20 days after Utah basketball coach Ray Giacoletti resigned, his successor is still anyone's guess

As of Friday it will have been three weeks since Utah basketball coach Ray Giacoletti offered his resignation, presumably with a push from his boss.

It seems like an eternity to diehard Ute fans, anxious to find out who will be leading their basketball program in the future, not to mention media guys who have to play the part of detectives in trying to find out who possible candidates are.

Since March 2, a couple of dozen names have been bandied about by fans and media types, some serious, some outrageous and some just outright strange.

Utah athletic director Chris Hill is keeping quiet as ever about the coaching search and because of his duties as a member of the NCAA Men's Basketball Committee, has been out of town 14 of the past 20 days.

However, earlier this week before leaving town again, he emphasized, "My first responsibility is to the University of Utah."

Presumably he is searching for a coach who has experience and success on the court and has the type of personality to light a fire under a basketball program that has been on a downward slide in recent years after reaching its greatest heights in the late 1990s.

This is a key hire for Hill and the university. After 15 years of consistent success under Rick Majerus, including a national runner-up finish in 1998, Giacoletti produced the first two consecutive losing seasons at Utah in more than two decades. But the program's decline wasn't just Giacoletti's fault.

The home attendance peaked clear back in 1995-96, two years before the Final Four run and has steadily declined, dropping below 10,000 this year for the first time in 31 years. Plus, during Majerus' last few years, the program had to put up with his frequent absences for health and family reasons, as well as the NCAA violations he incurred that cost the program scholarships and recruiting limitations.

Soon after Giacoletti was let go, everybody's favorite was ex-Stanford coach Mike Montgomery, who had 25 winning seasons in 26 years of college coaching and had recently left his job with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA. But within days he made it known he wasn't interested in a college job.

Next up was ex-Montana coach Larry Krystkowiak, who had moved on to become an assistant with the Milwaukee Bucks. Hill met with Krystkowiak a week ago, which evidently pushed the Bucks to fire coach Terry Stotts and hire Krystkowiak the following day as head coach.

Other names have popped up, including coaches with local connections such as Tommy Connor, Randy Rahe, Dick Hunsaker, Jeff Judkins and Donnie Daniels. Some local fans have even been pushing to get ex-Ute coach Rick Majerus back. But Hill apparently hasn't contacted any of these coaches and is looking outside of Utah.