Utah Utes: The Week In Review
Hello fans of Hoyo and those of you who read just because I really irritate you. I want to start this post with an apology, I’ve let you kids down a bit this summer. It’s been a strange one and I’m sorry to say it probably won’t get a ton better before we get to football. In just over a month, I’ll have a new son. His very pregnant mother has torn knee ligaments because a grocery store couldn’t be bothered to clean up a sports drink spill, so she is struggling. And I’ll be having two not major but necessary medical procedures in the next two weeks.
But the good news is when fall camp gets here, I’ll be trapped in the house with a newborn and little more than to write posts for you.
So lets see what happened this week…
SWIM SCANDAL
To look at this week, I think it’s best to look at what happened last week, and last week we got the final swim scandal report. There was lots of fist shaking but nothing really happened. That is, unless you believe the rumor posted here, and now I can confirm others have heard that Dr. Hill will announce his retirement soon and its directly related to this scandal. So we’ll see. As for other viewpoints on this scandal…
Yahoo Sports with a scathing article…
Gordon Monson also goes after Hill…
Brad Rock thinks Hill just trusts too much…
Taxi Squad Podcast interviews Austin Fiascone the swimmer who blew the whistle on all of this. Please listen to this if you can.
And just feel free to run through the archives at concussioninc.net. These guys have been on top of it from the beginning and have all the story from outside the spin of the Utah Athletic Department.
BYU Back On The Football Schedule
Early this week we learned that BYU would be back on the schedule starting in 2016. The 2016 game will be played in Salt Lake City. The 2017 game will be played in Provo and 2018 back in Salt Lake City. The other catch is 2018 will be played in November pending Pac-12 approval. Now I think playing this game in November does nothing for Utah, could potentially hurt us and only helps BYU. But we have a big ol’ segment of our fanbase who haven’t learned we’re in the Pac-12 yet and what Pac-12 priorities should be. This includes a lot of old men who give money, whom are none too happy with Dr. Hill. This is Hill placating them.
A Lesson On Taking Out the Trash
And if you look at the two stories above, it is truly a great lesson in taking out the trash. Taking out the trash is another way of saying that you’re dumping a story that will bring bad PR so as to minimize that PR. And Utah did it amazingly. A press conference two days before the 4th of July. Much of the handwringing was never seen over the holiday weekend. Then on Tuesday you announce new BYU games. And the Salt Lake Media, never ones for deep thought or thinking about things, follows right along. Nice work on this Athletic Department.
Basketball Recruiting
Tony Jones gives the best rundown of Utah basketball recruiting, maybe ever, in this Salt Lake Tribune article. It tells us a couple of things. Larry is going hard instate and just might be putting his entire coaching future on landing Brekkott Chapman. Tony did point out in a tweet to me, that unlike the desert of the last several years, there is actual talent in Utah. Not to mention the out of state thing hasn’t gone well. As for Larry going hard after Brekkott? Well its probably his best option. He needs a star and Brekkott is the only one on the radar. Landing him alone gets Larry a one year extension.
That was the week that was. Like I said up top, I’ll do my best to keep you Hoyo-ites amused, but its an odd time.
Until Next Time