Larry Krystkowiak

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Larry Krystkowiak
New Jersey Nets (assistant)
2011–2021Utah
Career highlights and awards
As player:

As coach:

Career NBA statistics
Points
3,425 (8.2 ppg)
Rebounds2,051 (4.9 rpg)
Assists513 (1.2 apg)
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at NBA.com
Stats Edit this at Wikidata at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  United States
FIBA U19 World Cup
Gold medal – first place 1983 Palma de Mallorca Under-19

Larry Brett Krystkowiak (/krɪsˈkviæk/ kris-KOH-vee-ak;[1] born September 23, 1964) is a retired American professional basketball player, and former head coach of the Utah Utes men's basketball team.[2][3]

Early life

He was born in

Hodgkin's lymphoma when he was eight years old[6] and his father remarried. He primarily grew up in Shelby, Montana, and his step-mother did not approve of Larry playing sports.[4] At the age of 15, Larry moved out of Shelby and finished his high school career at Big Sky High School in Missoula.[7] During this time he lived with his older brother Bernie,[4] who became Larry's legal guardian.[5]

College career

Krystkowiak played college basketball for the

University of Montana from 1982 to 1986 and still holds the school records for career points scored (2,017) and rebounds (1,105).[8] He is the only person to have been named Big Sky Conference MVP three times (1984–1986).[9]
Krystkowiak's jersey number was retired by the University of Montana.

Professional playing career

Krystkowiak was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the second round (28th overall pick) of the 1986 NBA draft. He played power forward for nine seasons in the NBA, spending the bulk of his career with the Milwaukee Bucks. He also played for the San Antonio Spurs, Utah Jazz, Orlando Magic, Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers. In the 1988–89 season he averaged 12.7 points, 7.6 rebounds, 1.3 assists and over 30 minutes per game for the Bucks.[3] Over his NBA career, he averaged 8.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per contest.[3]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1986–87
San Antonio
68 2 14.8 .456 .083 .743 3.5 1.3 0.3 0.2 6.6
1987–88
Milwaukee
50 7 21.0 .481 .000 .811 4.6 1.0 0.4 0.2 7.2
1988–89
Milwaukee
80 77 30.9 .473 .333 .823 7.6 1.3 1.2 0.1 12.7
1989–90
Milwaukee
16 7 23.8 .364 .000 .788 4.8 1.6 0.6 0.1 7.0
1991–92
Milwaukee
79 16 23.4 .444 .000 .757 5.4 1.4 0.7 0.2 9.0
1992–93
Utah
71 0 19.2 .466 .000 .796 3.9 1.0 0.6 0.2 7.2
1993–94
Orlando
34 11 20.1 .480 .000 .795 3.6 1.0 0.4 0.1 5.1
1994–95
Chicago
19 14 15.1 .389 .000 .900 3.1 1.4 0.5 0.1 4.4
1996–97
Los Angeles
3 0 3.7 .500 .000 .500 1.7 1.0 0.7 0.0 1.0
Career 420 134 21.7 .457 .139 .795 4.9 1.2 0.6 0.1 8.2

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1987–88
Milwaukee
5 5 32.6 .448 .000 .889 6.8 1.4 0.8 0.0 8.4
1988–89
Milwaukee
8 8 29.9 .426 .000 .871 5.6 1.5 0.3 0.1 10.6
1990–91
Milwaukee
3 0 8.3 .167 .000 .000 1.0 0.7 0.3 0.0 0.7
1992–93
Utah
1 0 8.0 .000 .000 .000 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
1993–94
Orlando
3 3 30.7 .389 .000 1.000 8.3 3.0 1.0 0.7 6.0
Career 20 16 26.4 .410 .000 .887 5.5 1.5 0.5 0.2 7.4

Coaching career

Early career

Krystkowiak began his coaching career in 1998 as an assistant to Don Holst at his alma mater, the

Old Dominion as an assistant under former Griz head coach, Blaine Taylor.[9]
He spent one season (2001–2002) at Old Dominion.

Krystkowiak got his first opportunity as a head coach with the

Idaho Stampede in 2003–04. In his single season as the Stampede's head coach, he led the team to a 37–16 record and a CBA championship game berth.[8]

He was hired as head men's basketball coach at the

NCAA tournament
.

NBA coaching career

In June 2006 Krystkowiak left Montana to take a job as an assistant coach with the Milwaukee Bucks under Terry Stotts. Krystkowiak was responsible for working with Milwaukee's big men, notably second year players Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva.[10] He was named head coach of the team on March 14, 2007, after Stotts was fired. Stotts had led the Bucks to a 23–41 record during the 2006–07 season.[11] He signed a reported 4-year contract with the Bucks, with an average annual salary of $2 million[12] Krystkowiak's NBA head coaching debut on March 15, 2007, resulted in a 101–90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

On April 17, 2008, Krystkowiak was fired as Milwaukee Bucks head coach after a disappointing season in which the Bucks compiled the league's sixth worst record.[13]

In July 2010 Krystkowiak joined the

New Jersey Nets coaching staff alongside Avery Johnson and Sam Mitchell.[14]

University of Utah

On April 3, 2011, it was announced that Krystkowiak would take over the head coaching position for the University of Utah men's basketball team, as they transitioned into Utah's first season in the newly realigned Pac-12.[4]

After Krystkowiak was named Utah's head coach, eight players left the program to play elsewhere and he was forced to bring in several junior college and walk-on players to fill his depleted roster. In a season where starting center David Foster missed the entire season and starting point guard Josh "Jiggy" Watkins was dismissed halfway through, Krystkowiak and the Utes struggled to a 6–25 finish, including only three wins against their new Pac-12 opponents.

The 2012–2013 season showed much improvement for Krystkowiak's Utes. The additions of freshmen Jordan Loveridge and Brandon Taylor, as well as great play and leadership from senior center Jason Washburn, would help Utah more than double their win total from the previous season. On March 9, 2013, Utah closed out its season by defeating No. 19 Oregon, celebrating Senior Night at the Huntsman Center with the program's first victory over a ranked opponent since 2009. Utah then defeated USC and California in the first and second rounds of the Pac-12 tournament before losing a rematch with Oregon, the eventual champion.

Krystkowiak's third season saw the

NIT
. The next year, he led his team to the sweet sixteen, their highest run in the tournament in years. In 2017–18, he led the Utes to their first NIT finals appearance in 44 years.

The National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame nominated Krystkowiak for its Class of 2013.[15] On June 21, 2018 Krystkowiak was enshrined into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2018 in Troy, Michigan.

On March 16, 2021 Larry was fired by the University of Utah.[16]

Personal life

Larry and his wife, Jan, have five children, Cam, Luc, Ben and twin girls Sam and Fin.[8] He has seen his father only once in over 30 years, because of the issues in his early life.[6]

Head coaching record

Larry Krystkowiak's record as a head coach.

CBA

Team Year Regular Season Post Season
G W L Pct Finish Result
Idaho Stampede
2003–04[8] 53 37 16 .698 Lost CBA championship game

College

Statistics overview
Season Team Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Montana Grizzlies (Big Sky Conference) (2004–2006)
2004–05 Montana 18–13 9–5 2nd
NCAA Division I Round of 64
2005–06 Montana 24–7 10–4 2nd
NCAA Division I Round of 32
Montana: 42–20 (.677) 19–9 (.679)
Utah Utes (Pac-12 Conference) (2011–2021)
2011–12 Utah 6–25 3–15 11th
2012–13 Utah 15–18 5–13 10th
2013–14 Utah 21–12 9–9 T–8th NIT First Round
2014–15 Utah 26–9 13–5 T–2nd
NCAA Division I Sweet 16
2015–16 Utah 27–9 13–5 2nd
NCAA Division I Round of 32
2016–17 Utah 20–12 11–7 4th NIT First Round
2017–18 Utah 23–12 11–7 T–3rd NIT Runner-Up
2018–19 Utah 17–14 11–7 3rd
2019–20 Utah 16–15 7–11 T–8th
2020–21 Utah 12–13 8–11 8th
Utah: 183–139 (.568) 91–90 (.503)
Total: 225–159 (.586)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

NBA

Legend
Regular season G Games coached W Games won L Games lost W–L % Win–loss %
Playoffs PG Playoff games PW Playoff wins PL Playoff losses PW–L % Playoff win–loss %
Team Year G W L W–L% Finish PG PW PL PW–L% Result
Milwaukee 2006–07 18 5 13 .278 5th in Central Missed playoffs
Milwaukee 2007–08 82 26 56 .317 5th in Central Missed playoffs
Career 100 31 69 .310

See also

  • List of NCAA Division I men's basketball players with 2000 points and 1000 rebounds

References

  1. ^ "NBA.com International NBA Players – Pronunciation Guide". www.nba.com. Archived from the original on May 3, 2007.
  2. ^ "The Official Athletic Site of the University of Utah – Men's Basketball". Archived from the original on April 1, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d BasketballReference entry
  4. ^ a b c d sltrib.com
  5. ^ a b si.com He Has Taken Some Tough Shots
  6. ^ a b Basketball Times. Vol. 34. No.1. Sept 2011.
  7. ^ Tribune Staff. "125 Montana Newsmakers: Larry Krystkowiak". Great Falls Tribune. Retrieved August 24, 2011.
  8. ^
    NBA.com. Archived from the original
    on March 18, 2007. Retrieved March 15, 2007.
  9. ^ a b Missoulian.com
  10. ^ Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Archived September 29, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ NBA.com Krystkowiak replaces Stotts
  12. ^ 15, 2007&id=20650 info on Krytkowiak/Bucks contract Archived October 22, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ ESPN.com story on Bucks firing
  14. ^ Mitchell, Krystkowiak join Nets staff
  15. ^ "Election results". National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on June 21, 2013.
  16. ^ "Utah Fires Coach Larry Krystkowiak".

External links