Weighty issues

Steve Addy

Friday, Jan. 11, 2002 | 10:35 a.m.

Age: 53 (Feb. 17, 1948)

Hometown: Milwaukee

College: Marquette, 1970

Coaching record: 371-128 (.743), 18 seasons

Utah record: 272-76 (.782), 13 seasons

Career highlights: Guided Utes to the 1998 NCAA championship game, losing to Kentucky. ... Has coached Utah to eight outright or shared conference titles (six straight from 1995-00). ... Average won-loss record from 1995-99 was 28-5. ... National coach of the year 1991, 1998. ... Also head coach at Marquette, 1983-86 (56-35), and Ball State, 1987-89 (43-17).

Did you know? Majerus has a 94-34 record against Mountain West schools, with a winning mark against every school except UNLV (3-3).

It didn't take a year away from coaching to realign Rick Majerus' perspective on life.

When he walked away from his Utah basketball post to tend to his ailing mother, he proved his priorities were already in the right order.

But now that he's back on the Utes bench, ready to open the conference season Saturday against UNLV, Majerus exudes genuine gratitude for the chance to keep doing what he loves.

"I have always considered it an honor and a privilege to be a coach," he said. "I've got a great job. I love to coach, I've got great kids, and for the most part I've enjoyed it. And I missed it."

Certainly, Majerus' reputation as a coaching lifer is richly deserved. In his 13th season of a terrific career with the Utes, his 31st year in coaching, the 53-year-old Midwesterner is also among the most convivial characters in college basketball.

In equal measures, Majerus is a salt-of-the-earth good guy and a rather strange bird. Las Vegas buffets never had a more loyal customer than this frequent visitor. We wouldn't dare guess the coach's weight, a condition he has grappled with for years, but he remains bulbous.

WHAT: UNLV (8-5) at Utah (10-3)

WHEN: Saturday, noon

WHERE: Huntsman Center, Salt Lake City

TV: KFBT Cable 6

RADIO: KBAD 920-AM

This is also a man who has lived in a Marriott hotel for most of his tenure in Salt Lake City, and a coach who holds court at Mountain West media day in a T-shirt and ratty red Utah shorts. Alongside his turtlenecked and sports-jacketed colleagues, the contrast is comical.

However, there's no arguing that Majerus' way has been greatly successful. Since his arrival in 1989, the Utes have a 272-76 record, 10-3 this season, raising his career winning percentage to 74.3. That was fifth among active coaches before the season.

It's a record that has kept Utah among the West's leading programs and caused UNLV to briefly pursue Majerus for its coaching vacancy last March. He declined to meet with then-A.D. Charlie Cavagnaro, and that ended that.

Around that time, Majerus was emerging from one of the most difficult periods of his life and career. After coaching the season opener, he left his team in November to complete his recovery from September knee surgery.

He intended to return in January, but started to have chest pains. Stents were placed in two arteries in January, and he decided he would leave the club in the hands of assistant Dick Hunsaker for the rest of the season.

But it wasn't only Majerus' health that required attention. His 75-year-old mother, Alyce, was fighting lung cancer back in Milwaukee, and his longtime mentor, former Marquette coach Al McGuire, was in declining health there.

Alyce has survived, 15 years after her cancer was diagnosed, but McGuire did not, dying at age 72 last Jan. 26.

A year later, Majerus says those matters didn't necessarily lead to a fresh perspective.

"I've had two nieces die, my father has died, a great friend from college died and I've had a number of people close to me die," he said. "If, in fact, there is any type of deity and he wanted to teach me some type of lesson, I don't know that I hadn't already learned it.

"I much rather would have coached last year than have to take care of my mother. So I don't know if I had any kind of renewal or affirmation about what's most important. I think I've always placed a priority on those things."

About the only concession Majerus volunteers now is a keener understanding of the changes his Mormon players undergo while they're away on two-year LDS Church missions.

"You get introspective to a certain extent when you deal with a life-and-death situation," he said. "My mom's situation was life-and-death, and to my Mormon (players), their mission is life-and-death because their faith in the afterlife is so great.

"I can see why my Mormon boys come back and probably never again have the same focus, because their perspective on real life has changed. I don't know if my perception is changed. Maybe it's hard to get back to being as demanding, but I don't know."

After a year of keeping track of his team from long distance, Majerus said he senses no coaching rust 13 games into his return.

"I think I'm still an OK coach. I try hard every day," he said.

Coming into the game against UNLV, Majerus and the Utes are entering an uncertain period. With a roster devoid of any NBA prospects, they came through the nonconference with a 10-3 record and even beat Texas 71-61.

But they lost senior center Chris Burgess to a foot injury in that game, and he's not expected to return. He was averaging 13.2 points and a team-high 7.2 rebounds.

"My heart thinks Burgess will be back tomorrow, but in my head, I've got to believe he's out for the year," Majerus said. "We aren't anticipating he'll be back. I feel bad because it's his senior year. He was starting to play with a bit of reckless abandon."

Majerus' newest crisis is a disciplinary issue with starting point guard Travis Spivey. The two had a disagreement at practice last week and Majerus left Spivey home Monday when the Utes played Saint Mary's College in Moraga, Calif. Utah escaped with a 41-35 win.

Spivey has rejoined practice, but Majerus wouldn't clarify his status Thursday.

"I don't know if he'll rejoin the team," Majerus said. "I'm not into burying anyone. We'll just have to see. Without him, it plays havoc on the court."