FountainofUte

I hear ya. My heart wants it to be a good idea, but my head sees a different picture.

You’re right. Bringing him on as an asst is different than handing the HC keys. But when comparing to Burgess, Chris has gone through the collegiate coaching system: Grad assistant, assistant at small school, moving up to P5 assistant jobs.

All of that…[Read more]

I’d seen Twitter rumors about the Miller things. None of it was ever explicit or details, but putting two and two together seemed like he’d be an assistant on the staff.

I’m not sure how I feel about it. It may have made some boosters happy. That’s probably the biggest plus and galvanizing of our NIL.

As for recruiting, I have no idea what kind…[Read more]

I don’t know. Not even the PAC-12 could hold their nose long enough to take UNLV.

(Had the P12 held together post LA defections, I was actually a proponent of taking UNLV and SDSU and stay regional west. But I was definitely in a minority.)

Yeah, I kinda figure that’s what their line of thinking is. Double down on being THE highly regional conference.

I’ve not seen any rumblings about SEC going west. But I will say this…

While the SEC wants to remain regional to the SE, if cfb really does break into two conferences, if you’re the SEC, you can’t let the B1G be the only one with coast-to-coast inventory. That would be completely idiotic to let that happen.

The B1G already got a huge jump on…[Read more]

Dave’s Hot Chicken is solid. We started going there since the Midvale location opened and it’s been a family favorite ever since. I’m settling in on “hot” being my go-to level. I haven’t tried to go up a level of heat yet, but Hot has been plenty.

I’d think if I went up more it would start to overpower the taste. It’s right on the edge of that…[Read more]

Not for me. With Giac and Boylen it still felt like we were a firing/hiring away from getting back on track.

I don’t feel that this time.

I really felt like our stock was about to soar when LK took us to the Sweet 16. I had no idea that was going be the beginning of an 8-year-and-counting crash. Utah basketball was Utah basketballing again.…[Read more]

I think you’re missing the bigger problem here. It’s not just about Burgess alone and his skills as a coach and recruiter. I agree that both of those might be a little overblown.

The problem is that we literally lost him, a former Ute mbb player, to our hated rival down the street to take the same position. That’s a HORRIBLE look for our program.…[Read more]

I agree, but the way things are going it’s a darn near guarantee that they’re going to crap the bed next year. Smith is a dead man walking. The next 11 months are a formality. I get that we kinda have to just ride it out until next March because any other move would be even worse than the present reality, but it’s already bleak.

Harlan, or maybe…[Read more]

How is Utah State Doing it? Do they spend more on hoops NIL than Utah?

Our basketball program is DOA. Honestly, with this Burgess move – (he left being an assistant at Utah to be an assistant at BYU!!!! Are you efffffing kidding me!!??) — I think our program is more dead than it was with Giac or Boylen’s lows. At this point we absolutely should h…[Read more]

It’s totally fine and feasible to be good at both football and basketball without sacrificing football.

Regardless, our near future is set in stone…

Smith is screwed, next year is going to hurt, then he’s gone 11 months from now and we do this crazy hire train all over again. We convince Alex Jensen to pull a Kevin Young, or we hire Burgess…[Read more]

I’d love to see the Universe Project or something like it get developed on campus. One thing the campus is missing is a “scene” for both students and alums. Places to each, shop, and hang out.

Yeah, I don’t know how the nuances of that work. I think some of it comes down to how likely one is to confuse two brands, or is one brand stealing or drafting off the brand value of another. I’d find that hard to prove here.

Then again, I was surprised the SL Buzz had to change names because Georgia Tech’s mascot’s name is Buzz and they thought…[Read more]

The best name is the Utah Black Diamonds.

As some have already mentioned, we should be highlighting our mountains, our winter and snow sports heritage and legacy. Also, anything snow and mountains related is pretty neutral as far as it not preferring one group or another (pioneers, etc.)

Our skiing is already world class and Olympic. To have…[Read more]

Utah Black Diamonds for NHL
Utah Cutthroats for MLB

Both are perfect

I just don’t see what BYU’s options are. If they can’t pry away Madsen — and that’s not looking good — then their next best option has to be Burgess, right?

The funny thing is that it’s neither ideal for BYU or Utah, but BYU’s tiny hiring pool puts us in this position. Oddly, I think both schools will be worse off than they were before if Bur…[Read more]

If you go out to 12, it looks something like this:

EAST
Duke
Kentucky
Maryland
Michigan
Michigan State
North Carolina
Ohio State
Penn State
Pitt
Tennessee
Virginia
Virginia Tech

SOUTH
Alabama
Arkansas
Auburn
Clemson
Florida
Florida State
Georgia
LSU
Miami
NC State
Ole Miss
Texas…[Read more]

If the magic number is 40. Based on these rankings and trying to build four geographical groups of 10, here’s what it might look like:

EAST
Duke
North Carolina
Ohio State
Michigan
Michigan State
Penn State
Pitt
Maryland
Kentucky
Tennessee

DEEP SOUTH
Alabama
Georgia
Florida
LSU
Florida State
Clemson
Arkansas
Auburn

MIDWEST
Notre…[Read more]

By the way it’s looking, I’d slice the pie like this:
NIL 48%
Playing time 47%
Some blend of coach and school rep 5%

Obviously it’s going to be tough.

The confluence of perfect timing of talent, experience, and depth on the team, coupled with extreme luck of the bounce of the ball, lack of injuries, probably help from other teams making your path easier. I just can’t fathom a season where Utah is the last team standing.

It’s not impossible, but it’s so hard…[Read more]