Utah coach Rick Majerus will take the rest of the 2000-01 season off to help his mother get through cancer surgery, recover from his own heart surgery and rehab his surgically repaired knee. But Majerus told ESPN.com he will return to Utah for the 2001-02 season.
"This isn't about the return to the team, this is about my mom," Majerus told ESPN.com. "I only have one mom and she's in the battle of her life. But I'm coming back to coaching at Utah."
|  | | Concern over both his and his mother's health forced Rick Majerus to put coaching the Utes on hold until the 2001-02 season. |
Majerus said Tuesday he was leaving for Wisconsin on Wednesday to be with his mother, as she prepares for aggressive treatment on a tumor.
Majerus was released from LDS Hospital in Salt Lake City on Sunday after undergoing a coronary angiography and the stenting of two coronary branches last Tuesday. Majerus did have a setback last Wednesday when he suffered bleeding from the femoral artery in his left leg. He already has limited use of his right leg because of poor rehabilitation following September knee surgery.
Doctors weren't pleased he was leaving the state, but did clear him to take the trip to Wisconsin. Majerus met with Utah players Tuesday before a news conference.
"My knee is fine and if this were April, then no one knows about it," Majerus said. "My heart is 100 percent. But I'm beat after the thing with the artery in my leg.
"The main thing is my mom. I told every kid when I recruited them since 1990 when she had breast cancer that if she ever gets sick then I'll have to leave the team. They all understood that. There's eight weeks left in the season. And if my dad were alive then it might be different, but it's just my mom and her three kids."
Majerus coached the season opening win over Idaho State, but hasn't coached since because of his knee. He spent six weeks in Las Vegas rehabing his knee.
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“ |
I'm tired and real
fatigued and sore. But I don't need to come back until Oct. 15. I'll be back 100 percent,
physically and mentally. ” |
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— Rick Majerus,
Utah head coach |
Majerus first told his players he would return to the team Jan. 1, but he was hospitalized over the New Year's weekend with chest pains. He said he wanted to make it clear that this will be assistant Dick Hunsaker's team the rest of the season. He did the same when he left the Utes in 1989-90 when he had heart surgery and then-assistant Joe Cravens took over the team.
"I would have given anything to be there last night (against Wyoming)," Majerus said of the Utes win over Wyoming to open the Mountain West Conference. "I love coaching."
Majerus has one sister in Milwaukee and one in New York. He said his mother usually has told him not to come to her aid, but did want him there this time. Majerus said he would also visit with his former Marquette coach Al McGuire, who is fighting leukemia in Milwaukee. Majerus is expected to continue his recovery on his heart and knee in Milwaukee for the next month.
"I'm tired and real fatigued and sore," Majerus said. "But I don't need to come back until Oct. 15. I'll be back 100 percent, physically and mentally."
Majerus said Utah has been supportive of his leave of absence.
"I'm going to come back to coaching and by the time next season starts I'll be fine," Majerus said. "We've signed three players and have one coming back from a mission."
Utah is 9-6 after opening Mountain West Conference play with an 83-71 victory over
Wyoming on Monday night.
"It's in the best interest of the team for the coach not to be
in contact with the team while he's away," said Utah athletic
director Chris Hill. "Coach Hunsaker will be in charge of the
show."
Without Majerus, Utah had an up-and-down pre-conference
schedule. The Utes beat Memphis, Washington State and Pepperdine,
but lost to Southern California, Utah State, Weber State and
Southern Utah.
Weber State's victory at the Huntsman Center on Dec. 9 snapped
Utah's 54-game homecourt winning streak, which had been the
nation's longest. Southern Utah's victory on Dec. 22 was its first
ever in Salt Lake City.
The Utes have struggled to combine a talented lineup that
featured several heralded newcomers but lacked a take-charge leader
on the court.
This was only the second time in 11 seasons under Majerus that
Utah didn't have a returning all-conference player.
It's been a frustrating start for Utah, which under Majerus was
the eighth-winningest team in the 1990s and ranked eighth in
winning percentage, trailing the likes of Kansas, Kentucky, North
Carolina, Arizona and Connecticut.
Utah has made eight straight trips to the NCAA tournament under
Majerus, who has never lost a first-round NCAA game during his time
with the Utes.
Majerus has made a name for himself not only with his success on
the court but his self-deprecating sense of humor, which often made
fun of his large size and matching appetite.
Dr. Kent Jones said Majerus has only one risk factor for heart
disease: his weight.
"He's got to work on his weight," Jones said. "He's a person
who is committed to that, now."
Majerus made a point of saying that he has heart muscles of a
17-year-old, and Jones backed him up. Majerus had been swimming a
mile a day and plans to return to exercise. Before his knee injury,
he was running four miles a day.
Majerus said he was shocked by attention his health has
generated in the news media. He pointed out that Vice
President-elect Dick Cheney, who also has heart problems, is "a
heartbeat away from being the most important man in the world. I
don't think his heart was this scrutinized."
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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