Big Man on Campus

Allred told the Tribune that Majerus sent him to get tested for a learning disability despite the fact that he had a 3.6 GPA and that the coach "called me [vulgar slang term for female genitalia]. He called me that C-word for the rest of the year. It seemed like he used it more than my name."

Majerus publicly denied the allegations, countering that "[m]y experience with disgruntled players has been that there is sometimes a revision of history." He also told the Tribune that Allred's family had filed a claim with Utah's office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, which ruled the coach was not guilty of discrimination.

Says Chris Bone, manager of the EOAA office: "The policy is we don't discuss cases, we don't talk about whether we had cases or we didn't, or any of the details. I can't comment whether there was or wasn't a claim."

The Allred story didn't reverberate much outside Salt Lake City. Less than two weeks after the Tribune published its article, Majerus stepped down as head coach at Utah, attributing his departure to concern about his health. The announcement made national headlines.

Majerus does not deny that he is demanding of his players. Ask anyone who has ever played or worked for him to describe the coach and they invariably utter the words "intense" and "attentive to detail." The two often go hand in hand as Majerus passionately schools his players on the fundamentals and intricacies of the game.

His new charges at SLU speak glowingly about the little things their coach has imparted already. Freshman Anthony Mitchell describes how Majerus added more rotation to his shot by adjusting the way he grips the ball, moving his thumb closer to his index finger. Senior point guard Dwayne Polk tells how Majerus emphasizes that he has to have his toes pointed toward the basket at all times in order to improve his shooting accuracy. Tommie Liddell, who is left-handed, says Majerus has instructed him to do everything off the court with his right hand, including eating and brushing his teeth, in order to improve his off-hand dribbling.

"I guess it's because I wasn't a great player and I had to do the little things right for me to be able to play," says Majerus, who was cut from Marquette's basketball team after attempting to play as a walk-on his freshman year of college in 1967.

When Majerus isn't satisfied with his players' performance, he lets them know about it. He says his in-your-face style stems from the simple fact that he so desperately wants his charges to succeed.

"Take Tommie Liddell, for instance," Majerus says, describing how he thinks his star player, who came to the Billikens from East St. Louis High School via Hargrave Military Academy, can reach the NBA with the right work ethic. "I don't think Tommie will transfer, I don't even think he can. But does he want it as bad for himself as I want it for him?"

Liddell, meanwhile, says, "I'm not going to lie. He's probably the most hollerin' coach I've ever had."

"All of [the players] have struggled with the mental part of it, because he wants you with him mentally all the time, 100 percent," adds Alex Jensen, who played for Majerus at Utah and is now an assistant on the SLU staff. "I think he's gotten in everyone's face at least once so far, but I think they all realize that once you take it personal, then it's bad. Because it's not personal. I think they all see that he wants to make them better."

"He doesn't mean any harm by it, he just wants you to do the best that can be done," says Polk, who played his high school ball at Vashon under the tutelage of Floyd Irons, another coach with a legendary reputation for tough love. "He's similar to Floyd Irons, but it's not so much yelling and screaming. It's more teaching."

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The Allred flap wasn't the only controversy Majerus weathered at Utah.

Early in his career, the school reprimanded him for a comment he'd made on a local radio show, that he'd seen "a lot of irregular sexual behavior in women's athletics." His courtside profanity and tirades offended sensibilities in conservative Salt Lake City, so much so that the Deseret Morning News nicknamed him "Raunchy Rick." In 2003 an investigation found that Majerus had committed several minor NCAA violations. The charges included buying his players meals (a scandal the local press dubbed "Food-gate"), exceeding practice limits and allotting too many tickets to games for recruits on campus visits. He also gave players "movie money," sums players said sometimes doubled or tripled after victories. (Majerus explained at the time that the amount of money distributed depended on the length of the trip the team was on.)

As punishment, the NCAA required Majerus and his staff to attend a compliance seminar and reduced the number of days he was allowed to spend on off-campus recruiting and player evaluation. The NCAA also placed Utah's athletic program on probation for three years.