I'd love to be a fly on the wall (no, not really) when Boylen and KWhitt discuss these important issues. One guy doing the beating comforts the guy getting beat. Next fall they'll flip flop when Poke football returns the beatdown and Puke bball lays the wood to the Pokes.

Come on, this isn't intramurals!

Wrubbell speaks out on his blog: Reading between the lines, Boylen is crazy.

Here's some reading material from the blog.

Just a Hunch...
March 3rd, 2008 @ 6:17pm

...but I don't think Heath Schroyer is going to be up late tonight drafting an apology letter to Jim Boylen.

I have been asked by many people in the last couple of days to share my thoughts regarding the "Alley-Oop Heard 'Round the Hill".. so here goes, in rapid-fire fashion.

1) First and foremost, Heath Schroyer is a respected coach and a respectable man. He is as competitive as any coach I have ever witnessed, he can be loud and he can be salty--but Heath Schroyer has class. He coaches his team to have class, and his future teams will have even more of the Schroyer imprint than the current edition. Would he have preferred that Ewing and Taylor not get together on an alley-oop at the final horn? Perhaps. Does he understand why they did it? Probably. Does he need to apologize for his players? Absolutely not.

2) At the time of the dunk, Wyoming led by 6 points, not 26! This was not a blowout. It was a four-point game when Johnnie Bryant scored with 22 seconds to play! No one was in "pull it out" mode at that point. In fact, only moments before the play in question, the outcome of the game was in doubt to the extent that Jim Boylen was making sure the timekeeper put an extra three seconds back on the clock. If Boylen thinks the extra three seconds were important, then maybe the Wyoming players thought playing until the final horn was important, too.

3) Boylen initiated the confrontation with Schroyer in the handshake line, and Heath was willing to let it go. But as the coaches approached each other as they made their way to their lockerrooms, Boylen kept chirping at Schroyer, and Heath had had enough. He went back at Boylen, and that's when the oft-replayed obscenity was fired Schroyer's way. Not surprisingly, but importantly, Schroyer has the backing of his Athletic Director, who was in perfect position to witness the entire confrontation.

4) The coaching profession is a pretty collegial business, even within conferences, and while competing bench bosses are rarely best of friends, the coaches tend to get along with each other and respect each other. Clearly, Boylen has ruffled a few feathers in his first year in the league, and only time will tell whether relationships become strained or whether his on-court actions will be forgiven as "heat of the moment" occurrences.

But here's where it gets interesting. While Schroyer's postgame comments were conciliatory if not apologetic, Boylen's public statements have been bitter and bombastic, and what surprises me most in this instance is that two days after the fact, Boylen continues to harp on a play that most other coaches would have filed away--at least publicly.

5) Boylen has more serious concerns than the final two points in the final seconds of a loss that extends his current losing skid to four games. Whether it's pointing to free throw disparities, noting his team's shortcomings or fixating on a meaningless end-of-the game play, excuses are being created for his team, and it's not terribly surprising that since the BYU game and its in-game/post-game examination of the officiating, Boylen's team has lost every contest.

6) Much of my perspective is influenced by the close association I have had with Dave Rose, and before him, Steve Cleveland (and both their staffs), not to mention the myriad other coaches I have come to know in and out of this league. And it's a simple fact to say Boylen is unusual--he does things that most other coaches don't do. It's just a fact. He is unique, he is original, he is genuinely passionate, but he is different--and Boylen's personality type promises to make life interesting as long as he is around.

*******

Off topic, but if Dave Rose started bringing Trent Plaisted and Lee Cummard off the bench, BYU fans might think it a curious move. At Utah, Jim Boylen's two best players (Nevill and Bryant) are not starting, and while he has his reasons and knows his team better than I ever will, keeping your only two all-conference performers out of the starting lineup, is, well... unusual.

Unusual=crazy

There is more to read at his blog about BYU, but that's for another thread.

His reaction does not surprise me, all year long we have seen him come with lame excuse after lame excuse after each loss. In addition, he has thrown almost as many players under the bus as Kyle has, it amazes me he still has a team left to put on the floor.

I really think we have "little man syndrome" going on here. Boylen came from a big basketball conference and probably thought all the other teams in this insignificant conference would roll over because, well he is "Jim Boylen from Michigan State". When the other teams started to kick his trash and continue to do so he thinks it is very insubordinate for them to do it. Just wait until he pulls the, what do you think you are doing, do you know who I am card.

Here is a list of excuses he can use in the future.

I do not understand why our opponent shot the 3 pointer when we were up by 2 points, I demand an apology.

The crowd for our opponent was too loud and we could not hear each other

They made us play the game on a Tuesday night, everyone knows it is better to play on Saturdays.

I do not understand why our mascot is a hawk when we are the crying utes.

I saw the movie Hoosiers and I know how it ends, our game was suppose to go the same way.

The other team free throw line was closer to the basket than ours was.

I did not realize you should have your best players start the game.

I am wondering why everyone thinks we are sackless here at Utah?


Feel free to add on your excuses.

blue42 wrote:

His reaction does not surprise me, all year long we have seen him come with lame excuse after lame excuse after each loss. In addition, he has thrown almost as many players under the bus as Kyle has, it amazes me he still has a team left to put on the floor.

I really think we have "little man syndrome" going on here. Boylen came from a big basketball conference and probably thought all the other teams in this insignificant conference would roll over because, well he is "Jim Boylen from Michigan State". When the other teams started to kick his trash and continue to do so he thinks it is very insubordinate for them to do it. Just wait until he pulls the, what do you think you are doing, do you know who I am card.

Here is a list of excuses he can use in the future.

I do not understand why our opponent shot the 3 pointer when we were up by 2 points, I demand an apology.

The crowd for our opponent was too loud and we could not hear each other

They made us play the game on a Tuesday night, everyone knows it is better to play on Saturdays.

I do not understand why our mascot is a hawk when we are the crying utes.

I saw the movie Hoosiers and I know how it ends, our game was suppose to go the same way.

The other team free throw line was closer to the basket than ours was.

I did not realize you should have your best players start the game.

I am wondering why everyone thinks we are sackless here at Utah?


Feel free to add on your excuses.

people should be pressing him more about that. That's why they lost, not because the wyoming players showboated a little bit.

that said, wyoming should be glad that Elaine Elliot doesn't coach the men, because wyoming would get whipped the next time they played the U.

actually the men would probably be better off if she was coaching instead of boylin

Check out the comments (all by Ute fans, as far as I can tell) on Mike Sorenson's blog regarding the matter. Quite an entertaining read. (The comments, not the blog. As much as Ute fans complain that Dick Harmon is a BYU homer (which is true), Mike Sorenson is just as bad, if not worse).

This reminds me so much of the Utah Wyoming football game. Where Kwhitt kept on saying "you have to be accountable" Both Boylen and Whittingham are idiots and I am so glad that U hired these morons. Ha Ha

Go Rose and Bronco!!!