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Larry Eustachy's introductory news conference as Colorado State's basketball coach included references to the Final Four, an 88-year-old leprechaun and his former self-image as a rock star.

He's back, only this is a much more humble version of the coach whose departure from Utah State created a vacancy filled by Stew Morrill's moving to Logan from CSU. So now, 14 years later, Eustachy is occupying Morrill's old office, and they're about to become rivals in the Mountain West Conference.

Who writes these scripts?

Apparently, the same folks who turned Eustachy into a coaching phenomenon, only to be derailed by some combination of arrogance and alcoholism.

The best part is he accepts where his mistakes landed him, and is proud of his ongoing recovery at age 56. If those photos of him partying with college women after road games cost him his job at Iowa State and have haunted him ever since, Eustachy also can point to nine years of sobriety — and humility, which never was a big part of his game in Logan, or Ames, Iowa.

"I thought I was a rock star," he said. "I thought I was invincible."

That can happen, when a coach who once struggled as a University of Utah assistant in the mid-1980s becomes a rising star in the profession, winning conference championships with Idaho and Utah State and taking Iowa State to the Elite Eight, then signing a 10-year contract that basically was voided by his behavior.

Eustachy says those photos of him kissing college students were staged, with this further defense: "I can show you a picture of an 88-year-old man in a leprechaun costume during Halloween that I am kissing also."

Yet Eustachy also recognized his drinking had become a problem, and he did something about it.

His career may have bottomed, but "he's climbed out of it," said former USU center Nate Wickizer.

Southern Mississippi gave him another chance, in the culture of the South where "there is no basketball," he said, citing football's domination. Yet the Golden Eagles became relevant during his eight seasons, finally reaching the NCAA Tournament and attracting CSU's interest, after coach Tim Miles moved to Nebraska.

Having lived in Logan, Eustachy said, "I always liked the mountains."

Now he's in the Mountain West, and the Aggies will join him in 2013-14. This will be good stuff. CSU's program is respectable now, thanks to Miles. And Eustachy might do for the Rams what Morrill has done for the Aggies — or even more, the way he's talking.

"My plans are to take this program to the Final Four," he said, "and I have come close, very close, before with a similar job."

He means Iowa State — where Jazz guard Jamaal Tinsley was among his star players — not Utah State, although his work in Logan was rewarded in 1998 with the school's first NCAA Tournament trip in 10 years. "Larry was a big part of setting the stage for where [Morrill] has taken the program," Wickizer said.

This guy can coach. Rance Pugmire is biased, but having witnessed Eustachy's work at Idaho and USU as an athletic department official, he labels him "one of the very best in the business" and credits him with "resurrecting" Aggie basketball.

So I'm giving USU's famously unwelcoming student section nearly two years' notice in saying Eustachy deserves appreciation, not derision, when he returns during the 2013-14 season. His missteps may provide good material for a group eager to make fun of opponents, but so do his Aggie record and his rehabilitation.

kkragthorpe@sltrib.comTwitter: @tribkurt —

Larry Eustachy by the numbers

School Years Overall Pct. Conf. Pct.

Idaho 1990-93 61-33 .649 32-14 .696

Utah State 1993-98 98-53 .649 60-26 .698

Iowa State 1998-2003 101-59 .631 42-38 .525

So. Miss. 2004-12 142-113 .557 55-71 .396

Total 402-258 .609 189-149 .559