Utah Basketball: 5 candidates to replace Larry Krystkowiak as head coach

Alex Jensen

If Connor would be the great hire from the current staff, then let’s consider someone else familiar with the program who isn’t currently with the Utes. It won’t be a necessity for the next coach to have ties to Utah; Krystkowiak certainly didn’t, but there’s another hire that makes a lot of sense if that’s what the university wants.

Jensen played his college ball under Majerus for Utah, starring at small forward. He played internationally for seven years and has been a coach ever since. His coaching career began on Majerus’s staff at Saint Louis before becoming head coach of the Canton Charge of the G-League. Jensen has spent the last eight years nearby in the Utah Jazz organization.

There will be many people eager to see Jensen, a former star Ute and local hero, get his shot at this job. He fits many of the criteria for the job, though he does have a lack of collegiate coaching experience. This would be his first collegiate head coaching job and his first experience at a power conference program. However, Juwan Howard has recently taught us that these NBA assistants can in fact make their mark on these collegiate programs.