Well, wow. I knew it was coming, but wow.
Last offseason, I got a call from someone with ties to the Crimson Collective and they told me that they were asked to make marketing material on Andre Miller coming home. This was as a member of Utah’s staff. From there, some of the boosters had a realization that they had their guy in the program and why not buy Craig out at that time last offseason. There was some internal back-and-forth on figuring out how that would go, and there were also boosters that pledged NIL money contingent on Andre being on staff.
As all of that stuff was going on behind the scenes, things were dragging, and I was told that Andre basically said that he already had a good job and that he would see everybody next year. The dragging on had nothing to do with Harlan, he was fully on board and ecstatic.
The timing of this leads me and a few of my sources with close ties to the scene, believing that there has already been back-channel communication, and a form of an agreement made. Again, I’m not saying that something is already in place, just piecing the puzzle together, and that makes a lot of sense to me with the timing of this. Whether that is Andre Miller or Alex Jensen, time will tell. There’s always the outside chance of Johnnie Bryant, although I don’t see it as likely this year.
At this rate, if it’s anybody other than those three and especially Andre or Alex, I’d be shocked. Everything that I have heard behind the scenes over this last year, makes me lean heavily towards Andre at the moment. There has also been times in the past two years, where the belief is that if Alex Jensen came as the head coach, Andre would be willing to come along with him. I’ve also been told recently, that people close to Andre have been saying that he’s just waiting for the call.
I feel bad for Craig Smith and all of this. He’s a great coach and a great person, but minds have been made up for a while and they’re really was unfortunately no way of him escaping this.
The best news in all of this is that if it’s one of the guys I’ve mentioned, the Huntsman family will be heavily involved in Utah basketball again.
Last offseason, I got a call from someone with ties to the Crimson Collective and they told me that they were asked to make marketing material on Andre Miller coming home. This was as a member of Utah’s staff. From there, some of the boosters had a realization that they had their guy in the program and why not buy Craig out at that time last offseason. There was some internal back-and-forth on figuring out how that would go, and there were also boosters that pledged NIL money contingent on Andre being on staff.
As all of that stuff was going on behind the scenes, things were dragging, and I was told that Andre basically said that he already had a good job and that he would see everybody next year. The dragging on had nothing to do with Harlan, he was fully on board and ecstatic.
The timing of this leads me and a few of my sources with close ties to the scene, believing that there has already been back-channel communication, and a form of an agreement made. Again, I’m not saying that something is already in place, just piecing the puzzle together, and that makes a lot of sense to me with the timing of this. Whether that is Andre Miller or Alex Jensen, time will tell. There’s always the outside chance of Johnnie Bryant, although I don’t see it as likely this year.
At this rate, if it’s anybody other than those three and especially Andre or Alex, I’d be shocked. Everything that I have heard behind the scenes over this last year, makes me lean heavily towards Andre at the moment. There has also been times in the past two years, where the belief is that if Alex Jensen came as the head coach, Andre would be willing to come along with him. I’ve also been told recently, that people close to Andre have been saying that he’s just waiting for the call.
I feel bad for Craig Smith and all of this. He’s a great coach and a great person, but minds have been made up for a while and they’re really was unfortunately no way of him escaping this.
The best news in all of this is that if it’s one of the guys I’ve mentioned, the Huntsman family will be heavily involved in Utah basketball again.
