Collegehoopsnet - Utah's Ray Giacoletti

Prove Yourself

Intro: If you had one chance, one shot, or one opportunity to coach at a place you always wanted, would you capture it, or let it slip away?

Verse One
His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy.
He says he's ready to replace the Big Man in the white sweater already.
This coach is nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready.
To coach the Utes, and he hopes the team won't be forgetting
What he taught them, the rival crowd goes so loud
He opens his mouth, but the right words just won't come out
His team is choking how, and they just gave up another turnover now
His opponent puts up a shot, it good, times up, game over, POW!
Snap back to reality, he understands the situation's gravity
And he knows that his system ain't broke
that other team's shooter just found the right time to find his stroke
So its back to the lab again yo
Next games in Salt Lake City
And he better go capture this moment and hope it don't pass him

Headline: Stanford to Hire Trent Johnson as New Head Coach

Normally a news story about the coaching search at Stanford coming to a conclusion wouldn't register very high on the interest level of most ardent University of Ute basketball fans. But if you are new Utah head coach, Ray Giacoletti, these headlines unfortunately serve as a constant reminder of a sequence of events that helped him become the latest head coach at the state's flagship institution, and the man to replace the legendary Rick Majerus.

Because under that headline you are also to find at the very least a brief reminder that Trent Johnson was very recently a serious candidate for the University of Utah head coaching job before he turned it down later on in the year.

And while only Trent Johnson, and perhaps Utah Athletic Director, Chris Hill, can say for sure why he did not accept the position at Utah. Neither is talking, or divulging much information on the subject.

But ask any diehard Utah Ute booster or fan, and they will probably eagerly tell you that his University did not really want Johnson in the first place, and intentionally made him an offer that they knew he would refuse.

Or you could also hear recent suggestions from them that former Stanford Coach Mike Montgomery knew of his eminent resignation and suggested to Johnson that the Cardinal head coaching position would be his for the taking in a very short time.

On the other hand, University of Nevada Wolf Pack's most ardent fans will make the argument that their very fortunate run to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament made their program an elite one, and the much better option when compared head-to-head with Utah.

And while the truth probably lies somewhere between those two spectrums, one thing is certain: Trent Johnson was offered the University of Utah first, and Coach Ray Giacoletti only accepted the position after Coach Johnson rejected it. And there, once again on the pages of newspapers and web sites around the country touting Johnson as the Stanford head coach is a reminder that Coach Giacoletti was at best the University of Utah's second choice for a coach.

Verse Two
The team's shots have been making, his team's lead has been gaping
The next game was obviously his for the taking
It makes him feel like a king, as he moves towards a new roster order
A normal life is boring, but a Final Four would give him life post mortem
The schedule only gets harder, so they need to play smarter
It's a difficult road, and only he truly knows
The Utes are winning on a road trip defeating all foes
Playing coast to coast only shows,
he can win like a globetrotter
Then when they play at home his winning will go farther
This hot streak won't end with any dousing of cold water
So the soap opera is told and unfolds
And the team gets closer to a championship ring of gold partner,
The winning will go on
Da da dum da dum

Headline: UNLV to hire Coach Lon Kruger to Replace the Retired Charlie Spoonhour

Prior to the end of a very competitive Mountain West Conference schedule, legendary coach Charlie Spoonhour resigned from UNLV citing health reasons. And after another relatively disappointing basketball season had completed, UNLV conducted a very public coaching search in which they courted several coaching high-profile coaches to lead the Running Rebels. In the end, they settled on Lon Kruger, a legendary former college coach with Final Four experiences, and more recently a professional coach with the Atlanta Hawks.

While it would seem illogical and inappropriate to accurately grade the UNLV coaching hire at this time, doesn't it seem like the Rebels have been down this road before?

A legendary coach, with a resume of college successes, commanding a large salary, and promising to turn the Rebels program around and return them to college basketball's elite. Sounds a little bit like the two former head coaches that preceded Kruger, doesn't it?: Charlie Spoonhour, who coached UNLV from 2001-2003, and Rollie Massimino, who coached the Rebels for just two seasons from 1992-1994.

Rollie Massimino, whose 19 years at Villanova included a gaudy winning percentage, only two losing seasons total and a National Championship, came to UNLV a coaching legend. No one argued with his ability to coach when he took the position, but with only one NIT berth and a fifth-place conference finish during his last season, many were critical that this coaching legend had just come to UNLV to retire. That the ambition or drive that he had during those successful years at Villanova somehow seemed absent in Las Vegas.

As the 12th head basketball coach in UNLV history, Charlie Spoonhour finished his coaching career with an impressive 361-193 (.652) career record. With 16 years of experience gained as head coach at St. Louis University and Southwest Missouri State, Coach Spoonhour had established a reputation for being able to succeed at smaller basketball programs. His arrival at UNLV came with high expectations, but two seasons and back-to-back post-season trips to the National Invitation Tournament ended in disappointment.

In fact, this sort of trend of coaches with impressive resumes failing at new programs is not only symptomatic at a UNLV. If you look at some of the more high-profile hires over the past couple of years, the results have been mixed. On one hand you have the Roy Williamses, who appears to be turning around the Tar Heel's program after several uncharacteristically disappointing seasons, or Bill Self, who is maintaining the elite status of the Kansas Jayhawks with a successful season followed by an outstanding first recruiting class. But for every Williams or Self you also have a Mike Jarvis at St. Johns, Steve Fisher at San Diego St., Ben Howland at UCLA, or Dave Bliss at Baylor. In other words, "proven" legendary coaches that came into schools bringing with them extremely high expectations, only to turn around and disappoint their school's fans.

Meanwhile this past year you had the "Year of the Assistant" where Jamie Dixon, head coach at Pittsburgh, Matt Painter, head coach at Southern Illinois, and Mark Few, head coach at Gonzaga all at some time or another inherited their programs as assistants and performed well above expectations. All of them were coaches that took over their respective programs needing something to prove, and went about their jobs with the determination to silence their critics.

Another example of a coach that defied expectations that many readers would be familiar with would be Steve Cleveland, Coach of the BYU Cougars. At the announcement of his hiring, I remember several Ute fans admitting to me how delighted they were that their arch-rivals had just hired a Junior College coach from Fresno to turn around a once-proud program that had sunk to a one-win season just before his hiring. Because of Cleveland's lack of experience they envisioned many more years of Cougar basketball misery. Even several members of the local Utah media at the time even questioned Cleveland's ability to coach at the Division I level.

Half a decade later it is apparent that Cleveland used his critics as motivation to go above and beyond what was expected of him. Cleveland is now a well-respected coach in the conference, holds the longest tenure, and fields a basketball team that consistently finishes close to the top of the conference standings, and performs respectably on a national stage.

A little bit closer to home, fans of the University of Utah and college basketball fans around the nation fell in love with the Running Utes during the decade of the 90s and especially during their 1998 run to the NCAA Championship Finals. Why? Because they were lead by a hungry coach named Rick Majerus and a determined group of players that were doing things that barely anyone believed they could do.

Several years later, many of those same Utah basketball fans started to become a little disenfranchised with a much older and "legendary" Majerus, who seemed content on putting his coaching on cruise control and coasting along in latter years because he had already established himself within the program. And what does the program have to show for it? Numerous NCAA violations, isolation from the media, documented player dissatisfaction and transfers, lost recruits, seemingly unmotivated and predictable basketball teams, and a failure to get past the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Verse Three
They won most of their games, he earned that half million dollar wage
His aggressive defense locked opponents down like they were stuck in a cage
Winning by large margins, the team's mood all seemed to change
They won the conference, almost the tourney, but looked good on a national stage
Throughout the season he was coaching and everyone admitted his teams played with desire
All the media can admit now is that this coach sure was a great hire
And at times it was hard and next year will be even harder
Trying to build on the team's success, plus
Teeter-totter caught up between being himself
while being viewed as a local prima donna
Minimizing off-season drama, caught up in everyone wanting
Too much for him to want to stay in one spot,
should he take another prestigious job offer or not
It's gotten to the point, where he's got to formulate a plot
To leave this team or stay with the one who gave him his shot
Either way, he knows success is his only option, failure's not
Utah, don't worry, he loves you, this coach doesn't want to go
He wants to grow experienced coaching in the same old spot
So here we go, let's give this NCAA tourney title another shot
He'll do his best to fail you not
since you never know when it's the last opportunity he's got

Headline: Ray Giacoletti to Replace Rick Majerus as Head Coach at the University of Utah

When asked about the lack of so-called "big named" coaches being interviewed to replace the legendary Rick Majerus, Utah Athletic Director, Chris Hill defended his search by stating, "We don't hire coaching legends to come to Utah. Coaching legends are made at Utah."

Chris Hill showed that he meant what he said when he named relative unknown, Ray Giacoletti, former head coach at Eastern Washington University, as the next Utah basketball coach on March 31, 2004.

Chris Hill has a history and proven track record of choosing successful coaches out of relative obscurity from Rick Majerus former head coach at Ball St., to Ron McBride, successful football coach and former assistant at Arizona, and to more recently 2003 MWC champion football coach Urban Meyer from Bowling Green. Because of that no Utah fan or alum will ever initially second-guess a hiring decision made by Dr. Hill again.

So with Coach Giacoletti, Utah's supposed back-up plan, number #2 pick, or Plan B a new era of University of Utah basketball begins. In Dr. Hill Utah fans will have to continue trust for making a coaching decision on a guy who accepted the position and commented to the Spokane media, "You've got to pinch yourself now and then to make sure you're not dreaming."

And when also asked whether he was ready to follow a basketball coaching legend like Rick Majerus, Coach Giacoletti admitted that he, "thrived in situations where I felt I was in over my head."

So what has the relatively unknown new head coach done since accepting a position that many admitted was several rungs much higher up from his previous head coaching position on the coaching ladder?

   1. On April 7, 2004, in a surprise turn of events, he helps convince former Second Team-All MWC Guard, Marc Jackson, who quit the team under Majerus, to return for his senior season.
   2. He signs Australian seven-foot center Luke Neville to a letter of intent on April 28, 2004.
   3. On May 19, 2004 he officially announces that Andrew Bogut, last year's MWC Freshman Player of the Year will be returning to the University of Utah for at least one more year.
   4. Without any evidence to the contrary, Giacoletti has helped convince all other returning players and signed recruits to remain with Utah, and already has his team set for next year.

And what do Utah fan's and alumni think of this unproven, unknown coach so far based on all that he has been able to accomplish in such a short period of time? I think the answer is obvious since he has already gone above and beyond exceeding all expectations when he was hired.

Having a coach with a passion to succeed, driven by a sense of urgency or the fear of failure will be a welcome sight. Utah fans saw that sense of urgency once with Majerus, and look to be seeing it again with a coach on the sidelines that feels that he is in over his head.

So, Coach Giacoletti, as University of Utah fans we will admit that we are impressed at what you have shown us so far. It probably won't even be long until the rest of the national media and college basketball prognosticators start to pick up on the lofty expectations generated by all that you have been able to accomplish already. The standard for success by which you will be judged has already been raised.

I'm sure you are already aware that some will now say that you are already setting yourself up for bigger failure with these new expectations for success that you have created.

As a Ute fan myself, I really hope you are listening to them.

Because I can't wait until next season to start so you can continue to prove them all wrong.

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