Utah Utes basketball: Boylen still looking to hire 2 assistants

Utah basketball coach Jim Boylen was one of the more popular coaches in San Antonio over the weekend as hundreds of college basketball coaches from all over the country descended on the Final Four.

Boylen has not one, but two openings for full-time assistants on his staff after assistant Chris Jones left last week to become an assistant to Stew Morrill at Utah State. A month earlier, Marty Wilson left for a job at Pepperdine.

After spending three days in San Antonio, Boylen returned to Utah Saturday to participate in the fundraiser that night for the Bobbye and Jerry Sloan Hand-in-Hand Foundation.

Boylen said Monday he hasn't offered a job to anyone yet, and confirmed he has talked to "about 15 guys," including a couple of people with ties to the Ute program.

"I'm not sure exactly what direction I'm going to go," Boylen said. "I've talked to a bunch of people and am going to have some come in for a visit next week."

Boylen plans to have at least one assistant hired within the next two weeks, but isn't limiting his choices. He said he's talked to current assistant coaches, former head coaches, high school coaches and even former coaches who are out of the coaching business.

He said he doesn't necessarily have to hire a local coach.

Boylen is confident he will get good assistants who will help the Ute program to be successful.

"This is a very appealing position," he said. "Our system's in place and we have most of our players returning. I need to get a great guy who believes in where we are going."

Boylen met with all of his players last week and said each of the players with eligibility are returning. The Utes will have eight of their nine top players back from last year in addition to five new players.

The Utes are allowed two hours a week of practice and the Ute players are lifting weights four days a week at 6:15 a.m., according to Boylen.

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