Former Runnin’ Utes Speak On Utah Basketball, Coaching Change
Feb 26, 2025, 1:30 PM
SALT LAKE CITY—As Utah begins its search for its next head coach, Mark Harlan has expressed the desire to raise the program’s expectations.
Utah proved it can compete in the Big 12 this season, which adds to the shock value of the change, but clearly, a change was deemed necessary for Utah to reach another level.
The decision to dismiss men’s basketball head coach Craig Smith was a surprising one. Regardless, the change is a significantly pivotal moment for Runnin’ Utes basketball.
To raise the bar, the right hire must be made to reignite the program’s passion. Since the news of the decision, former Runnin’ Ute greats have chimed in on the subject.
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Former Runnin’ Utes Josh Grant, Jeff Johnsen, Jeff Judkins, What Led To Coaching Change
“There was no consistency, no discipline, and as former players who have gone through the grind, quite honestly, it makes you realize, come on, this is just kind of unacceptable,” Josh Grant shared.
“Even if it’s from afar, if you were involved in the program in some way, you’re paying attention and you’re seeing, and it’s kind of embarrassing,” he continued. “When you had a program that was getting to the Sweet 16 every decade, getting to the tournament quite regularly, and then you’re getting beat by some of these teams, and you just think, holy cow guys, we’ve got to do something better than that.”
Jeff Johnsen was a little more sympathetic towards Craig Smith but still came to a similar conclusion about why this move was made.
“Let me say this, Craig Smith’s a really good guy, I live in the same area as him, I bump into him a lot,” he shared. “He’s got a great personality, and I think he’s a really good coach. With that said, I think that for most of the things I had heard this year was that if we didn’t make a tourney run, they were probably going to make a move.”
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As for Jeff Judkins, who has seen a lot of basketball in the state, shared an interesting thought on the difficulty of coaching in today’s game.
“The hard part of the university job is not just getting the job and recruiting, it’s winning, it’s getting the fans back, it’s getting Utah back on the map where they need to be,” he said. “It’s dealing with the NIL money, it’s dealing with so many other obstacles that are hard to try to do.
Who Should Coach Utah Basketball?
With the search underway, Utah will have options to pursue. However, it’s clear that these former greats would prefer to see someone with direct ties to the program, namely Alex Jensen, Andre Miller, and Johnny Bryant.
“My opinion is very, very strong in favor of Alex (Jensen), and I don’t know if I agree with you that there are others” Grant stated. “I think Alex is the guy who coached under Rick, he understands the good, solid principles. He’s had his own team in the D-League, he’s been the D-League Coach of the Year. He’s worked in the NBA. He understands player development.”
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This is obviously a strong vote of confidence, but he went even further to emphasize just how important it is that Jensen is the guy.
“I 100% support Alex and Alex only and if Alex tells you no, you go back to Alex again and you say, come on Alex, please, what’s it going to take? And if it takes five iterations, then you do five iterations. He’s the guy that needs to be the coach this year.”
When asked about the candidacy of former Runnin’ Utes, Johnson shared the same sentiment.
“I’d love to see it. I think they’ve tried everything else with guys from outside of here. Now it’s time to try somebody with Utah ties who remembers the passion that can be in that stadium when they’re good, when they have good players, and when they have good fan support.”
As the one that coached all three of these players and has followed their development over the years, Judkins believes any of the three would do a great job.
“I know right now that there are several candidates that I think, you know, that I was fortunate to coach, that I think could really do a good job,” Judkins shared. “All those candidates you mentioned (Bryant, Miller, Jensen) love the University of Utah. They would all be absolutely great because they love Utah. I think that’s what needs to happen is you need to get somebody that ‘Utah’ means something to them.”
What Does Utah Need To Elevate The Program?
Utah proved that it can compete in the Big 12 this season. However, clearly there are higher expectations. In order to do that, Grant, Johnsen, and Judkins all believe that Utah needs to get back to a tried and true recipe centered on improved recruiting within the state.
Given his involvement as a coach with one of the top AAU programs in the state, Johnsen laid out what Utah needs to get back on track.
“I think for Utah basketball, they’ve got to hit on those one or two in-state kids that are going to continue to love to play for Utah and they’re going to get fan interest there,” he shared. You’ve got to hit on those every year and then sprinkle in the transfer portal kids and the out of state kids.
“I’m very dialed into the high school scene with the top players,” he continued.” I would love to be able to have a former Ute that’s associated with the program that has a passion for it to be able to help sell that to these high school kids that I’m involved with.”
Grant shared similar feelings and added context to why it’s important for Utah to focus their recruiting on in-state kids.
“If you look back at the history of Utah basketball, the teams that had the most success, they’ve had a really good core of in-state players,” he said. “Those players are smart, they value the ball, they don’t turn it over, they play together, they’re good shorters, but most importantly, they’re coachable and play hard.”
