of coach he is until probably year 3 when he’s able to use his own recruits for his system. I just hope he can do a better job of recruiting and player development than Boylen. As long as I see a team that competes and progresses, I’m happy. The winning will come later.
by RunninUtes30 on Apr 7, 2011 12:17 PM MDT up reply actions
Right on
But I don’t see how anything could be worse than what we watched in the JMHC this past year. It was brutal. We could see progress with walk-ons.
It's all about the assistants
If at least two of his assistants are good recruiters, we’ll be okay. The 2012 class will go a long way to determining the direction of the program. Larry K had better make sure he finds some good assistants and then some good recruits.
Agreed
I think that is a good thing to keep in mind. We can’t expect to be back on top next year. I think most Ute fans will have realistic expectations as we try to get back on track. But at the same time, we need to see progress. We need something that could be considered an offense, and not 5 guys playing church ball at the ward house.
We need to see guys rebounding consistently. We need to see defensive intensity. We need leaders.
It seems like last year, once everyone transferred, Boylen hurried and just grabbed a bunch of JUCO guys and thats how Clyburn got here. I have to think he can be replaced fairly easily.
Formerly SportsInUtah
Follow me on twitter: @BigBenSportsGuy
Great Point!
The large problem with Boylen’s team was a lack of talent. My opinion is that last year’s team hardly had 5 division I caliber players. Unfortunately, Clyburn was the best one.
I will have to give Krysko a pass the first year. I just want the team to play hard and disciplined. I can accept losing due to a lack of talent if we appear disciplined and well coached.
Sorry guys.
I think Krysko will be… completely mediocre. I’m not overly impressed with the guy. He’s not bad! But really, he’s not so good. I think he will turn the Utes into a winning team again, but not an astounding one. I’m really hoping he does, and I would LOVE to be proven wrong, but really, I think he’s just not going to be the guy to move the Runnin’ Utes to catch up to the football team in success. Will he be better? I think so. Will the be THE answer? I doubt it. Sorry, that’s just my feeling.
It's very possible...
But right now, we don’t necessarily need someone to be great. We just need a coach to get things back on track. If Krystkowiak can come in and win on average 20-24 games and get us to the postseason most years, I’ll be content – for now.
20-24 Wins?
Jazzy, 20-24 wins per year playing in the PAC 12 gets us an NCAA berth each year. That would be more than simply getting us back on track. Krysko does that and he’ll be here for as long as wants.
That's why I said an average...
20-24 wins on average still leaves room for a 17-19 win season.
Even then, I wouldn’t say 20-wins automatically guarantees Utah a NCAA berth. Wazzu won 22 games this past season and still only played in the NIT (19 regular season wins).
Then that would make Krysko Ron McBride
As much as I love Coach Mac, honestly all he really did was make the football program Average, with a couple good spikes.
But from where we were at, that was a tremendous upside. Only have a while when Mediocre/Average wasn’t good enough did we take that next step.
While best case scenario would be that Krysko is the guy to take us to the next step, and the one beyond, if all Krysko does is get us average, and then in 6-10 years we have to make a change to finish the process, I’m sure most of us will take it.
Just a thought
It may not have been money (or lack there of) that kept us from getting some of the other candidates. After reading Jazzy’s article they may have just not wanted to deal with this mess. How many more days until opening game for football?
Spring Game April 16th.
It’s not the real thing, but at least it’s a fix.
If you've never been...
…you have to go to the spring game! Free football, lots of giveaways and then meet the players after the game. It’s been a family tradition for several years now and we wouldn’t miss it! In New Orleans, several Bama fans asked where we got all the signatures on our hats and we told them the Spring Game. They said that they go to Bama’s every year. The stadium is filled to capacity.
RES is woefully underattended. I’d love to see fans pack the place for the Spring Game! Show your support!
It's possible...
Couple that with the money Utah was offering (high was probably 1.1) and you’re not going to get many takers. Look at Kruger and OU. They had to throw out over two million to get him to accept. Utah couldn’t offer that.
he is getting paid to clean up the mess. i will enjoy our football team in the pac-12
The University of Utah is off to the Pac-12 Conference and will be in the South Division. Hopefully we will get to the first ever Pac-12 Championship Game. Jon " Bones " Jones new light heavyweight champion. Even if Jones got struck flush in the face he would recover and defeat whoever is in front of him. I told everyone the fight would be easy. Almost felt sorry for Rua. Anderson Silva would never fight "Bones". He is too scared to fight the real P4P champion. The Cult of Personality is here. Also, the most honorable man is here.
by wolfmanshowlforever on Apr 7, 2011 11:11 AM MDT reply actions
Priority One Ute fans...
After beating USC in the Coliseum in September, is filling the JMHC! This the most important thing for Utah fans. I am going to support Larry K. and this Runnin’ Ute team for the long haul. We have to do it! I think he will restore the pride but it will take time, and OUR support, so please be patient and be loud as you can up on the hill next season and those to come when we will be more competitive. There are going to be growing pains but we will take our first steps back toward respectability!
Yes...we need to create a good home court advantage...
I think people underestimate how important a near-capacity crowd can be to a team’s success.
The team will play better and more consistent at home if the crowd is decent. But we also have the chance to see some superb teams come through Salt Lake (UCLA, Washington, SC, Arizona). We might not win most those games, but imagine how sweet it would be if we could pull off a stunner?
Pack in the Huntsman Center and we might just do that. Gotta make the arena intimidating again.
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