New Utah men's basketball head coach Alex Jensen reportedly won't be full-time in Utah until after his NBA season has concluded.
Two national NBA insiders based in Dallas, Marc Stein and Tim McMahon , reported Friday afternoon that Jensen intends to finish the season with the Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavericks' regular season ends April 13 with a game at the Memphis Grizzlies.
Dallas currently is in 10th place in the Western Conference, the final spot of the play-in tournament, 2 ½ games up on the Phoenix Suns.
Jensen is in his second season on the Mavericks' coaching staff, under head coach Jason Kidd.
On Thursday, the University of Utah announced that Jensen will be the 17th head coach of the Utah basketball program , replacing Craig Smith, who was fired nearly two weeks ago with four regular-season games left in his fourth year as Utes head coach.
Jensen's reported decision to finish out the NBA season is interesting timing considering that the NCAA basketball transfer portal window opens Monday, March 24 and closes Tuesday, April 22.
Last year when BYU hired then-Suns associate head coach Kevin Young as its new head coach, Young stayed with the Suns through the end of their season, though he started assembling his staff and immediately began recruiting efforts for BYU.
That also happened in mid-to-late April last year, as opposed to early March this year with Jensen. Young was hired on April 16 and the Suns' season ended 12 days later.
Utes assistant coach Josh Eilert has served as interim head coach in Smith's absence, and he said Friday that he's been in contact with Jensen.
"I think he's got a lot on his plate trying to figure out how to transition from Dallas to here and he doesn't have any intention to interfere with what we have going on right now, and I think that's the perfect way to handle it," Eilert said.
"So he's just super supportive of what we're going through right now, understands the hard situation for everybody involved, but he seemed very level-headed, and I've heard a ton about how good a coach he is, and how good an X and O guy he is and (I) look forward to getting to know him a little better."
Eilert mentioned that current players on the Utah team had the opportunity to jump on a Zoom call with Jensen on Thursday.
"Obviously he would much rather be face to face, but that was the best given the situation," Eilert said.
The Utes wrap up the regular season Saturday (8 p.m. MST, ESPNU) with a matchup against rival BYU at the Marriott Center. Utah will then head to Kansas City next week to play in the Big 12 tournament.
"He knows that right now, it's a sensitive situation being named head coach when the season is not even complete, the regular season isn't even complete," Eilert said of Jensen.
"He just wants the best for everybody in the program as we finish the season. We had a great conversation, and he's leaning on me to lead the program on the way out."
