"Rick Majerus dies," read the tweets commemorating the life of the former Utah Utes Coach who died at sixty-four from issues related to his heart health on the afternoon of December 1st. The veracity of his death was confirmed by Ben Weixlmann of Scout.com, along with Porter Moser, the Loyola-Chicago basketball coach, on his twitter.
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If you search "Rick Majerus dies" on the Twitter search engine, you'll be brought to Porter Moser's Twitter, where the usually jovial coach employed a somber tone when he tweeted: "RIP to my friend and mentor Coach Majerus. I learned so much about the game and life. We lost a One [sic] of the best! My heart is heavy tonight."
Though the cause of his death is not immediately known, many media outlets have already confirmed the truth behind the "Rick Majerus dies" trend. Majerus was found dead on Saturday night possibly due to complications relating to the same heart issues which forced him to step down from his job as coach of the Saint Louis Billikens last August. Because rumors existed that Majerus would not be retiring outright, the coach confirmed on November 16th that he would not be returning to coach anymore. He was sixty-four years old at time of death.
As a look through the "Rick Majerus dies" Twitter trending topic would reveal, the Utah Utes coach will be most remembered for his time spent as the lion-hearted head coach of the Utah Utes, a job he held from 1989 to 2004. While a coach, he made the NCAA Tournament a whopping ten times in just fifteen years. Though in death, many will argue about the high point of his career, the prevailing argument will most certainly be that his professional apex came when the Utes made it to the NCAA Finals in 1988, only to fall to Kentucky in an exhilarating game. He clocked out at a 323-95 record at Utah, and had an overall career record of 517-215 throughout his tenure at Ball State, Utah, St. Louis, and Maruqette.
Before he was in the coaching driver's seat, Majerus also served the Milwaukee Bucks for a season, and also spent time as the assistant coach for the United States Men's National Team. While there, he won our country the FIBA Gold Medal in 1994 at the World Championships. In addition, he worked as an analyst for ESPN for many seasons. A search through the "Rick Majerus dies" topic pointed us to this video of his ESPN tenure, wherein he famously told his co-anchors, "I'm not a big gay guy," the sexuality denial heard round the sports world for its hilarity.
It will be hard to forget a coach like Majerus. Dead though he may be, if his "Rick Majerus dies" Twitter trend is any indication, he will be remembered in the hearts of many sports fans for some time to come for his illustrious career. Here are the best tweet reactions to the tragedy, ranging from solemn and important eulogizing to speculation about whether or not it was heart failure that led to his death.
RIP to my friend and mentor Coach Majerus. I learned so much about the game and life. We lost a One of the best! My heart is heavy tonight.
— Porter Moser (@PorterMoser) December 2, 2012
Extremely sad to hear about Rick Majerus. Here's S.L. Price's great SI story about him. sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/t...
— Will Leitch (@williamfleitch) December 2, 2012
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