National News Coverage

Saint Louis Hires Rick Majerus to Replace Recently Fired Brad Soderberg As Basketball Coach

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Utah Head coach Rick Majerus yells to his players during the first half of their first round game against Indiana in the NCAA Tournament in this March 14, 2002, in Sacramento. Saint Louis hired Rick Majerus on Friday, a move that signals the school’s intentions of becoming a Top 50 national program. Father Lawrence Biondi, the school president, announced the hiring in a statement. Majerus, a college basketball analyst for ESPN the last three years, has a career record of 422-147 with 15 postseason appearances. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)

By R.B. FALLSTROM AP Sports Writer

ST. LOUIS Apr 27, 2007 (AP)— Saint Louis hired Rick Majerus on Friday, a move that signals the school’s intentions of becoming a Top 50 national program. Father Lawrence Biondi, the school president, announced the hiring in a statement. Majerus, an analyst for ESPN the last three years, has a career record of 422-147 with 15 postseason appearances.

The school will introduce the 59-year-old Majerus at a news conference Monday morning. Majerus’ first appearance is being delayed through the weekend because the school wanted to avoid competing for attention with the NFL draft and a weekend Cardinals-Cubs series.

“I am extremely excited about having a person of Rick Majerus’ stature and reputation at the helm of our men’s basketball team,” Biondi said. “I know that we are now headed to take our men’s basketball team to the next level.”

The school and Majerus had been negotiating for several days, beginning not long after Brad Soderberg was fired after failing to lead the school to the NCAA tournament in any of his five seasons. Saint Louis hasn’t been to the NCAAs since 2000 and had an RPI of 73 at the end of last season.

Majerus coached Utah to the national championship game in 1998 before losing to Kentucky, leading the school to 10 NCAA appearances in 15 seasons. He also has coached at Ball State and Marquette and with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks as an assistant.

Majerus accepted the Southern California job in December 2004 only to change his mind three days later. He had cited health reasons when he retired as Utah’s coach in January 2004.

Last year, he turned down an offer to become an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggetts of the NBA.

Majerus will inherit a team that has four returning starters, losing only senior center Ian Vouyoukas. Forward Tommie Liddell, who will be a junior, led the team with a 15.4-point average.

“Rick and I have gotten a chance to know each other over the past week,” Biondi said. “I am very impressed with all that he will bring to our men’s basketball program, including his commitment to run a program that we can all be proud of.”

Soderberg was fired April 17, several weeks after a 20-13 finish in his final season, and the first 20-win season of his career, failed to generate even an NIT bid. At that time the school said the move was also tied to the school’s new $80.5 million arena under construction, which is about $7.5 million short of its fundraising goal.

Saint Louis hasn’t had a 20-win season since 1997-98, and finished in the middle of the pack in the Atlantic 10 Conference last season. Saint Louis was 80-74 under Soderberg and made it to the NIT his first two seasons.

A school spokesman said athletic director Cheryl Levick would be unavailable for comment until Monday.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

It’s Official

It’s Official: Majerus hired to coach SLU

By Tom Timmermann

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

04/27/2007

Rick Majerus will be introduced as the new SLU men’s basketball coach. (Al Behrman/AP)

In what amounts to a major change in the way St. Louis University is approaching basketball, SLU has hired former Utah coach Rick Majerus to replace Brad Soderberg, who was fired on April 17.

Majerus, one of the most successful coaches in college basketball in recent years, will be introduced at a news conference on Monday at 10 a.m.

Majerus, 59, has been out of coaching since stepping down from Utah in the middle of the 2004 season due to health concerns. Since then, he has been working for ESPN as an analyst, though his name has surfaced with several other job openings.

Majerus first met with Biondi last Saturday, and SLU and Majerus’ agent spent the next five days negotiating. On Friday, Biondi and Majerus met face to face to hammer out the final details. An agreement was reached late afternoon on Friday. Details of Majerus’ contract were not specifically available, but it’s believed he will make around $1 million a year for five years. Soderberg’s salary was around $400,000. The highest-paid coach in the Atlantic 10 had been Sean Miller at Xavier, who makes between $700,000 and $900,000.

“I’m excited about this opportunity,’’ Majerus told the Post-Dispatch on Friday. “Fr. Biondi has put together a terrific package with the arena. I went to a Jesuit school and it’s an honor and a privelege and I hope to be able to share that with other youngsters. I look forward to working with this team. I feel very excited. I think it’s a world class university and I think we can bring the team up to the standards of the university, not that they haven’t been good in the past.”

In the past, SLU has hired assistant coaches or head coaches at smaller schools looking to step up in the world. In Majerus, SLU has hired one of the biggest names in the business, a coach regarded for his basketball acumen, though whose sometimes prickly demeanor has alienated many over the years.

“I am extremely excited about having a person of Rick Majerus’ stature and reputation at the helm of our men’s basketball team. I know that we are now headed to take our men’s basketball team to the next level” Biondi said in a statement. “Rick and I have gotten a chance to know each other over the past week, and I am very impressed with all that he will bring to our men’s basketball program, including his commitment to run a program that we can all be proud of.”

“Rick Majerus is known as one of the most passionate basketball coaches in America, and he has already communicated that passion to all he has met at SLU,” athletics director Cheryl Levick said in a statement.

“Rick is committed to taking our men’s basketball program to the next level, which is what our athletic department and all Billiken fans want. We are also excited about what this means to SLU athletics.”

Majerus was the only coach SLU contacted about the job, and the only one to have an on-campus interview. After meeting with school officials over the weekend, the two sides went into lengthy discussions that have finally reached a conclusion.

Of course, with Majerus, it still might not be over. He took the job at USC in December of 2004, only to change his mind a few days later and say he wasn’t up for the job.

Majerus attended Marquette and played as a walk-on as a freshman in 1967 but he was cut from the team before the following season. He graduated in 1970 and spent the next 12 seasons at the school, first as an assistant to Al McGuire, then to McGuire’s successor, Hank Raymonds.

Majerus replaced Raymonds in 1983 and had a 56-35 record in three seasons as head coach, going to the NIT each season. He was an assistant coach for the NBA Milwaukee Bucks for one season (1986-87) before returning to the college ranks, coaching Ball State for two seasons with a record of 43-17. In his second season at Ball State, his team went 29-3 and reached the NCAA Tournament, where it lost in the first round.

He left Ball State to take the job at Utah, but six games into the season, with his team off to a 4-2 start, he had to leave the team to have heart surgery. Assistant coach Joe Cravens finished the season.

Majerus was back on the sidelines next season as the Utes went 30-4 and reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. They finished the season ranked 10th in the nation.

Utah finished third in the NIT the following season and then lost in the second round of the NCAA Tournament the year after that. His 1993-94 team went 14-14, his only team not to have a winning record in 15 seasons at Utah.

What followed was a golden era for Utah basketball. His 1994-95 team went 28-6, was ranked 22nd in the nation and got to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In 1995-96, Utah went 27-7, reached the Sweet 16 and was ranked 12th in the final poll. The next season, Utah went 29-4, reached the regional final and was ranked sixth in the final coaches poll.

Majerus’ biggest accomplishment came the following season, when Utah went 30-4 and reached the NCAA final, losing to Kentucky. On the way to the final, Utah beat Arizona and North Carolina.

From ESPN

Former Utah coach and current ESPN analyst Rick Majerus has accepted the head coaching position at Saint Louis and will be introduced at a Monday news conference, Majerus told ESPN.com Friday.

Majerus

Majerus said he will sign the contract Saturday. Majerus has been at ESPN as a game and studio analyst the past three years. Majerus, consdidered one of the top basketball minds, coached the Utes to the 1998 national title game.

Majerus was the only candidate the Billikens interviewed to replace Brad Soderberg, who was fired two weeks ago after his inability to get the Billikens to the NCAA Tournament in five seasons.

“I’m excited to get back into coaching,” Majerus said. “This is a great opportunity. I’m going to bust my tail and we’ll see how it goes.”

Saint Louis, which plays in the Atlantic 10, is going to open a new $80.5 million arena on campus in two seasons. SLU is simliar to Majerus’ alma mater Marquette where he played and coached.

Majerus’ hiring is a home run for the school, which was criticized for the timing of Soderberg’s firing.

“Rick wrestled with this decision all week,” his agent Sandy Montag of IMG said. “He’ll miss ESPN. He really loved the people at ESPN. This was an emotional decision. He made the final decision Thursday night. This keeps him close to his mother in Milwaukee and that is very important to him.”

The contract will be close to five years for close to $1 million a year.

Return to Glory

Majerus Named Head Coach

Rick Majerus will lead the Billikens into the 2007-08 season.

April 27, 2007

ST. LOUIS – Saint Louis University President Lawrence Biondi, S.J., announced today that Rick Majerus will be the new Billikens head men’s basketball coach. Prior to working as a college basketball analyst for ESPN for the last three years, Majerus amassed a 422-147 career head coaching record and took his teams to the postseason 15 times.

The University will hold an on-campus news conference at 10 a.m. Monday, April 30, to formally announce Majerus’ appointment. The news conference will be held in Busch Student Center, 20 N. Grand Blvd.

“I am extremely excited about having a person of Rick Majerus’ stature and reputation at the helm of our men’s basketball team. I know that we are now headed to take our men’s basketball team to the next level” Father Biondi said. “Rick and I have gotten a chance to know each other over the past week, and I am very impressed with all that he will bring to our men’s basketball program, including his commitment to run a program that we can all be proud of.”

“Rick Majerus is known as one of the most passionate basketball coaches in America, and he has already communicated that passion to all he has met at SLU,” said Director of Athletics Cheryl Levick. “Rick is committed to taking our men’s basketball program to the next level, which is what our athletic department and all Billiken fans want. We are also excited about what this means to SLU athletics.”

Majerus will join University officials at the news conference Monday.

Welcome, Billies…

This web log (blog) is intended to update, inform and enhance the lives of the student body, alumni contingency and fans of Saint Louis Billiken basketball. It is intended for lively banter and discussion, as well as some off-color comments and remarks from some of our more “passionate” fans. This site will serve as a bastion for the outspoken and politically incorrect fans as well. I welcome you and I welcome your comments and I hope this blog will serve it’s intended purpose — to be a fresh perspective on Saint Louis Billiken basketball.

Respectfully submitted,

Douglas C. Neidermeyer

B.A. ’05