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Rick Majerus Announces End Of His Utah Career
1/28/2004 12:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2004
SALT LAKE CITY -
Longtime University of Utah head men's basketball coach Rick Majerus, who was hospitalized late last night with health problems, has announced a decision to leave his position with the school at the end of the season.
Majerus began suffering chest pains at dinner Tuesday that grew progressively more severe and caused pain to radiate down his left arm. He contacted his cardiologist in Santa Barbara, Calif., who urged him to fly there for immediate treatment. Majerus is currently under his cardiologist's care in a Santa Barbara hospital, where he will remain indefinitely. Ute assistant coach Kerry Rupp will coach the team in Majerus' absence.
According to longtime friend and legal counsel Bob Henderson, "Health permitting, Rick would like to come back and take this team as far as it can go. But in any event, under any circumstances, the Utes' last game this season is Rick's last game as Utah head men's basketball coach."
Majerus has a 323-95 record in 15 seasons at Utah and a 422-147 career record in 20 seasons as a head coach. He has never had a losing season and has averaged 21 wins a year over the course of his career. Under Majerus, the Utes have made 10 trips to the NCAA Tournament and 12 total appearances in postseason play. In 1998, the Utes played in the NCAA Final Four, losing to Kentucky in the national championship game. The Utes have advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 four times under Majerus and made back-to-back Elite Eight appearances in 1997 and 1998. The Utes have won a remarkable 10 regular season conference titles in the last 13 years under Majerus. He has coached five All-Americans-including two consensus All-Americans-at Utah. During his tenure on the hill, he has won five national Coach of the Year awards: Basketball Times (1991), UPI (1991), Playboy (1991, 1998) and John Wooden (1998).
Utah Director of Athletics Dr. Chris Hill accepted Majerus' decision. "Rick has done a wonderful job as our basketball coach for the past 15 years. He has taken this program to national prominence and his student-athletes do well academically and conduct themselves in a way that is a credit to the University of Utah. He has been a major building block to the growth of our entire athletics department. More than anything, Rick is a co-worker and I wish him the best with his health and his future endeavors."
Lorris Betz, interim president at the University of Utah, responded to the news by saying, "I was very sorry to learn that Rick Majerus will be stepping down as the University's head basketball coach at the end of this season for health reasons. Rick's teams have been among the best in the country since he arrived here and the University has benefitted from that success. I wish Rick well and remain hopeful that he will be able to finish out this season as our head coach."
Majerus' health problems have caused him to take extended leaves of absence two other seasons since he started coaching at Utah back in 1989. He coached just six games in his inaugural Ute season due to heart bypass surgery in December of 1989. He coached one game in the 2000-01 season before taking a personal leave of absence to deal with his own health issues and to care for his ailing mother.
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