Which man had the biggest effect on Utah sports?

[ProudUte]

Jack Gardner – He took the Utes to two final fours and won many conference championships. The Special Events Center (Huntsman Center) is often referred to as the house that Jack built.
Chris Hill – Started here as an assistant basketball coach. He became the long-term athletic director that took us to the MWC and then to the PAC12.
Rick Majerus – Big Rick brought Utah basketball back to a top national basketball team.
Kyle Wittingham – Next year, he will have been here at Utah for thirty years. He developed Utah football into a national brand.

[Ute Dub]

Urban Meyer. End of debate. 

[Charlie]

There is not just one. McBride changed the direction of football in the biggest way, Meyer added speed to that change and Whitt has kept it moving. McBride was the game changer. Gardner changed the direction of basketball, Pimm and others added speed to that change and Majerus took it to the top. Hill was an administer that was a good as any in the country during his long run doing so much with so little resource. Each had success due to others in the process. Meyer and Majerus each took us to 2nd place finishes in my era of season ticket years but I feel others are very near them.

[PhiladelphiaUte]

Chris Hill.  Then-President Chase Petersen interviewed him for the job back in 1988.  He’d said he’d interviewed a lot of strong candidates, but what really stood out to him the most was that Dr. Hill talked about his goal being getting Utah into the Pac-10.  Petersen thought of that as a silly, unattainable pipe dream, but really liked Dr Hill’s “sincerity” and “ambition”, so he’d opted hire him.

 22-yrs later, We’d finally gotten the call.

[pedro]

When I look at the massive amounts of good Chris Hill, Chase Petersen, Ron McBride etc did, then compare it to what we have now in Harlan and President Randall, who are literally forcing the common fan out of the stadium, I shutter to think of our future.  

[chinngiskhaan]

Chris Hill also ruined the MBB program though. Overall what the positives outweigh the bad for sure, but IMO the bad things that he did knock him down a rung or two.

[UtesRule]

Without Ron McBride Urban never even considers Utah.

[ProudUte]

Ron McBride made Utah football competitive for the first time in a long time.  He no doubt played a big role as to where we are at today and I will always be grateful for that.  However, he had taken us as far as he could when he was let go.  We needed someone new to take us to the next level and that was Meyer.  Then we needed someone who was going to stay in S:C and build the program over the long term.  Coach Whitt has been that guy.  I am so glad that we have not changed coaches every few years like most teams.  Credit the administration for doing what they needed to do to keep Whitt here.

Go Utes!!!

 

[UteThunder]

Chris Hill, and there isn’t a close second. The man was Utah Athletics. He hired Majerus, McBride, Meyer, and Whittingham, along with how many other coaches in olympic sports, in addition to preparing our AD to get into the Pac-12.

[Hahnenwk]

And he hired Lynn Roberts

[Tony (admin)]

Did he hire Giac and Boylen?

[chinngiskhaan]

Along with (allegedly) ignoring reports of abuse by one of his coaches, Chris Hill is responsible for running MBB into the ground.

[UteThunder]

Majerus shares some of the blame for running MBB into the ground. His “health” issues, the toxic team culture he created with his boorish behavior, running off Judkins, etc. Rick essentially dumped lighter fluid on the program and lit a match as he boarded a plane for Santa Barbara. 

[UteThunder]

He did hire Giac and Boylen. Nobody hits a homerun every time they are up, but for how long Hill was here and all of the good he accomplished, he has had the biggest effect on Utah sports. Certainly the biggest effect of the 4 listed in OP.

[chinngiskhaan]

That’s fair. The AD certainly is the most boom or bust job in college sports. He deserves credit for everything good, and bad, which is why I don’t think he is in the top spot if we are talking positive effect. If you take the OP’s question at it’s literal meaning, then yes, he’s #1. If you understand it to mean positive effect, then I think the bad knocks him down below the likes of Whitt.

[Rick]

He hired Giac specifically to be the anti-Majerus.  Rick was so toxic in the end that Hill had to find his polar opposite to fix the steaming pile that Majerus left in his wake.  Boylen was a bad hire.  However, Larry was a good hire that brought our team back from the ashes.

[chinngiskhaan]

I’ll make the case for coach Whitt.

– He’s been here for 30 years. He was a significant and often essential part of many of the successes of the other people on this list, and he himself has accomplished as much or more than any other coach in Ute sports.

– He hasn’t done anything to damage the reputation of the UofU, the same cannot be said for Chris Hill (who could have stopped the abuse of his student-athletes by a coach he hired, but apparently chose not to) and others to lesser extent

Kyle has done nothing but positive things and I don’t know a single person (even TSPP fans) that don’t at least respect him as a person and coach. He is the best representative of the UofU on that list.

– Whitt deserves credit for things he didn’t do that almost certainly would have spelled hard times (if not outright doom) for the UofU football program. Kyle very nearly became the head coach of TSPP football, and yes, there is no doubt in my mind TSPP would have gone undefeated under Kyle a time or two by now. They had the talent to do it once or twice, but not the coach.

If Whitt had decided to become the coach at TSPP, that would likely have spelled disaster for Utah football, and Utah would not have made the Pac12 (which has benefited the entire University, not just football and/or other sports). At minimum, Utah football would be second fiddle to TSPP in the state of Utah right now.

He has also turned down offers and interest (that would have turned into offers) from many high profile football programs (Tennessee for example). He did not leave Utah when money and the chance of greater success/notoriety were thrown his direction. He stayed put and has helped build the UofU football team to the point that we compete with the likes of USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington for top dog in the west every year.

 

 

[DocBuff]

Spence Eccles

Lots of good choices above, but none of them can do their thing without the $$$

[chinngiskhaan]

Sure, but the opposite is also true.

[GameForAnyFuss]

I choose an amalgam of a man named “Urban McHillwhitjerus”.

[Rick]

If you look at the total picture and throw out your biases then Chris Hill is the only one left standing.  

[Author]

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