The Future of Larry Krystkowiak

[UtahsMrSports]

One more week.

One more week and we will be headed toward another offseason. The ever-growing anxiety of "who stays and who goes" will return in all of its glory.

Larry will be entering year 3 of a four year contract. As has been pointed out numerous times, no one coaches in the final year of their deal w/o a new deal in place.

So, next year is a HUGE year for Larry and the staff.

My question is: what does this team have to do to ensure that Larry gets extended after next season? NIT? postseason of any kind? .500 record?

I'll give my opinion later, but I am curious about what you think.

[USS Utah]

Win more games.

[concerned]

One more week.

One more week and we will be headed toward another offseason. The ever-growing anxiety of "who stays and who goes" will return in all of its glory.

Larry will be entering year 3 of a four year contract. As has been pointed out numerous times, no one coaches in the final year of their deal w/o a new deal in place.

So, next year is a HUGE year for Larry and the staff.

My question is: what does this team have to do to ensure that Larry gets extended after next season? NIT? postseason of any kind? .500 record?

I'll give my opinion later, but I am curious about what you think.

Doesn't he have a five year deal?

[UBlender]

Larry will be entering year 3 of a four year contract.

I thought it was a five year contract? Which would mean that the "extension" decision wouldn't need to be made until after the 2014-15 season.

Assuming I'm right (a solid assumption given my long history of smrtness), I think Larry is safe through the 2014-15 season (year 4) barring the 2013-14 season seeing some major regression (back toward the results of 2011-12). If no postseason play by that season then it will get very interesting.

[UtahsMrSports]

well talk about a buzzkill!

my mistake. Yeah, that would put Larry safe through 2014-2015, barring an epic collapse. Thats fair; that will give these freshman the chance to get through their junior years.

[mpfunk]

I thought it was a five year contract? Which would mean that the "extension" decision wouldn't need to be made until after the 2014-15 season.

Assuming I'm right (a solid assumption given my long history of smrtness), I think Larry is safe through the 2014-15 season (year 4) barring the 2013-14 season seeing some major regression (back toward the results of 2011-12). If no postseason play by that season then it will get very interesting.

Which is great because I don't want to see Utah pulling the trigger after next season and I don't think that anything less than a NCAA tournament would justify an extension. I really think he needs to get to the NCAA tournament in year 4 to secure a few more years on his contract.

[Solon]

Which is great because I don't want to see Utah pulling the trigger after next season and I don't think that anything less than a NCAA tournament would justify an extension. I really think he needs to get to the NCAA tournament in year 4 to secure a few more years on his contract.

I think the continuity will help Krystko's cause.
A coach on the hotseat may not recruit as earnestly, thinking he won't really get to coach them.

I think the Utes need to place 7th or higher in the Pac next season. Post-season play in the fourth year.

Oh, and keep the program clean - no violations, embarrassing arrests, multiple transfers, etc.

[SoCalPat]

One more week.

One more week and we will be headed toward another offseason. The ever-growing anxiety of "who stays and who goes" will return in all of its glory.

Larry will be entering year 3 of a four year contract. As has been pointed out numerous times, no one coaches in the final year of their deal w/o a new deal in place.

So, next year is a HUGE year for Larry and the staff.

My question is: what does this team have to do to ensure that Larry gets extended after next season? NIT? postseason of any kind? .500 record?

I'll give my opinion later, but I am curious about what you think.

Larry gets four years. Any kind of regression next year makes his seat very warm heading into Year 4. I would be OK with a one year extension for NIT or better in Year 3.

The issue with Larry is his future is tied to Hill's and vice versa. Hill will give Larry all the time permissible because he might as well resign if be has to eat another hoops' coach's contract. On the flip side, if we make the NCAAs next year or in Year 4, Hill can probably retire while the going is good and his legacy gets a good polish.

[Jarid in Cedar]

Larry gets four years. Any kind of regression next year makes his seat very warm heading into Year 4. I would be OK with a one year extension for NIT or better in Year 3.

The issue with Larry is his future is tied to Hill's and vice versa. Hill will give Larry all the time permissible because he might as well resign if be has to eat another hoops' coach's contract. On the flip side, if we make the NCAAs next year or in Year 4, Hill can probably retire while the going is good and his legacy gets a good polish.

I think you are correct on both accounts.

[SeattleUte]

I think you are correct on both accounts.

The nut is recruiting. People forget that in the old days when we got Billy McGill, Jerry Chambers, etc. the entire SEC and other schools would not admit blacks. Since then, in Utah's strong or great years native Utah players more times than not have been integral to our success. For Jerry Pimm, Utah natives were his best players. Native Utah players were integral to Majerus' success if they were not always among his best players. On the other hand, since Jack Gardner, except for briefly by Bill Foster, Utah has rarely if ever recruited studs from out of state. Miller, Van Horn and Doleac greatly exceeded expectations. Bogut and Mottola were recruited by Majerus at his zenith, and they were foreigners, outliers.

What does all this mean? It means we need better players. The state of Utah had better start producing better talent outside of Lone Peak or Utah county (and that come to Utah), or this Pac 12 affiliation better start yielding an upgrade in out of state recruits, or Coach K pulls off some Van Horn/Miller/Doleac type miracles, or we'll be suffering for a long time. To me this all suggests we need to be more patient than, say, USC. Ours has been a hard scrabble life.

With football I can see, say, Nebraska as a model we can aspire to for long term success. What's our model for basketball now that we are in the Pac 12 and no longer a big fish in a small pond?

[UteStar]

This offseason will be fascinating. It always is, but this spring/summer will be even more so. If they can keep the main guys, then next year will really start showing what the Utes have, for good or for bad. If there is a mass exodus again, confidence in Krystko will really begin to erode as these are his guys that are leaving him.

If they improve again next year, finish somewhere in the 6-8 spot in the PAC-12, Krystko can show 'improvement.' If they finish in that 10 or 11 spot next year, it is pretty bleak. I am willing to give Krystko a pass for his first season (I know a lot of fans are not though, I understand) and I really liked what I was seeing through the first 15 games of this year. There were some stumbles, but the team was playing hard and I liked what I was seeing. This second half of the season has been disappointing. I like Krystko. I think he can coach. But he is really going to start showing that he can get the Utes some wins.

[SoCalPat]

The nut is recruiting. People forget that in the old days when we got Billy McGill, Jerry Chambers, etc. the entire SEC and other schools would not admit blacks.

What should also be noted is that we can't take partial or non-qualifiers anymore. There's some good irony in how Prop 42 and 48 badly damaged Utah basketball, as the rules' harshest critics were black coaches for schools in heavily urbanized areas -- neither of which fits Utah at all. McGill's prep transcript was abysmal, and his suiting up for us sparked a "get Utah" movement that resulted in a weak NCAA finding that got us on probation for the 1962 season, when McGill was a senior. Andre Miller was the same way. How many other players with shaky academic credentials landed at Utah that would end up going the prep school route today?

I fear Utah won't get out of the rut it is in until it legitimately wins a recruiting battle for a big-time stud player and makes us a player in the recruiting arena. Looking forward, if Larry isn't the answer, we absolutely have to hire a black coach. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but out of the current Pac-12 schools, only Arizona and Utah have never had a black head coach in the major sports.

[Corvan]

A coach on the hotseat may not recruit as earnestly, thinking he won't really get to coach them.

I think it's more a chicken and egg situation. I think recruits are less likely to take seriously and commit to a coach that they know likely isn't there past the recruit's freshman year. This causes the coach to lose recruits that they know could help save their job, setting up the scenario you mentioned.