This is great timing, especially after a loss but after watching this game I honestly think the Yewtz are still on the decline that started years ago. They played their hearts out and still it was a very close game against a BYU team that did not play very good.

I predicted and still stand by it that Rick Majerus will run the Yewtah bball program into the ground. Van Horn and Miller and Doleac carried his great teams and it has been down hill from there. Sure, he took them to national recognition but at the cost of their program's soul. When he leaves Yewtah will literally have to rebuild from the ground up.

Sure, we as Y fans are envious of their success through the 90's... especially in contrast to our program bottoming out. For whatever the reason Cleveland had to start from scratch and it took years. BYU has an advantage in that they offer the BYU environment for many great college athletes looking for that sort of thing. Yewtah in contrast is not unique and will find it far more difficult to rebuild. It is still on-going and bumpy but BYU is beginning to get the traditional pipelines going again.

Majerus is building a kingdom not a program and that ultimately puts all your eggs in one basket... the Majerus basket. This reminds me of Tarkanian... Tarks model was to get talent from anywhere he could find it at any cost. This is great for short-term success, but will kill your program.

To have a succesfull ongoing program you need:
1. Traditions and fan support. = $$$
2. Good coaching to develop talent.
3. Recruiting base
4. good media coverage

...among others, but I think these are of most importance.

Yewtah has traditions, but lets face it... their support is between 45 South and Bountiful. They have insignificant support elsewhere. Home game attendance is a symptom of a larger problem...local fan support is shrinking... OR ... the fan support that showed up in the 90's were only fair weather basketball fans and not Yewt fans. In contrast, even in the bad years BYU's attendance dropped dramatically but season ticket sales did not. Fans were buying the seats, just not sitting in them. This also un-coincidentally was when the Jazz were sucking away Wasatch front interest. All this is happening at Yewtah while Jazz interest is dropping. One might have predicted Yewtah interest to increase, not drop. My interpritation is that Yewtah fans are not excited about Majerus teams and have not been for a while. This mediocrity is not inspiring young fans who grow into donors. BYU in contrast is growing it's fan base in both bball and basketball over the last few years.

What is Majerus's recruiting base or pipeline? Majerus has done nothing to change the impression that he dislikes Utah, Mormons, and everything local. The local media can't stand him because he is so cocky and unhelpful. Seldom will you find a "good guy rick" story. His only local relationships are in the Grant and Jensen households. There are also a number of local families who do not like Rick at all because of his abuse of their kids. True or not, it is the local impression. I am sorry, Yewtah does not have the type of reputation where it doesn't need local talent. With the recent rule changes I am not sure that Rick can get another Andre Miller.

The way he treated Judkins shows he is not in for Yewtah bball...just looking out for #1. Maybe it's coincidence, but great LDS talent has all of a sudden stopped coming to Yewtah...and don't give this garbage about not needing it. LDS kids are the local crop and really becoming a Western presence and Yewtah has definately lost it. During Yewtah's great years they were getting alot of LDS talent commits.

Majerus is a great defensive coach period. This is a great asset for the Yewt program.

Has anyone noticed that the off-season coaching job offers have slowed?

In short, Majerus is a great coach with not much else going for him. Recruiting is down and it will take it's toll. This recruiting class better pan out or even the traditional tough cases Majerus recruits will have a hard time believing Majerus is not on the decline. That being said, he still has no recruiting base for the Yewt bball program to draw from and has no credible successor.

Yewt bball is big Rick and big Rick is on the decline and when he leaves it will be a long dark night on the hill.

Go Cougs!