Imagine 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?