Mavs assistant Jensen to coach alma mater Utah

• Jeff Borzello Close Jeff Borzello ESPN Staff Writer Basketball recruiting expert. Signed up with ESPN in 2014. Graduate of University of Delaware.Mar 6, 2025, 12:12 PM ET Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Alex Jensen was worked with as the guys’s basketball coach at the University of

Utah, the school announced Thursday.Jensen is a Utah local who won Mr. Basketball in the state in 1994 and then bet the Utes under Rick Majerus, winning Mountain West Player of the Year in 2000 and assisting lead the program to four NCAA competition looks. He also was a starter on the Utah group that went to the 1998 championship game game and lost to Kentucky.Jensen joined Jason Kidd’s personnel in Dallas in 2023 after a decade as an assistant with the Utah Jazz, advancing to the NBA playoffs six times. He has experience training in college, having invested four seasons as an assistant coach at Saint

Louis under Majerus before moving into the expert ranks.Editor’s Picks “This is an exciting day for our men’s basketball program and for the University of Utah neighborhood, as Alex Jensen formally returns to Salt Lake City as our new head coach,”Utah sports director Mark Harlan said.”Alex brings with him significant experience training at the collegiate, NBA and international levels, and is widely-respected for his ability to establish players and teach the game of basketball. Alex has a vision and a prepare for leading the Runnin’Utes basketball program back amongst the nation’s elite, and I am positive that he will raise our program and reignite the passion of our fan base along the method.” Jensen will replace Craig Smith, who was fired last month towards completion of his fourth season in charge of the program. Smith led the Utes to a 65-62 record without an NCAA tournament look. They won 22 games last season, playing themselves onto the NCAA tournament bubble, but lost 8 of their last 12 regular-season games to fall out of consideration.Jensen was involved in the previous Utah coaching search in 2021 before withdrawing his name from factor to consider deep into the process. The Utes employed Smith to change Larry Krystkowiak two days later.” My basketball journey has actually been filled with numerous people who have actually assisted form me as a coach and as an individual, ultimately guiding me to this opportunity to lead the Runnin’Utes basketball program,”Jensen said.”I’m happy for all

of the terrific mentors I’ve had along the way as I embark on this next action to lead Utah Basketball.”Utah hasn’t advanced to the NCAA tournament given that 2016 and has made just 4 appearances because Majerus stepped down for health reasons in 2004. The program will now attempt to follow a comparable course to in-state competing BYU, which employed Phoenix Suns assistant coach Kevin Young to change Mark Pope last spring.Buoyed by an increase of NIL assistance, the Cougars have actually won 7 games in a row and are poised to win their very first NCAA competition game given that 2011. They likewise landed No. 1-ranked hire A.J. Dybantsa in December, vanquishing the similarity North Carolina and Alabama for the talented wing.