No team in basketball, either college or the NBA, is having a worse season than the Dallas Mavericks. After the organization traded away generational superstar Luka Doncic for the aging and oft-injured Anthony Davis and watched Kyrie Irving go out for the season with a torn ACL, assistant coach Alex Jensen had to feel as though he was getting a life raft off the Titanic when he emerged as the top candidate for the head coaching vacancy at Utah. On Thursday, Jensen hopped aboard.
Sources: Dallas Mavericks assistant Alex Jensen is now finalizing a deal to become the next head coach at Utah. https://t.co/yEd1MUjzo9
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 6, 2025
Utah finalizing a deal with Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Alex Jensen
Utah is reportedly hiring the 48-year-old former Ute to lead its program after the mid-season firing of Craigh Smith. Smith took over the program in 2021 and failed to lead Utah to the NCAA Tournament.
Jensen’s first head coaching experience came in the NBA G-League from 2011-13 before he joined the Utah Jazz as an assistant coach. He has been on Jason Kidd’s staff in Dallas since 2023 and was a top assistant when Doncic led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals last season.
Utah has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2016, narrowly missing out in 2024 after Smith led the Utes to a 22-win season in their final season in the Pac-12. That was the first 20-win year since 2018 under Larry Krystkowiak.
The midseason firing of Smith, who was 15-12 at the time, appears to signal that the athletic department at Utah is getting aggressive. With the move from the Pac-12 to the Big 12, Utah now shares a conference with in-state rival BYU, and the Cougars are thriving in the NIL era.
Despite losing head coach Mark Pope to Kentucky last offseason, BYU, under new head coach Kevin Young, is 22-8 (13-6) and has the No. 1 high school recruit in the country heading to Provo as a part of its 2025 class. Young’s three-player class, headlined by five-star forward AJ Dybantsa, ranks No. 11 in the country and still may add five-star guard Brayden Burries.
Rivalries are a huge motivating factor in college sports, and though Utah beat BYU in overtime back in January, the Cougars are quickly leaving the Utes behind on the basketball court. Now, Jensen’s job will be to catch up, and taking the job before the transfer portal opens means he’ll have time to get his program in position for a quick turnaround.