Turning things around
Sitting here watching the Utes work out in advance of their summer trip to Australia, and having had lunch with new coach Jim Boylen the other day, I cannot get out of my mind how much Boylen reminds me of someone.
You remember Urban Meyer, right?
Yes, I know. That assigns a ridiculous expectation of the new regime. But Boylen looks like nothing if not the second coming of the former football coach - from the way he stares hard into your eyes when he speaks to you to the way he challenges the players and boldly addresses the team's shortcomings. He was just chewing out forward Shaun Green for being soft while pointing a finger in his chest, as a matter of fact, and Green looked scared and embarrassed by it.
That never happened under Ray Giacoletti.
Boylen also has Meyer's drill-sergeant demeanor when it comes to fitness. There's not a player on the court who's not dying to just fall to his knees and finally catch his breath after all of the running they have been doing. But Boylen won't let them, demanding that they shoot jumper after jumper and free throw after free throw while they're tired.
It's a scene reminiscent of when Meyer locked the doors of the weight room for his first workout several years ago and shocked his new players with the demands of his regime. Stories of exhaustion and relentless vomiting abound among the players of that era, and I can assure you that these players will be telling the same kind of tales soon.
Now, whether that translates into the same kind of success that Meyer enjoyed so immediately, who knows? But I've been here all of 30 minutes, and already it's clear that this ship is no longer sinking.
You remember Urban Meyer, right?
Yes, I know. That assigns a ridiculous expectation of the new regime. But Boylen looks like nothing if not the second coming of the former football coach - from the way he stares hard into your eyes when he speaks to you to the way he challenges the players and boldly addresses the team's shortcomings. He was just chewing out forward Shaun Green for being soft while pointing a finger in his chest, as a matter of fact, and Green looked scared and embarrassed by it.
That never happened under Ray Giacoletti.
Boylen also has Meyer's drill-sergeant demeanor when it comes to fitness. There's not a player on the court who's not dying to just fall to his knees and finally catch his breath after all of the running they have been doing. But Boylen won't let them, demanding that they shoot jumper after jumper and free throw after free throw while they're tired.
It's a scene reminiscent of when Meyer locked the doors of the weight room for his first workout several years ago and shocked his new players with the demands of his regime. Stories of exhaustion and relentless vomiting abound among the players of that era, and I can assure you that these players will be telling the same kind of tales soon.
Now, whether that translates into the same kind of success that Meyer enjoyed so immediately, who knows? But I've been here all of 30 minutes, and already it's clear that this ship is no longer sinking.
