Rick Majerus unleashed one of his patented rants, while a 6-foot-7 figure remained motionless on the practice court.
“Look at Al. Al’s not going to get out of his stance. Al’s not going to put his head down,” Majerus shouted at his coaching staff and players, as he pointed toward the frozen figure.
The unmoving man was Alex Jensen, the Runnin’ Utes legend and then Majerus’ assistant coach at Saint Louis University.
Jensen remained in the stance for 10 minutes.
“Al was like a statue,” former Billikens assistant and current ESPN analyst Paul Biancardi told The Salt Lake Tribune. “He never moved. It was funny at the moment, but afterwards I was like ‘this poor guy.’”
It’s been almost two decades since that moment. Jensen, who was just a first-time assistant coach then, has worked his way up from a college assistant to the G League to the NBA and now the head coach at his alma mater, Utah.
Jensen is back in the Jon M. Huntsman Center, trying to lead his program back to the glory days it once had under Majerus.
But the Runnin’ Utes are currently 10-18 and 2-13 in the Big 12.
“I knew it was going to be a lot,” Jensen told The Salt Lake Tribune of his expectations when he first took the job. “Our only goal is to be here and make it good. So it gives us the luxury of taking our time and doing it right.”
Jensen’s first season hasn’t gone as he would have liked.
Some — like Biancardi did years ago — might even feel bad for him.
Jensen remains unwavering, though. He’s sticking to the posture and purpose that he knows to be true to build the Runnin’ Utes back up the right way.
‘Special place in his heart’
(Steve Griffin | The Salt Lake Tribune) Head coach Rick Majerus grimaces on the sideline as the Utes start to falter against Kentucky in the 1998 national championship in San Antonio, Texas.
Keith Van Horn was on his way to becoming a Utah legend and an NBA lottery pick.
But in Majerus’ eyes, he could never live up to Jensen’s standards. The often complex and tyrannical head coach, who led Utah to the 1998 Final Four, reminded Van Horn that after every missed box out and rebound.
“Jesus, Keith,” former Utah center Michael Doleac remembers Majerus yelling at Van Horn with his thick midwestern accent, “your savior is at a bus station in London right now.”
Jensen was, indeed, in London serving on his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after playing his freshman season from 1994-95. Majerus refused to offer any of his players special treatment.
But “he always had a special place in his heart for Al,” Doleac said.
Majerus gave Jensen the nickname “Al” because he reminded him of the late great Marquette coach Al McGuire, with whom he played under and later coached. Jensen’s Ute teammates often made fun of the 6-foot-7 forward, calling him Majerus’ “adopted son.’
“There were only three people Rick got teary-eyed talking about,” said former Runnin’ Ute Jeff Johnsen. “It was Al McGuire, his mom and Alex Jensen.”
After Jensen left the U. to play pro basketball overseas in Asia and Europe, Majerus stepped down from the program in 2004, citing health issues.
The duo couldn’t stay apart for long after that. Once he was done with his playing career, Jensen joined Majerus at Saint Louis.
Jensen often drove Majerus to the pool in the mornings at Saint Louis. Majerus made Jensen run full-court drills with players in practice.
“They had a father, son; player, coach; boss, co-worker type of relationship,” said Oklahoma coach Porter Moser, another one of Majerus’ former assistants at Saint Louis.
Jensen says he still carries those memories and lessons with him today.
“I don’t think anybody can argue that there has ever been a better teacher in the game than Coach Majerus,” Jensen said. “That was a great foundation for me to have.”
He still rattles off some of his mentor’s quotes when he gets the chance.
“He [Majerus] used to have a phrase that he’d always say: ‘Everything we do makes sense,’ ” Jensen recalled. “There’s always going to have to be a purpose in what you do.
“The people that are successful do just that.”
A player’s coach
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Jazz assistant coach Alex Jensen works with Rudy Gobert, during practice at the Zions Bank Practice Center, on Tuesday, Nov. 9, 2021.
Alex Jensen’s Utah program currently remains a big project.
But he’s worked on something like that before.
Long before becoming a four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Rudy Gobert was a lanky and unfinished prospect selected with the 27th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft.
But he had all the potential.
“Rudy was this big unknown,” former Utah Jazz assistant Mike Wells said. “But then Alex builds this relationship with him, and we get to see somebody blossom as a player and become a cornerstone of the franchise.”
You’d be hard-pressed to find Gobert without Jensen in Salt Lake City. They were always watching film or bruising each other under the basket after practices.
“Alex, I felt, was an excellent partner for saying no to Rudy,” former Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey said. “There were some tough messages from Alex. But Rudy always knew that Alex cared about him deeply, and he had his best interest at heart.”
Each summer of Gobert’s near-decade with the Jazz, he could be found working out on his hometown court in Saint-Quentin, France, with none other than Jensen.
The two made it an offseason tradition to visit the city 80 miles northeast of Paris. Together, they’d work at Gobert’s youth basketball camps. Then they would hit the gym and hone Gobert’s skills as a defensive stalwart.
Rinse. Repeat.
“He was the one that was primarily working with me,” Gobert told The Tribune. “It was an opportunity for me to get up and care for the kids and sometimes still get better and still work out.”
During the down years of Gobert’s first few seasons, Jensen often hosted the French big man at his home for dinners.
When there was downtime in France, Jensen shared stories with Gobert about how he met his wife, Natalie Jensen, his life’s journey and more. Basketball hit the back burner then.
“Over the years, our relationship got stronger and stronger,” Gobert said.
Those fleeting moments helped foster multiple deep playoff runs in Salt Lake City years ago.
It certainly helped Gobert become the player he is today.
“His knowledge is very valuable,” Gobert said. “I always thought he would become a head coach.”
‘Take my time’
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Utes head coach Alex Jensen watches during the game between the Utah Utes and the Arizona Wildcats in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026.
At dinners with Majerus, Jensen and the rest of the Saint Louis coaching staff, the former Utah head coach would always remind his assistants of one major fun fact about his favorite player.
Jensen never lost a home game in Salt Lake City under him.
“He told us that 26 times,’ Moser said.
Jensen can still brag that he didn’t lose a single game at the Huntsman Center as a player. But he’s now lost eight games there as a head coach.
“The first year is never — and it’s not an excuse — easy,” Jensen said recently. “You hope when the next year rolls around and people come in, they can sense … how things are done, and what expectations are, which has gotten better over the years.”
The Runnin’ Utes have had their fair share of ups and downs this season. They’re 10-18 overall. They’ve only won two games in the Big 12 so far. Some conference losses have been close. Others have been blowouts.
“You always want to win,” Jensen said after Utah’s 66-52 loss to No. 2 Houston recently. “This is a good game for us to realize how far we need to go, and how much we need to work on.”
Utah’s players can feel Jensen’s impact, too.
“We can really compete with everybody,” Utah forward Keanu Dawes said. “We just have to put it together for 40 minutes.”
The Runnin’ Utes’ season isn’t over yet, but Jensen is already putting together his roster for 2026-27. The Utes recently earned a commitment from an intriguing international big man, Fynn Schott.
Jensen is just starting what he hopes is a return to the days of the Runnin’ Utes playing postseason basketball.
Like all those years ago — once a younger, beardless coach stuck in a pose to be the example for his mentor Majerus — Jensen remains steadfast in the same principles that he believes will bring the Runnin’ Utes back to relevancy.
“I’m going to take my time. I’m going to do it right,” Jensen said.
“I’ve held true to those values, so nobody can say that that’s not what I’ve done. That’s the way you build an organization.”