Associate athletic director Chris Ritrievi.

Having worked at Michigan State until joining the Utes about two years ago, Ritrievi was the key behind-the-scenes figure in luring Boylen from the Spartans, so Boylen could make what appeared to be a terrific first impression at the Huntsman Center by assuring fans and players that "we can be great here at Utah."

"From here on out, it's, 'We, us and the Muss,' '' he said, referring to the student fan club whose name is taken from the school fight song. "That's our slogan."

With that, wild applause filled in the room, and Boylen went on to set a high standard for himself by saying he was "born for this job" - he signed a five-year contract worth $575,000 a year, the Utes said - and that he will have failed if the Utes don't win the Mountain West Conference championship for the next 20 years.

"You have to dream it before you can live it," he said. "And we're going to dream it here, and we're going to live it. We're going to develop our players . . . we're going to take young men and develop them into men . . . and we're going to be passionate about the way we do it."

The fans and players in attendance seemed to embrace the message in the wake of the worst season in 23 years, just as Ritrievi envisioned they would.

Though he had left MSU not long after Boylen arrived there for a second time, Ritrievi knows head coach Tom Izzo well and keeps in close contact with friends and colleagues back in Michigan.

So when Hill asked Ritrievi for ideas about who should replace former coach Ray Giacoletti - Giacoletti was forced out after three years and an 11-19 season - Ritrievi not only had a ready answer, but the resources to investigate Boylen's credentials in "probably excruciating detail" so he could report back to Hill.

"By every measure . . . our former colleagues back at Michigan State hold him in extremely high regard," Ritrievi said. "And these are people who would tell me if he wasn't the right person for the job."

Yet Boylen showed a seriousness and a sense of humor while saying all the right things to back up his impressive résumé - years of working as an assistant coach for some of the game's most legendary figures in both college basketball and the NBA. (Coach Rudy Tomjanovich of the Houston Rockets "wanted me to do every job in the organization, from getting the Chinese food to washing his car," Boylen said. "I was good at all those things.") He promised his players will graduate, improve the toughness that seemed to be lacking last season, and learn a hard-nosed style that he believes is the difference between winning and losing.

"If you come through the lane, you're going to get hit here," he vowed.

With his wife, two young daughters and two brothers watching from the front row, Boylen downplayed the importance of his never having been a head coach before, and said he will recruit wherever he must to unearth talented players. He did not speak about his players specifically before a brief meeting with them following the press conference, except to say that "these are my players. As of today, they're our team."

"We're going to start today," he said, "and we're going to try to build something special and it's going to take all of you to do it. It's not just about me. It's 'We, us and the Muss', and I think we have to stick to that."

mcl@sltrib.com