Famous Quotes from the Man himself, Rick Marjeus:
"Some guys smoke. Some guys drink. Some guys chase women. I'm a big barbecue-sauce guy."... "I'm like that guy on the Odd Couple, and it's not the neat guy. I go into my room and find pieces of pizza under the laundry."
[Arizona Republic, 3/17/1998]
"Nobody thought I'd be a great coach. I'm the kind of guy you'd expect to be driving an 18-wheeler through town."
[Reno Gazette-Journal, 7/24/1999]
On winning the 1998 Playboy Magazine coach of the year ...
"I know I didn't get it because there's a bunch of Bunnies who couldn't wait to sit on my lap. . . . I didn't get it because the Bunnies think I look good."
[Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, 7/25/1998]
On travelling to Chicago ...
``I'm particularly happy to go back to Chicago. I mean, we don't have an Italian restaurant in Utah that ends in a vowel. [In Utah], you're eating at a place like Olson's or something and ordering baked manicotti out of the Chef Boyardee can.''
[Salt Lake Tribune 12/03/1997]
Your favorite restaurant?...
The kitchens back in Milwaukee are among my favorites. I go back to the same two pizza places, and I enjoy that in Milwaukee. Sitting around, I can be with my buddies. George Karl and I go to the same pizza place. We either go to Sophia's or Palermo's or Barberios. We get sausage, mushroom, onion pizza with extra dough. George has a couple of beers, and I'm the designated driver. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. The one thing about Utah is, it's hard to find an Italian restaurant that ends in a vowel. In Milwaukee, you have all the boys that come in off the Sopranos set. In Utah, Vinny's a Mormon who's an Italian wannabe.
[Denver Post, 2/2/2003]
The waitress said, "We have stuffed mushrooms, veal-stuffed shells, white pizza, pasta, steamed mussels...." "Just keep it coming," Rick Majerus replied. "Would you like some veal parmesan?" "Yeah, we'll take five of those." The waitress walked away. "Does she know I'm not kidding?" Majerus said. "I hope she knows I'm not kidding."
[Sports Illustrated, 3/17/2000]
Do you cook? ...
"I microwave nachos. If it can't be done on a grill or a microwave, I won't do it."
[The Sporting News, 11/10/2000]
How often do you order room service? ...
"Very rarely. There's a lot of mystery meats and secret sauces that come out of this kitchen. It's got wonderful people. The general manager is a great friend of mine. But if I'm going to get indigestion, I want to go to one of these Mexican restaurants on the west side of town that I love so much."
[Denver Post, 2/2/2003]
On his new diet...
"I'm munching on a celery stick. I never thought that would be the case. Like I always told Bobby Knight, 'Nothing good happens around a salad bar.' My favorite meal used to be dead animals on the grill. Now I'm there at the salad bar much too frequently."
[Chicago Tribune, 3/17/2004]
On restaurants in Los Angeles...
"I have to find some salad places, I've got to go where Jennifer Aniston eats.
[USC News Conference, 12/15/2004]
On travelling to Hawaii for the Maui tournament ...
"We'll be there 10 days. We're going to snorkel and we're going to body surf. If I wanted a hotel with a projector, I'd go to the Alaskan Shootout."
[AP, 3/29/1998]
Where is your favorite place to visit? ...
"Probably Hawaii or Port Douglas, Australia. The Barrier Reef, I like the beach there. I love the beach; the only negative for me on the beach is people keep pushing me back in! They think I'm a whale."
[Denver Post, 2/2/2003]
On the beauty of San Diego ...
"San Diego is beautiful. And the people are beautiful. Everything's beautiful. Even the bums are beautiful. When they panhandle, they hold out a piece of Tiffany glassware for donations."
[Vancouver Sun, Canada, 12/24/2003]
On the style of dress expected of a coach at Notre Dame ...
"I don't wear socks. I don't even wear socks when it gets warm, and I think those guys have socks with all kinds of logos on them. I think everybody at Notre Dame has a tie rack in their wardrobe, and I don't even have a tie in my wardrobe."
[AP 3/25/1999]
On beating UNLV on the road ...
"It's never easy to win in Las Vegas. I should know with all the money I've lost at the blackjack tables."
[Las Vegas Sun, 1/21/1998]
On staying in a casino hotel at the WAC tournament in Las Vegas ...
"We're at the WAC tournament and they want us to show the kids a film on gambling. And we're staying on top of a casino. I asked them where do they want me to show the tape, at the blackjack table, the craps pit or when the boys are checking out their Keno numbers?"
[San Francisco Examiner, 3/23/1998]
On how he manages to fit-in in Mormon Salt Lake City ...
"You are talking about it as if it is a Stepford Wives community. It's a big city with a small town environment. It's Green Bay, Wisconsin in the Rocky Mountains is what it is. ... I'm sad we are going to get the Olympics there, and it will get discovered and Californiacated."
[NCAA Press Conf transcript, 3/28/1998]
On how Reno might be more attractive to recruits than Salt Lake City...
"In all my years at Utah I've never had one kid come up to me and say, 'Can you get me tickets to that Mormon Tabernacle Choir?'. But here you have entertainment kids like."
[Reno Gazette-Journal, 7/19/1999]
Rick's opinion on ballplayers wearing earrings...
"I was really old school. I used to tell our guys we�re not running a pirate ship. We�re not having these earrings and bandanas. It doesn�t mean you�re a bad kid, but I can guarantee you [the late] Sam Walton doesn�t have guys in [Wal-Mart�s] offices that are wearing earrings."
[Whole Hog Sports, 1/12/2005]
Awkward phrasing while commenting on Univ. of Connecticut's Rudy Gay...
"I'm not a big Gay guy."
[ESPN2 Broadcast 12/22/2005]
On coaching college vs. the NBA...
"I like practice, I love teaching, I love to see a kid get a degree and an education. I enjoy the college campus. I love the theater in our campus. I like the campus life. There's a travel club on our campus, and I'll go to those lectures. In an NBA player's life, how can you make a difference? I mean, you might be able to make a little bit of a difference, but I think I've impacted all my players more than any pro coach they've ever played for -- both from a basketball standpoint, but more importantly, from a lifestyle standpoint. (Keith) Van Horn just asked me to be the godfather for his baby. It was fun to sit through Andre (Miller's) graduation, to see his mom smile. It was fun to see Hanno (Mottola) come from Europe and realize his dream. It was fun to see Drew Hansen get in Stanford Law School. The other night, one of my players had a really bad family problem and I really did enjoy offering a perspective on it and seeing if I could help him out. A lot of people that are very wealthy throw money at their problems, but it's fun to help them work through it. I love the fans and the college students. I like the alumni association deal. I like the rah-rah and all that. I like the band rather than that fabricated music. I like the fact that we have students that are cheerleaders that really care, as opposed to a dancing girl team of hired mercenaries."
[The Sporting News, 11/10/2000]
On his love of coaching basketball...
"I love coaching. I have a great passion for it. I still have a ball in the back of my car. I love to play."
[USC Press Conference, 12/15/2004]
About his exercise routine...
"I like to bike. I could beat Lance Armstrong, only because he couldn't pass me if he was behind me.
[USC Press Conference, 12/15/2004]
On his adjustment to life as a basketball commentator...
"When I did TV and went to Wake Forest for example, all I did was talk about X's and O's and basketball. They laughed at me when I came to my first game with 38 pages of notes. I had looked at all of this tape. The guy said `you don't have to win the game for both teams, you just have to talk about it'"
[USC Press Conference, 12/15/2004]
To Jay Bilas, wearing a polo shirt rather than the traditional Hawaiian shirt while covering a tournament in Hawaii...
"Jay, only a guy who gets out of the shower to take a piss would wear a shirt like that."
[ESPN, 01/04/2005, Quoted on DukeBasketballReport.com]
The best thing about living in a hotel:
"There's clean towels, my bed's turned down every night and there's a mint on my pillow, no matter what psychological or emotional crisis the maid's going through."
[The Sporting News, 11/10/2000]
How good a player were you at Marquette?...
"In the late 1990s with Utah, we were in a regional, and coach [Al] McGuire was there and I asked him to talk to my team. He talked to them and then asked for any questions. Someone said to him, "How good was coach as a player?'' He said, "Let me explain something to you, 'We had an Indian mascot named Willie Wampum when coach played. I would have put the mascot before I put coach in the game."
[New York Post,03/04/2005]
On losing Britton Johnson to a mission ...
"If I had those Mormon boys like Britton, you'd see a bounce in my step that would rival Jordan for hang time. If prayer counts, we should be winning these games. I'm not pessimistic, I'm realistic."
[Sacramento Bee, 11/30/1998]
When asked by Maui Classic chairman, Wayne Duke, for comments about his three players' missions ...
``If you give me your address, those boys will come by your house and talk to you about joining up; drop you off a Book of Mormon and get you all set for time and all eternity.''
``Don't lower the ethics of the church,'' interjected Indiana Coach Bob Knight.
[Salt Lake Tribune 11/23/1998]
About whether he would talk to Notre Dame officials about an open job ...
``If they call, I will listen. I'm not going to hang up on them. My [Catholic] mother would excommunicate me.''
But would he be interested? ...
"Notre Dame might call and say, `Look, we're going to give you the football stadium and you can coach golf,' and then I might be interested.''
[Chicago Sun-Times, 3/17/1999]
Responding to Kentucky coach Rick Pitino's tongue-in-cheek assertion that his Wildcats would be the underdog in their 1996 NCAA Tournament game ...
"If we're getting in a sumo ring, he and I, then he's the underdog. I'll crush him. But on the court, we're in trouble."
[Salt Lake Tribune 3/24/1996]
About how the Utes' season keeps ending with a loss to Kentucky..
"When I die, they might as well bury me at the finish line at Churchill Downs so they can run over me one more time."
[New Orleans Times-Picayune 3/9/1999]
He said that he had tried to arrange a home and home series with the University of Kentucky, but they refused. "I'd play Kentucky home and home every year. Book it right now. I'd do anything to get them there. They want to ski on a mountain, I can get them a mountain to ski on. For privacy I can get them to Redford's place and they can eat like kings. But Kentucky ain't coming to play us." "I also said I'd like to date Ashley Judd and you know, she ain't gonna do that either. That was her dad that was here with me before. He looked at me and he's happy I'm not dating her either." "I am like Kentucky's favorite punching bag. People in Kentucky love me. 'I'd like me too if I lost every game."
[Louisville, KY newspaper, 2000]
On how he planned to stop the Kentucky Wildcats in a 1996 NCAA tournament match-up ...
"Food poisoning!"
[Houston Chronicle 3/20/1996]
On being asked again about the triangle-and-two defense...
"The triangle-and-two should get a website its been so popular."
[AP, 3/28/1998]
About the Utes' defensive performance ...
"You always want one more viewer," he told KUTV's David James, "and I always want one less basket (by opponents), but we're playing very, very good defense."
[Brad Rock, Deseret News, 2/16/1999]
A prophesy less than a week before chest pains caused him to announced his retirement...
"I'm a big ESPN guy. Hopefully one day I'll work for them."
[Deseret News, 1/23/2004]
On his regular appearances on national radio and television talk shows...
"Those are always easy to do. On a scale of 1 to 10, coaching for a week is 10. This is closer to 1. You just have to have an opinion. Those are fun to do."
[Bob Wolfley, Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, 4/2/2003]
If he was to have a studio role with CBS in 2003, as he had in some past years...
"No. That Quin Snyder hairdo has overpowered me."
[Bob Wolfley, Milwaukee Journal/Sentinel, 4/2/2003]
On wearing glasses on the court...
"I started wearing glasses last season but they're only for basketball games and dirty movies."
[Charlotte Observer 3/28/1998]
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