Official College Hoops 2012-2013!!!!!!

[The Poet]

The college basketball community lost legendary coach (and jovial trencherman) Rick Majerus on Saturday night. He got his start in coaching as an assistant under the equally-cheerful Al McGuire at Marquette. In 25 seasons as a head coach at Marquette, Ball State, Utah, and Saint Louis he had a winning season in all but one of those, with 15 20-win and 2 30-win, led teams to the NCAA 12 times and the NIT 4 times, and finished his career with a most-respectable 517-216 record.

One thing you probably do not know about Rick, as it was pretty much an "inside, under-the-radar" story. When Dean Smith retired at UNC, leaving the reins in Bill Guthridge's hands as interim head coach (in reward for decades as assistant and to allow a search committe ample time to acquire a suitable long-term candidate), he lobbied strongly for Carolina to hire Rick Majerus. But somebody else, who should NOT have had more sway but DID with said committe, convinced them to hire his old teammate instead . . . which is how Michael Jordan pulled a backdoor on Dean and got Matt Doherty the job.

Rest in peace, Rick.