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Larry Krystkowiak was a 3-time Big Sky POY, but is turning out to be just as good a coach at Utah as he was a player at Montana. After playing almost a decade in the NBA, he became head coach at Montana in 2004 and head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2007. In 2011 he was hired as head coach at Utah, and after winning only 21 games combined during his 1st 2 years he has had 21+ wins in each of the past 2 years, including a trip to the Sweet 16 last March. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to chat with Coach Krystkowiak about playing for Mike Montgomery and rebuilding the Utes.
You played at Montana for Mike Montgomery (who is now 1 of your fellow Pac-12 coaches): what makes him such a great coach, and what is the most important thing you ever learned from him? If you look at the Grizzlies coaching tree you see guys like Jud Heathcote/Jim Brandenburg, so he learned his trade from a good group of guys. He understood every concept on the floor and was a good tactician. He was good for me: it was hard to satisfy him but he kept driving me, which is what I needed.
You tried out for the legendary 1984 US Olympic basketball team as a sophomore: how close did you come to making the team? It is hard to say how close I was. I made the cut from 90 down to 32, but then I got sick: I might have caught chicken pox from Terry Porter.
What are your memories of the 1986 NIT (you had 26 PTS/10 REB in a 7-PT loss to TCU)? I do not have a lot of memories because we were dealing with the disappointment of not making the NCAA tourney. TCU had a good ball club and had good answers for our 2-3 matchup zone.
You were a 3-time All-American and remain the only 3-time Big Sky POY (1984–1986): what did it mean to you to win such outstanding individual honors? It is more rewarding when you look back at it now, but at the time I was never satisfied. Nobody wants to peak as a sophomore so it was important to keep working as a junior/senior.
You were also a 2-time Academic All-American: how were you able to balance your work in the classroom with your work on the court? The magic word is “work”: there is nothing easy about it. I was not overly bright but I was prepared and never let things sneak up on me.
In the summer of 1986 you were drafted 28th overall by Chicago (1 spot behind Dennis Rodman): did you see that as a validation of your college career, or the realization of a lifelong dream of reaching the NBA, or other? It was pretty cool. There were 10 rounds back then so it was not that big a deal to get drafted! It was the culmination of all my hard work, but you have to shift gears pretty quick to stick around a while as an NBA player.
What are your memories of the 2004 CBA championship game as coach of the Idaho Stampede (playoff MVP Maurice Carter scored 36 PTS [14-14 FT] in a 3-PT win by the Dakota Wizards)? Dave Joerger was the Dakota coach, who is now the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies. We had some great battles but it was a 1-game championship game so they got to host it. It was a great game with no defense.
What are your memories of the 2005 NCAA tourney as head coach at Montana (Kamarr Davis had 24 PTS/11 REB in a loss to #1-seed Washington)? I remember it being a bad dream because we were a #16-seed and were down by double-digits pretty early. We lost the game during the 1st 4 minutes but it was still a heck of an experience.
In the 2006 NCAA tourney Andrew Strait had 22 PTS/7 AST in an 8-PT upset of Nevada (the school’s 1st tourney win in over 3 decades): where does that rank among the biggest wins of your career? It is 1 of the biggest. Montana had a lot of great teams over the years but it had been a long time since the school had won a game.
In 2011 you became coach of Utah and had to reconstruct a team that had 8 players who ended up transferring: how goes the rebuilding process, and what are your expectations for the future? It is a lot different situation now than it was 4 years ago. We made it though a pretty tough time: as my doctor says, what does not kill you makes you stronger. We want to compete and have figured out how to do that, so now we have an opportunity to start making some noise.