Y. coach, players saw Majerus as foe — and friend

Rick Majerus has owned BYU for the past decade. Lock, stock and barrel. Except for a spotty breakthrough here and there — never at the Huntsman — it's been red tracks right over supine Cougar spines.

But there was an era, when it all began, that former coach Roger Reid and Majerus rolled out squads that went toe-to-toe and screen-to-pick with each other.

These were battles. Real dogfights. Reid and Majerus were passionate in their competition with one another. There was no love lost in recruiting, the media or on the court. Reid was 9-9 against the Utes in his tenure at BYU. Subtract Majerus' absence in 24 games during the 1989-90 season and Reid was 8-7 head to head against Majerus. After BYU fired Reid on Dec. 17, 1996, Reid remains the only league coach that ever got the lean on Rick.

Today Reid is coaching the Zhegiang Horses in the Chinese Basketball League that produced Houston's Yao Ming. He took over the 0-12 Horses this season, and now they have five wins. Horse fans ask Reid for his autograph, and wherever he goes, the Chinese recognize the former Cougar coach who last was an assistant with the Phoenix Suns.

The deal with Reid-Majerus is that these two men ended up forging a solid friendship. When BYU fired Reid, Majerus stuck up for his former nemesis, publicly voicing the opinion Reid got a raw deal. It was like an emotional lifeline thrown to Reid by Majerus at a painful time. Majerus then recruited Reid's second son Robbie, who also played for BYU, following an LDS mission to Greece. Robbie ended up at Michigan.

Reid's oldest son, Randy, now working in New York City, said his father has never forgotten that and has deep respect and a deep friendship with Majerus.

It remains one heck of a tale in the storied history of the rivalry. Reid and Majerus remain legends in the rivalry. The take you want to believe depends on the spin embraced. But it's great fodder.

"Rick stood up for my dad, and that meant a lot to him at the time. Jon Huntsman and Chris Hill, behind the scenes, said even more to my father, which he appreciated. I think it's a tremendous loss to Utah and for the Mountain West Conference that coach Majerus is quitting. You just do not replace a coach like Majerus — he is irreplaceable."

Randy, always the object of ridicule by Ute fans and other league venues for being the son of the coach, said playing Utah under Majerus was always a battle. "His teams were the most prepared, and they executed the best. Other opponents we faced? Their time for preparation wasn't even close to what we faced when we played Utah."

Another BYU player in that era is Mark Durrant. He remembers being recruited by former Ute coach Lynn Archibald just as Majerus replaced him.

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