Majerus eager to turn SLU around

Saying health not issue, coach happy for 'opportunity'

Rick Majerus holds up a Saint Louis University jersey during a news conference introducing him as the new basketball coach. Majerus agreed to a six-year contract with the school Friday.

? Rick Majerus got out of coaching three years ago because of health concerns. Now his biggest worry is putting Saint Louis on the basketball map.

Majerus replaces Brad Soderberg, who won 20 games in the last of his five seasons but failed to generate even an NIT bid his last three years. Soderberg was fired April 17.

Majerus, an ESPN analyst the last three years, agreed to a six-year contract Friday.

“I saw this as an opportunity,” the 59-year-old Majerus said at a news conference Monday. “I don’t think I forgot how to do it. I love practice and I love the kids and I like the game.”

Majerus led Utah to 10 NCAA appearances in 15 seasons. He also has coached at Ball State and Marquette and was a Milwaukee Bucks assistant. He has a career record of 422-147 with 15 postseason appearances.

“The coaching profession is a much better place today because Rick Majerus is back in it,” Marquette coach Tom Crean said. “Rick has proven time and time again what it takes to win.”

Majerus feels ready to take on the challenge of leading a school that last made it to the NCAA Tournament in 2000. Rotund and nearly bald, Majerus thought his appearance “eerily” similar to that of the school’s gnomelike Billiken mascot.

“I’m never going to wear a 42 regular,” he said. “But I swim one mile every day, and on a good day a mile and a half. I think my health is good, or I wouldn’t do this. It wouldn’t be fair to them.”

Father Lawrence Biondi, the school president, hired Majerus to elevate the school to top 50 status.

“Rick, I am sure, will tell you it won’t happen overnight,” Biondi said. “But it will happen. This is a truly exciting day for men’s basketball.”