Former Utah head coach Ray Giacoletti to coach Drake

Ray Giacoletti, who spent the last few seasons as an assistant at Gonzaga, was hired today as Drake's new head coach. Giacoletti, who has Midwestern roots, will return to the head coaching ranks for the first time since leading the Runnin' Utes to an 11-19 season in 2007.

Here at Utah, Giacoletti had the tough task of replacing the legendary Rick Majerus, and though he saw initial success in his first season, guiding the Utes to the Sweet Sixteen, he struggled sustaining it - going 14-15 and 11-19 in consecutive years.

Giacoletti is a good guy, so, I'm not going to spend much time hitting him on his stay here. I do believe much of the blame for the program's collapse lay at his feet, but hopefully he'll be able to guide them to the same level of success he saw at Eastern Washington, the program he led prior to his arrival in Salt Lake City, and not mirror his last two years here at Utah.