Rupp undefeated against BYU

Kerry Rupp entered the interview room and quickly sat down. The TV cameras were already rolling.

"I don't know," he said softly, glancing at the gathered media. "This scares me."

Yeah, right. How scared could he be? Rupp has spent two games as acting coach of the Utah Utes, and so far he's undefeated. Not even Rick Majerus can do better than that. What's more, both wins were over BYU.

The big question now is this: Can he beat anyone besides BYU?

Thus far, we know this about the man working as Majerus' oddly matched body double: He can win big ones. Check it out. A year ago, Rupp was called to duty the week of the BYU-Utah game. Majerus begged off that week to attend the funeral of former player Andre Miller's stepfather. That left Rupp with nothing less daunting than coaching in Provo, home of the Utes' most hated rival. Utah won, 79-75.

Fast forward to 2004: All he needed to do this time was bring his team back from a 17-point deficit to win again. No problem. The Utes rallied for a 64-56 victory.

"That's the crazy thing, it was about this same time last year," said Rupp. "Only thing is, last year I got on a plane after the game and went to Australia to see (freshman Andrew) Bogut. So I'm going to keep my feet firmly on the ground this year."

Which brings up a question: How hard could this job be? Enormously, if you must know. Ask Majerus. He announced his retirement this week, when health worries and the pressure of winning finally overwhelmed him. The Utah-BYU series is 235 games long, and Utah holds a narrow 119-116 lead. Lose once in a year, the boosters get upset. Lose twice and nobody returns your calls.

For Rupp, the motivation is that much bigger because he grew up here. He played high school ball at Cyprus High in Magna, where was an all-American. After a playing career at Utah State and Southern Utah, he coached at Uintah, Murray and East high schools. He was happy and content in the prep ranks.

But in 2001 he got an offer he couldn't refuse. The Big Guy came calling, offering an assistant's position. The move, in distance, wasn't far — two miles. But in terms of profile and intensity, it was gargantuan.

He was going to work for the taskmaster at a nationally noted program.