KANSAS CITY — Alex Jensen slid into his seat on the court of the T-Mobile Center and briefly looked to his right, where Kansas State coach Jerome Tang was holding court with over two dozen media members and hamming it up with Baylor’s Scott Drew.
The first-year Utah coach’s media throng was much smaller, with mostly reporters from Salt Lake City at Big 12 basketball media days.
That’s OK for Jensen, who smiled through it all and took questions with tact and individual care. He’s coached basketball at the highest level for long enough to know that spending time with the press is a necessary part of the job.
But truthfully? Tactfully? He’d rather be in a few other places: practicing with his team, breaking down video, or sitting down with an individual development plan for the inaugural season of his version of the Runnin’ Utes.
Ask most of the Big 12 coaches under cover of darkness if they feel the same way, they’d probably answer in the affirmative. Some might even do so openly.
Jensen, who was a candidate before reportedly pulling his name from the Utah opening four years ago, is still learning the world of college basketball. But the former Viewmont High star who spent the past three years with the Dallas Mavericks and 10 years before that with the Utah Jazz is a basketball guy.
“He has more basketball experience than I’ve been alive,” said fifth-year senior James Okonkwo, who transferred from Akron after stops at West Virginia and North Carolina. “It’s a learning curve, for sure; a new program, a new way of doing things. Everybody’s learning as we go. And if we do feel something, we can tell him. There’s no ego between any of us, as long as it’s in the line of getting better.
“He’s definitely unique, the way he tries to practice,” Okonkwo added. “I think he overexplains everything, which is actually really good for a player; he explains why we’re doing something and how it will help us now and for the future.”
As far as the “college” part of college basketball, Jensen has plenty to learn — but also some allies for a Runnin’ Utes program picked to finish 13th by Big 12 coaches. That includes one from a particular school to the south, Kevin Young, the second-year coach at BYU who arrived after close to a decade with the Phoenix Suns and Philadelphia 76ers.
“I think my first D League game, I lost to Kevin,” said Jensen, who also spent time coaching the Canton Charge while Young was with the Iowa Energy. “I got to know Kevin in the D League and as assistants in the NBA.
“He’s done a great job at BYU, and we’ve talked briefly on a few occasions about the transition,” Jensen added. “It’s different; a lot more practice time and things of that nature. … He’s done a great job, a good coach.”
The coaching staff of Jensen also paralleled Young’s program, in many ways. Not long after signing a six-year, $3.6 million contract at Jensen’s alma mater included former Sacramento Kings assistant Wes Wilcox as general manager.
He also added former Grizzlies assistant Raphael Chillous and Salt Lake City Stars head coach Martin Schiller, then brought Eric Daniels — the son of longtime Utah assistant Donny Daniels — back to the Hill after stops at Utah State, Weber State and Utah Valley.
It’s a similar makeup to Young, whose roster of assistants includes Tim Fanning and Will Voigt with international and G League experience; and Brandon Dunson and Chris Burgess, both considered rising stars in college basketball.
Utah first-year head coach Alex Jensen speaks with reporters during Big 12 basketball media days, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2025 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo: Sean Walker, KSL.com)
Roster-wise, the Utes hit the transfer portal hard to build around Keanu Dawes, the only returner to the team from last year who had significant playing time.
Dawes, who grew up in Utah and the Houston area, originally transferred from Rice before averaging 8.3 points and 6.4 rebounds a year ago at Utah, shooting .614 from the field and averaging a double-double in his final six games with 13.2 points and 10.0 rebounds.
But Dawes wants to be at Utah — with Jensen.
“His basketball IQ is high,” Dawes said. “I was able to watch some (NBA) playoff games with him, with coach Schill and Wes; the way they talk about the game, break things down, they see things from a different perspective than a player.”
Dawes spent a lot of time with Jensen while he was finishing his time with the Mavericks with “a lot of trust” in the new regime, the coach added.
“The portal, we all know, gets mad,” Jensen said. “Everybody’s calling and throwing stuff at you. But credit to him; I think he really wanted to stay, he gave us a chance, and we had some good conversations.
“I think to this point, it’s worked out well for him and in the future, it’s going to be a good decision for him.”
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.