Majerus to replace Soderberg at Saint Louis

By Andy Katz

ESPN.com

 

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.

 

Rick Majerus

Majerus

 

Majerus said he will sign the contract Saturday. He 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. He has a career record of 422-147 with 15 postseason appearances.

 

"I am extremely excited about having a person of Rick Majerus stature and reputation at the helm of our men's basketball team," Saint Louis president Father Lawrence Biondi said. "I know that we are now headed to take our men's basketball team to the next level."

 

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.

 

Andy Katz is a senior writer for ESPN.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2851583

Terrible analyst. Just awful. It's better that he's back coaching so I don't have to hear him anymore. He's probably still not a big Gay guy, either.

This is kind of old hat...

 

honestly, SLU is an awful program right now, maybe he can turn it around...maybe he cant.

Terrible analyst. Just awful. It's better that he's back coaching so I don't have to hear him anymore. He's probably still not a big Gay guy, either.

Agreed.

 

I'm just glad I don't have to hear him for a while.

 

I'm seriously considering investing in local St. Louis hotels as well.

Gonna have to disagree.. Majerus was definitely one of my favorite announcers. Yes, he sounded funny but one of the great basketball minds to listen to.

This is kind of old hat...

 

honestly, SLU is an awful program right now, maybe he can turn it around...maybe he cant.

 

Awful huh? A team that won 20 games last year and returns 4 of 5 starters is awful huh....