Utah Utes basketball: Norm Parrish leaves SLCC to take post with Utes

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah didn't have to go far to find its new director of basketball operations.

New head coach Larry Krystkowiak announced Monday that longtime Salt Lake Community College coach Norm Parrish has been hired to fill the post.

Parrish moves up the hill after 20 years at the helm of the Bruins. This will be Parrish's second tenure at the U. He was an assistant coach for the late Lynn Archibald during the 1988-89 season.

"Norm is a tremendous basketball coach and a great person. He is going to be involved in several key areas of our program. He had tremendous success at the junior college level, winning a national championship in 2009 after reaching the finals the year before," Krystkowiak said in making the announcement. "He is very well-respected in basketball circles and will be a great representative of the University of Utah. We are very excited that he wanted to join us and help us move forward."

The Utes now have a complete basketball staff in place. Before the hiring of Parrish, Tommy Connor (Westminster), DeMarlo Slocum (Colorado State) and Andy Hill (Montana) were named assistant coaches.

"As a Utah native, I am very excited to become part of this staff. It's an honor to get back to the great tradition of Utah basketball," Parrish said in a released statement. "I have known everyone on this staff for a number of years and I am very confident in them."

If it weren't for that confidence, Parrish added, he never would have been able to leave SLCC. He's the only coach in school history to ever lead the Bruins to a national championship.

"I owe a great deal of thanks to (athletic director) Norma Carr and the Salt Lake Community College family for taking a chance on a young coach so long ago," Parrish said. "I had an unbelievable experience in 20 years at SLCC and it was a hard place to leave."

Parrish was a multi-sport star at Viewmont High School in Bountiful. He went on to play basketball at Ricks College and Northwest Nazarene.

In other men's basketball news, junior-to-be Shawn Glover has received permission to explore transfer options outside of teams in the Pac-12 and beyond the state of Utah.

The Utes also received a signed letter-of-intent from Kareem Storey, a 6-foot, 190-pount point guard from Princeton Day Academy in Maryland.

email: dirk@desnews.com