Utah reportedly hires Mavericks assistant, former Utes megastar Alex Jensen as subsequent head trainer

Alex Jensen helped lead the Utes to the nationwide championship sport in 1998. (Chris Gardner/Getty Photographs)Alex Jensen is headed again to Utah.The Utes reportedly struck a deal to make Jensen their subsequent head trainer in line with ESPN. He’ll now substitute Craig Smith, who was once fired remaining month after just about 4 seasons at the task.Jensen, who’s recently an assistant with the Dallas Mavericks, performed at Utah himself from 1994-2000. He helped lead the Utes to the nationwide championship sport in 1998 below head trainer Rick Majerus, too, even though they fell to Kentucky that spring. He was once additionally the Mountain West’s Participant of the 12 months as a senior.Jensen has been an assistant within the NBA for the previous 11 seasons, maximum of them with the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake Town. He spent 9 years there ahead of becoming a member of Jason Kidd’s workforce in Dallas forward of the 2023-24 marketing campaign. Jensen additionally hung out as an assistant at St. Louis College, with Group USA and because the head trainer of the Canton Rate within the NBA’s D League — the place he earned Trainer of the 12 months honors in 2013.Jensen will depart his put up with the Mavericks amid a brutal stretch for the group, which has noticed each stars Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis move down with accidents after the stunning business to deal megastar Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers. That transfer has caused unbelievable backlash from enthusiasts in fresh weeks, particularly towards normal supervisor Nico Harrison.Utah will mark Jensen’s first head training task on the faculty degree. He’ll take over for Smith, who has in large part struggled each within the Pac-12 and the Large 12. The Utes went 65-62 below his watch and didn’t make the NCAA match in any of his 4 seasons with this system. The workforce hasn’t been to the match since 2016. Utah fired Smith remaining month with 4 video games left within the common season.The Utes grasp a 16-14 report and sit down in eleventh within the Large 12 standings heading into Saturday’s common season finale towards No. 23 BYU.