Author: Jesse

Now that the Utah Hockey Club/Mammoth’s inaugural season has come to an end, we’re taking a closer look at each team member’s performance. In this, the third article in the three-part series, we’ll evaluate the goalies, coaches and management.

See part one for assessments of the forwards and part two for the defensemen.

Karel Vejmelka

Grade: A+

During training camp, I remember discussing Utah’s goaltending situation with a small cohort of reporters. My take was that Karel Vejmelka was good enough to play at least a 1B role, splitting the games evenly, give or take, with his partner.

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My opinion was met with strong opposition — but as the season progressed, it turned out he was even better than I thought.

The circumstances of Vejmelka’s emergence weren’t ideal, with Connor Ingram taking a leave of absence due to the poor health and subsequent passing of his mother. But he took his opportunity and he didn’t look back.

Among goalies who played 17 games or more during that stretch, Vejmelka tied 2022 Vezina Trophy runner-up Jacob Markström for second in save percentage, behind only defending Vezina winner Connor Hellebuyck.

Toward the end of the season, Utah relied on Vejmelka in a way no team had since 2015, starting him in 23 consecutive games. While he did have a pair of near-career-worst save percentages in late March, he usually gave his team the chance to win — and that’s all you can ask of a goalie.

Had it not been for Vejmelka, Utah may have earned the fourth overall pick, rather than winning it in a game of chance. He signed a long-term contract in March, and one could argue that he’s already earned every dollar of it.

Connor Ingram

Grade: N/A

It’s impossible to judge Ingram’s season fairly. Goaltending is all about mental resilience, and Ingram was not in the right place mentally this season.

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He reentered the player assistance program in March, where he’ll ideally get the help he needs and be able to live life to its fullest.

Jaxson Stauber

Grade: B

At some points this season, Jaxson Stauber looked like a strong candidate for a permanent NHL job — especially when he earned the franchise’s first-ever shutout. At other points, though, he showed why the majority of his games came at the AHL level.

As head coach André Tourigny said all season, the difference between an NHLer and an AHLer is that the top guys bring their “A” game most nights and their “B” game occasionally, but they rarely bring their “C” game.

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That’s doubly true for goalies: When they have bad nights, the team loses — everything they do matters.

Stauber got a contract extension just after the season ended. While his NHL salary remains at league minimum, he received a $220,000 raise at the AHL level. That’s an indication that management believes he can achieve more next year.

Matt Villalta

Grade: B

Utah-based fans didn’t see much of Matt Villalta this year, as his primary job was to hold down the fort for the Tucson Roadrunners while Stauber accompanied the NHL club.

Villalta played the third-most minutes of anyone in the AHL this season, and one more full game would have put him in first place. In his only NHL appearance of the year, he recorded 31 saves on 34 shots to secure his first NHL win.

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Depending on how the Mammoth decide to proceed with their goalie situation, Villalta could get more big-league looks next year. All it takes for a goalie to solidify himself in the NHL is a stretch of good games — look at Montreal’s Jakub Dobeš.

André Tourigny

Grade: C+

Tourigny often talks about the distinction between the player and the person — he can criticize a guy’s on-ice play while maintaining a high opinion of him as a person. I want to make the same distinction here.

In my almost daily interactions with Tourigny, he has treated my fellow reporters and me with respect — even when he dislikes our questions. But there were a handful of times throughout the year where adjustments could have been made and the team could have won more games.

Part of a coach’s responsibility is to get the most out of every player. While Tourigny was successful at that with Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, Mikhail Sergachev and a bunch of others, there’s a list of middle-six forwards who struggled so hard they became bottom-six guys.

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Lawson Crouse, for example, saw a year-over-year production decrease of more than 50%, despite playing the same number of games both seasons. Matias Maccelli, who scored 57 points in his final year in Arizona, dropped off so hard the team could hardly trust him to suit up the final two months of the season.

Neither guy spoke of what they’d been instructed to do to get better — only what they personally thought of during their time in the press box.

Similar things can be said of Nick Bjugstad, Michael Carcone, Juuso Välimäki and Vladislav Kolyachonok — and it ultimately cost them a few of those guys.

Tourigny’s approach, at least from an outside perspective, seemed to be one of rewarding and punishing players based on their play, rather than helping them get back to the respective levels at which they’re capable of playing.

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Those strategies are sometimes necessary for contending teams during the playoffs, but they can do much harm to a developing team in the middle of the regular season.

That being said, Tourigny also had plenty of triumphs this year. His game preparation often allowed Utah to surprise some of the league’s best teams, including a 3-0-1 record against the Minnesota Wild and a 2-2-0 versus the Winnipeg Jets.

A little more focus on open-ice play could have propelled Utah into a playoff spot, as they couldn’t seem to catch a break at 4-on-4 during regulation or at 3-on-3 in their many overtime games.

At any rate, the group did much better than it had in some time in Arizona, and Tourigny should get a good portion of the credit.

Bill Armstrong

Grade: A

Everything Bill Armstrong did over the offseason worked out to Utah’s benefit: Trading for Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino; signing Kevin Stenlund, Ian Cole and Robert Bortuzzo.

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His sole in-season roster trade was also a slam dunk: swapping a third-round pick for Olli Määttä (though at the time I thought he’d overpaid, considering Määttä was Detroit’s seventh defenseman when the trade happened).

The experience of all these veterans was apparent all season long, stabilizing the team during chaotic points in games. Credit Armstrong for recognizing that need and filling it with Stanley Cup champions.

The Nick DeSimone waiver claim was another positive. Though he didn’t get to play every night, he never looked out of place when he did get into the lineup.

Armstrong also re-signed the right pending free agents, each to seemingly fair deals. He still has Jack McBain’s contract on his to-do list, but there’s plenty of time before the June 30 RFA qualifying offer date to get it done.

It takes a few seasons for a GM to really build a resume, but there’s hardly a critical word that can be said about Armstrong since the day he took over the Coyotes.

In a Republican Party dominated by President Donald Trump, Sen. John Curtis, who was elected to fill retired Sen. Mitt Romney’s seat last year, thinks it’s still possible – and essential – to be an independent thinker, and isn’t afraid to break with the president over key issues.

“I really think the best way to make President Trump successful is to let him know when we disagree,” the Utah Republican told CNN’s Manu Raju on “Inside Politics Sunday.” In a wide-ranging interview, Curtis praised Trump on certain issues, including border policy, but warned about the potential negative impacts of tariffs on small businesses and expressed concern over Trump’s plan to accept a Qatari jet. Curtis also said he believes the president would need to come to Congress if the administration wants to suspend habeas corpus, a legal procedure that allows people to challenge their detention in court.

“We serve the president best when we act and function more like a board of directors,” he said, asking, “you wouldn’t want a board of directors to rubber stamp the president of a company, right?”

The senator’s predecessor found himself a target of scathing attacks from Trump after voting to convict the president in both of his impeachment trials.

But Curtis, who didn’t back Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, isn’t worried about the consequences of breaking with the leader of his party, who has often threatened Republican critics with primaries.

“That’s a stereotype,” Curtis said, explaining that he believes Trump actually has “respect” for people who confront him in “the right way, the right time, the right place.”

“If I send out a mean, nasty tweet, of course, that’s not received well, but if I have a thoughtful conversation with the administration about how I see something, I hope and trust that he actually values that as somebody who wants to help him,” he said.

Curtis isn’t concerned about blowback from base voters either, not hesitating to tout his double-digit lead over his three rivals in Utah’s 2024 GOP Senate primary, including Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs, who had the backing of Trump and the state Republican Party.

“People in Utah want the president to be successful,” he said of the state that elected Trump to a second term by more than 20 points.

“I want the president to be wildly successful, and so it becomes a question of how do we help him be successful,” he said, adding, “from time to time, not often, that means we’re going to disagree.”

In his maiden Senate floor speech this month, Curtis emphasized the merits of being “wildly honest” in Washington.

“The odds of Congress delivering real results for the American people go up dramatically when we start telling each other the truth, not just behind closed doors, but out in the open,” he said.

The freshman senator said he’s already exhibited some of that “wild” honesty with the Trump administration, telling the president’s Cabinet nominees, all of whom he ultimately voted for, “if we’re not careful, we’ll destroy small businesses with tariffs.”

As Trump and his top advisers cobble together trade deals in the wake of global backlash to his sweeping tariff policies, Curtis said he understands the president is playing “the long game” on the world stage, but warned of the impacts at home.

“We have to be very, very careful with our small businesses,” he said.

Other areas where Curtis disagrees with Trump and his closest allies range from environmental issues to the value of highlighting diversity to the war in Ukraine.

“I think I’ve been very clear on where I feel about Ukraine and President Zelensky,” he said, adding “(Russian President Vladimir) Putin is not our friend.”

As Trump tests the limits of executive power, Curtis said he thinks the president should consult with Congress first before potentially suspending habeas corpus.

He insisted that he would consider the move, which CNN has reported Trump has recently talked about, “incredibly carefully.”

“Make a case to me, but I will tell you, as I judge that case, I’m going to be thinking in my mind: what if this is a Democrat president coming after something that I think is important,” he said.

On another headline-making issue – Trump’s plans for his administration to accept a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family to use as Air Force One – Curtis would only speak for himself.

“I will just tell you, in my experience as an elected official, I have found it is best to avoid even the very appearance of being in a bad place,” he said.

Though Curtis believes Congress has “abdicated” some responsibilities, including managing the federal deficit, he’s wary of the dramatic spending slashes shepherded by Elon Musk and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

“We need to cut,” he acknowledged, later adding, “that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have compassion. That doesn’t mean when we’re letting a federal employee go that we shouldn’t be thoughtful about perhaps that’s the worst day of their life.”

He also recommended a compassionate approach to his colleagues on Capitol Hill as they weigh how to advance Trump’s sweeping tax promises without ballooning the deficit.

“We could do this without taking away critical benefits for those most in need, but if we don’t make hard decisions, we’re going to be making more drastic cuts in the future, and I don’t want to do that,” he said.

Curtis said he thinks GOP lawmakers will end up in a “good place” with Trump’s agenda, but he’s among the chorus of Republicans calling for changes, urging caution about how the bill rolls back Biden-era clean energy tax credits.

“The honesty is we need clean, affordable, reliable energy,” he said, explaining that some provisions of former President Joe Biden’s signature Inflation Reduction Act are “actually Republican priorities” when it comes to harnessing new forms of energy.

The Utah Republican, who previously represented the youngest congressional district in the country, said he knows how much protecting the environment matters to young voters, implying that should be an asset to his party, not a hindrance.

“Republicans are far better on this than we’re willing to admit,” he said.

Utah Beach won Saturday’s 88th running of the $250,000 Louisville Stakes (Grade 3) at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., by 1 ½ lengths over Verstappen in 2:26.70 for the 1 ½-mile marathon over the Matt Winn Turf Course.

Ridden by Vincent Cheminaud, Utah Beach had one horse beat in the early stages of the marathon as pacesetter Idratherbeblessed led the field of nine older horses through early fractions of :48.84, 1:13.64 and 1:39.12. Verstappen, who tracked in second, took over midway around the final as Utah Beach commenced his wide rally. Utah Beach caught Verstappen with an eighth of a mile to run and drew clear in the final yards.

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The final time over firm turf was just .20 seconds off 1994 Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Tikkanen’s course record of 2:26.50.

Ignacio “Nacho” Correas IV trained the winner for Jeffrey S. Amling and Charles Noell’s Merribelle Stable.

The win was worth $151,520 and improved Utah Beach’s career earnings to $687,785 with a record of 5-5-1 in 15 starts. It was his second straight stakes victory after capturing the $400,000 Elkhorn (G2) at Keeneland on April 19.

Utah Beach returned $8.44, $4.52 and $2.72 as the 3-1 second betting choice. Verstappen, under Frankie Dettori, paid $7 and $4.04 at odds of 7-1. Missed the Cut, ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr. as the mild 3-1 favorite, was another three lengths back in third and paid $3.90 to show.

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Defending champ Sugoi was fourth and was followed by Rock’n a Halo, Accredit and Idratherbeblessed. Rebel Red (GB) appeared to clip heals with Missed the Cut, who veered out when Idratherbeblessed began to fade, and dropped rider Declan Cannon. Tapit Shoes was unable to avoid the fallen horse and rider and dropped jockey Rafael Bejarano. Both horses returned to their barns. Bejarano returned to the jockey’s quarters. Cannon, who was alert and conscious, complained of back pain and was transported to University of Louisville Hospital for further evaluation.

Utah Beach is a 5-year-old gelded son of English Channel out of the Lasting Approval mare My Own Story and was bred in Kentucky by his owners.

One race later, a 26-year-old track record fell. 4 G Racing LLC, Lance Gasaway and Magdalena Racing’s 4-year-oldGould’s Gold ran 1 1/8 miles on the main track in 1:47.26, which shaved .02 seconds off Victory’s Gallop’s longtime mark of 1:47.28 while winning the 1999 Stephen Foster Handicap. Brian Hernandez Jr. rode the winner for trainer Kenny McPeek.

Racing at Churchill Downs continues Sunday with a nine-race card that begins at 12:45 p.m. (all times Eastern).

After years of being greeted with boos at the Utah Republican Party’s annual convention, GOP Gov. Spencer Cox skipped the gathering Saturday for the second time since becoming governor.

The governor’s absence came as the leading Republican opponent to his reelection bid last year, Phil Lyman, made a failed bid for state party chair, and as delegates weighed an amendment to temporarily boot signature-gathering candidates, like Cox, from the party.

Although he did not personally make an appearance, Cox’s campaign had a booth at the convention alongside other Utah elected officials.

Current Utah law allows Republican candidates to qualify for the ballot either via gathering signatures or winning at convention after a legislative compromise to preserve the caucus-convention system — a measure that has created heartburn in the party since the passage of a law, known as SB54, over a decade ago. The state party’s constitution mentions only the convention path.

A spokesperson for Cox’s campaign did not respond to an inquiry as to why the governor did not attend this year’s event. He last skipped the convention in 2022, and when delegates shouted him down last year — for the third time — Cox drew party hardliners’ ire when he responded, “Maybe you hate that I don’t hate enough.”

The governor’s official calendar, shared with reporters on a weekly basis, did not indicate that Cox had any conflicting engagements this weekend.

Cox was among a number of Utah’s top Republican leaders who filed to gather signatures ahead of last year’s election, including U.S. Sen. John Curtis, U.S. Rep. Blake Moore and Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz — as well as Lyman when he launched his gubernatorial campaign. Although a party constitutional amendment to ban signature-gathering in the party failed, delegates voted to amend the party platform to reiterate its rejection of candidate petitions.

Rob Axson wins reelection as GOP chair

More than 2,600 Republican delegates — about two-thirds of the GOP total — gathered in Orem Saturday morning for the convention, where attendees reelected Rob Axson as the Utah GOP chair for another two-year term.

Axson bested Lyman by winning 1,340 delegate votes to Lyman’s 1,215 — about 52.3% to 47.5%.

“I am committed to building this party,” Axson said in a speech ahead of the vote. “Delegates matter. Precincts matter. I stand before you seeking personal support as we continue to build the Utah Republican Party. As expected, some have attacked me [and] my record, and that’s okay.”

Incumbent party secretary Stafford Palmieri Sievert was also reelected, beating former party secretary Olivia Horlacher Williams, according to election officials.

As voters were counted, delegates who remained after casting their vote heard from Curtis, as well as U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, U.S. Reps. Mike Kennedy and Burgess Owens and statewide elected officials including Schultz, Attorney General Derek Brown, Auditor Tina Cannon and Treasurer Marlo Oaks.

But those remarks by the state’s top elected officials were only heard by a portion of Republican delegates after many appeared to leave after casting their ballots.

Making party business a priority

Ahead of the convention’s commencement Saturday, a playlist of late-aughts pop songs played through the UCCU Center, including LGBTQ+ anthem “Born This Way” by Lady Gaga, which includes the line, “No matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgender life, I’m on the right track, baby, I was born to survive.”

As elected officials chatted with attendees, a giant photo of President Donald Trump — and a photo of Trump’s social post endorsing Axson’s reelection — welcomed delegates to candidate booths. At a nearby merch table, Make America Great Again, Make America Healthy Again, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and DOGE hats were up for sale.

Additionally, delegates could purchase “Trump 2028” hats advocating for an unconstitutional third term for the president.

Shortly after standing for the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem — and a year following a marathon 2024 convention that kept delegates until midnight — delegates quickly moved to amend the day’s agenda to topload official business, including amending the party’s constitution.

The proposal to move that business ahead of speeches from elected state leaders and Utah’s all-GOP congressional delegation inspired some fear that, during a non-election year, delegates would leave before hearing from their elected leaders.

Delegates also voted down a resolution calling on the state’s federal delegation to “oppose and condemn any measure or action” that would allow the president of the United States to serve more than two terms.

“I’m against this resolution because I view it as just basically a counter signal to President Trump,” one delegate from Salt Lake County said. “And you know, if Trump is still floating running for a third term, we can address that two years from now.”

Among the other early business was a proposed amendment to the party’s constitution that would have revoked the party membership of any candidate who gathered signatures in order to qualify for the ballot, but the amendment’s sponsor, Arnold Gaunt, proposed striking it from the agenda.

“We are trying to solve a problem that’s been around for many years,” Gaunt said. “There’s been some very interesting developments that have occurred this week before the convention, and there’s a better path for responding to the problem than what is now proposed.”

Gaunt’s amendment would have, for one year, revoked the party membership of any person “who seeks public office … by any mechanism other than that specifically provided within this Constitution.”

Additionally, the amendment would have lowered the threshold for candidates to proceed directly to the primary election from the convention down to 50% from 60%.

Despite some pushback, the delegates ultimately voted with Gaunt and the amendment was removed from the agenda.

Later, however, delegates considered another amendment related to signature gathering, this one amending the party platform, though not its constitution.

“[W]e support Utah’s caucus system of neighborhood meetings to elect wise delegates to vet the candidates for public offices,” the proposed amendment read. “We use delegate conventions to choose the best candidates as our party nominees. We support closed primaries when there are two well-qualified candidates selected by the convention. We reject any method that bypasses our convention process, including the gathering of signatures.”

The amendment passed on a majority vote.

It would have been perfectly noble for Utah State’s three graduating seniors to ride into the sunset two weeks ago after a sixth-place finish at the Mountain West Conference. That’s the best conference finish for a Utah State team in 12 years. Every player finished under par – a program first.

For one thing, the team had already dispersed – to Colombia, Mexico, Texas – but one of the best things about this team, from where head coach Dean Johansen is sitting, is that they indeed came back.

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Utah State hasn’t played a postseason event since 1981. An invitation to the National Golf Invitational broke that nearly 50-year drought, and one very savvy travel coordinator at the university in Logan, Utah, brought the five men back from parts the world over to meet within an hour of each other at Phoenix International Airport.

“It means a lot to me personally – just the young men that they are, the sacrifice they’re willing to make for their team and their coaches and their school,” said Johansen, who puts a premium on developing the whole player, and always has in his 25 years at the helm of the Aggie program.

National Golf Invitational: Scores

Utah State went 11 under in the opening round of the NGI at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes in Maricopa, Arizona, for a one-shot lead on Ohio State. It’s a course with which the Aggies are familiar, having played in the Wyoming-hosted Cowboy Classic here the past two years.

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“This is our third event at this golf course in two years,” Johansen said. “. . . I think that’s a pretty good advantage.”

In all the teams he’s coached, Johansen puts this one at the top of the list when it comes to depth of talent. That’s a testament to him as well, considering that a small recruiting budget and cold, snowy weather make it no small feat to draw a squad like this one to Logan.

“It is validating,” Johansen said of the NGI opportunity, “and these kids worked hard all winter long. We’re hitting balls indoors, we’re driving five and a half hours to find grass to play on for a weekend and they came out at the conference championship and played as good as we’ve ever played at the Mountain West, broke a few school records for us, best finish ever for us. . . . We weren’t really planning on this (NGI start). They all were willing to come back from their respective countries.”

For Esteban Jaramillo and Julio Arronte, that meant delaying the start of professional careers. Johansen’s third senior, John Cook, already planned to hold off turning pro until playing the Utah State Amateur and the team’s home course, Logan Country Club in July.

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Arronte contributed a 5-under 67 for Utah State on Friday that went a long way in pulling his team up the leaderboard. Sophomore Enrique Karg did two better, posting a bogey-free round of 7-under 65.

“All of the guys on the team, if you look at our spring and even last fall, any one of them can get it going at any time and just get on the birdie train and today, we had a ton as a team,” Johansen said.

Karg leads the individual race with Utah Valley’s Clement Lepine one shot behind him.

The next 36 holes will be bittersweet for Johansen but fun to watch regardless. This team, he said, has made an impact not just on the program, but on the community. They’re well respected at Logan Country Club, the team’s home course where Johansen is also the golf pro, and they’ve already shown that they have the guts to overcome the realities of a Utah climate that’s not particularly golf friendly.

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“This is a win for us no matter how we finish in the tournament,” Johansen said when asked to look ahead at how an NGI berth positions his program for the future. “It just elevates my program that we’re in the postseason, how well they played today and I’m planning on them playing good the next two days.”

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: National Golf Invitational: Deep Utah State regroups for one last ride

It’s still three years until Utahns elect the next governor, but former Congressman Jason Chaffetz may have already begun to lay the groundwork for his possible return to political office.

Chaffetz created a political action committee, the Utah Victory Fund, early last year and used it to help a handful of candidates and cover expenses to attend county conventions.

In March, he moved $113,634 from his federal PAC, the American Victory Fund, to his state PAC. That money could now be used if he decides to mount a campaign for state office.

“I’m thinking about the potential of possibly running for governor in 2028, but that’s still a long ways off,” Chaffetz said Thursday during a short break from hosting a FOX News radio program.

For the past two years, he said, the money he has moved through the state PAC has mainly been to boost conservatives running for office.

“I want to help the state stay conservative, so I’m helping raise money. I’ve given away some money,” he said. “I want to help conservatives up and down the state.”

Chaffetz has not had to file a disclosure for the PAC this year but said he has about $200,000 in the account. Last year, he made small donations to Derek Brown’s race for attorney general, a few Salt Lake County races and gave money to several county parties.

Jason Perry, director of the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the University of Utah, said there are a few signs that indicate a person may run for office.

“One of them is [forming] a PAC,” Perry said, “and [Chaffetz] was in a unique position before he left to put some money into that PAC for use down the road.”

Since abruptly announcing his resignation from the U.S. House eight years ago, Chaffetz has been a regular contributor and occasional host on FOX News television and radio. His name is sometimes floated as a potential candidate for governor or U.S. Senate, and he has kept his options open but never jumped into a race.

If he does decide to run in 2028, Perry said, “Jason Chaffetz comes with a record that people already know, which is going to be an advantage to some degree.”

If Chaffetz makes a bid for governor, there will be competition. Former state Rep. Phil Lyman — who battled Gov. Spencer Cox in a caustic contest for the GOP nomination for governor last year and has relentlessly attacked him since — has said he plans to run again in 2028.

“I do plan on running in four years, and the truth is, I plan on fighting this fight on whatever front,” Lyman told a gathering last November in Orem, where, according to the Daily Herald, he resurfaced allegations of fraud in the 2024 race.

Cox has said this is his last term as governor.

Other possible GOP contenders include his No. 2, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper; and Republican National Committeeman Brad Bonham.

“It’s going to be a very crowded field,” Perry said, “so you may see someone get to that Republican primary and win with a very low percentage of the vote, so you need to be very strategic.”

One week after the controversy developed, the NWSL has addressed its decision to continue the Utah Royals’ game against Angel City FC on May 9 following an on-field medical scare involving a player.

In the 74th minute, 20-year-old Angel City FC defender Savy King collapsed on the field in Los Angeles. The game was paused while King received medical attention.

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King was eventually placed on a stretcher and taken to California Hospital Medical Center.

Players on both teams were visibly shaken, but the game continued in the 85th minute after King left the field and 12 minutes of stoppage time were added.

Royals midfielder Alex Loera led both teams in a prayer on behalf of King, a former teammate, following the game.

Liberal arts programs are taking the brunt of cuts at Utah’s two southern universities as the schools work to comply with a legislative mandate to reduce their budgets by millions of dollars.

Faculty had largely expected — and feared— that those programs would be the first to go. But the latest cuts announced at Cedar City-based Southern Utah University and Utah Tech University in St. George significantly reduce humanities and social science offerings for Utah’s public university students geographically, leaving fewer options south of Orem.

The reductions, overall, have been pushed by state leaders who say they want to see more efficiency and less “administrative bloat” in the state’s eight public colleges and universities. This year, lawmakers slashed $60.5 million across the board from institution budgets.

The demand under HB265 is that they reduce majors or programs that have few graduates and lead to lower paying jobs; professors have said those market-based metrics naturally disadvantage the liberal arts.

Lawmakers ensured a university could eventually get its share of any cuts back — but only if it proves it’s reinvested in high-wage jobs that the state needs.

Both SUU and Utah Tech released their proposals earlier this month. SUU’s share of the cut is $3.2 million, and Utah Tech must come up with $2.6 million.

For its plan, SUU is eliminating 24 academic programs. Of the four majors and two minors among those for undergraduates, all are in the liberal arts. That includes art history, French and philosophy.

The university is home to the long-running Utah Shakespeare Festival, which draws summer crowds to several campus shows at the Beverley Taylor Sorenson Center for the Arts.

Utah Tech University is cutting majors for students who want to become educators in Spanish and theater, as well as a theater directing emphasis. It’s also eliminating its standalone College of Arts, merging those programs into other departments at the school.

Utah Tech had considered slashing its full Spanish and American Sign Language majors, too, but said in a release that it chose not to “based on feedback” from faculty.

“Please know that this has been a rigorous and thoughtful process,” the school said in a letter to campus on May 13. “We considered a wide range of factors — enrollment data, program costs, open positions, workforce demand and your valuable input.”

Both universities will also eliminate staff and faculty positions — as other institutions have announced — to meet their designated reduction amounts.

The state’s schools have been pressed to quickly draft their plans. The first version of their plans was due to the Utah Board of Higher Education this month, with a formal presentation to follow in June. Final approval from the Legislature will come in August and September.

Here is a breakdown of SUU and Utah Tech’s plans:

SUU’s proposed cuts

SUU says it looked at every possible metric — using both university and state data — before making determinations. The programs it is eliminating are:

• Athletic training, master’s

• Arts administration, master’s (only the in-person option; the online version will remain available.)

• Art history, bachelor’s

• French, bachelor’s

• Philosophy, bachelor’s

• French education, bachelor’s

• Ethnic studies, minor

• Women and gender studies, minor

• Criminal justice, associate degree

• Equine studies, associate degree

• Legal studies, associate degree

• Agriculture with a focus in livestock farm management, associate degree

• General technology associate degrees for business, construction technology, culinary arts management, integrated health sciences and livestock management

It’s also cutting emphases for several of its programs, including hospitality and tourism with its master of business administration and the piano performance emphasis for music. Two certificates will be terminated, too.

“Our responsibility is to ensure that our degrees remain relevant and powerful tools for our graduates, opening doors to meaningful work, service and impact in a rapidly evolving economy,” the school said in a statement.

All schools will have three years under the law to teach out the programs so students currently enrolled can finish their degrees.

SUU will also consolidate its College of Engineering and Computational Sciences into its College of Natural Sciences. That will bring together all math and science programs under one roof. But it will also mean cutting two faculty positions.

Overall, the school is eliminating 25.35 positions. A school spokesperson said that’s being done through a combination of retirements, merging positions and resignations.

A total of $1.2 million in savings will come from eliminating 6.5 administrative positions among those, including a vice president role in the university president’s office. There are 13.6 faculty position eliminations and 5.25 for staff; an advising role is also being cut, as well as a staff member in the school’s disability center.

Those account for most of the savings that SUU has to come up with, with reductions in professors mostly aligning with the discontinued programs.

The school, though, hopes it can reinvest in 23 new positions, with time, if it earns its share of the cuts back. Those plans, overall, focus on expanding psychology, nursing, business and engineering programs. All have been highlighted by state leaders as areas of study where they would like to see more learning opportunities.

What Utah Tech plans to cut

Utah Tech University is cutting 16 academic programs. Those are:

• Spanish with an emphasis in education, bachelor’s

• Theater with an emphasis in education, bachelor’s

• Theater with an emphasis in directing, bachelor’s

• Population health with an emphasis in long-term care, bachelor’s

• Applied and computational math with an emphasis in scientific computing, bachelor’s

• Criminal justice with an emphasis in digital defense and security, bachelor’s

• Information technology with an emphasis in cybersecurity, bachelor’s

• Professional studies, bachelor’s

• Earth and environmental science associate degrees with emphases in environmental science and geoscience

• Digital defense and security, minor

• Long-term care administration, minor

• Emergency medical technician and advanced EMT, certificates; those will be transitioned to Dixie Technical College

• Modeling and simulation, certificate

• Cryptography I and II, certificates

The school said in a letter to the campus community from Provost Michael Lacourse and Vice President Paul Morris that most of eliminated programs are taught by adjunct faculty.

“As a result, once funds are fully reallocated, the percentage of full-time faculty will increase,” they wrote. “We remain committed to ensuring students can complete their degrees in their current majors with no disruption.”

Until then, though, the school is reducing staff, faculty and administrative positions to save about $700,000. Utah Tech did not provide specific numbers for those reductions. It did note, though, that it will include cutting one administrative position in athletics and another in the president’s office. The cuts to the Spanish and theater education majors will each mean eliminating one faculty member.

The university is merging its College of Arts into its existing humanities and social sciences departments, which will also eliminate a dean and five administrative support positions, the school said. That will save $615,000.

And Utah Tech is reducing its marketing budget, plus ending a standing software contract.

Like SUU, it plans to reinvest in business, engineering, psychology and health sciences, as well as some in digital media arts. The proposal, it said, will continue to evolve.

“As you know, Utah Tech has long operated efficiently with limited resources,” the administration’s letter said. “Our intention is that these changes will strengthen the University and enhance our ability to serve students and the community.”

When the Deseret News recently caught up with two-time World Series starter/former mission president Jeremy Guthrie, his former club, the Kansas City Royals, had just signed 45-year-old journeyman pitcher Rich Hill to a minor league contract.

Guthrie and Hill are about the same age.

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So, fair question, is the 15-year pro baseball veteran poised for his own Rich Hill-like return to the mound?

“Nope, I’m not — as much as I wish I still had enough life in my arm to be signed,” he deadpanned.

Guthrie may be “unsigned” and on the front end of middle age, but he’s kept trim enough to easily blend in with the youngsters in any baseball dugout.

And he may never outgrow the electric charge he still feels whenever he steps atop the pitcher’s mound and sizes up guys standing in the batter’s box, 60 feet and 6 inches away.

“I still pitch to kids — whether it’s in high school or Little League, or to my son — and I still try to get them out,” he said.

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“That’s what I enjoy doing. I enjoy throwing a baseball — and making a person swing at it and miss.”

And plenty of very well-paid people have stood in the batter’s box and swung-and-missed at Guthrie’s pitches. He fanned over 1,000 hitters over the course of a long major league career, highlighted by two starts for the Royals in the 2014 World Series.

‘JGuts’ and President Guthrie: Baseball and missionary memories

Baseball fans in Kansas City and in the other towns where Jeremy Guthrie plied his pitching trade still know him, affectionately, as “JGuts.”

But for hundreds of young men and young women who served in the Texas Houston South Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 2018 to 2021, he will forever be “President Guthrie.”

There are not many obvious comparisons between facing elite hitters such as Alex Rodriguez or Ichiro Suzuki and serving as the spiritual leader to scores of young missionaries. But Guthrie misses both unforgettable phases of his life.

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In baseball: “I just miss playing the game.”

“Baseball’s what I enjoyed doing as a kid. I ended up playing professionally because I liked playing baseball. So anytime a new season begins, or I see the players on the field, what I miss the most is actually just playing.”

And what does the former mission president miss about full-time mission life?

“That’s easy to answer,” said Guthrie, without pausing. “I just miss that carefree ability to really focus on one thing, and one thing only, and that is: What can I do today to bless and help another person?”

“And how can I demonstrate the love of Christ in my actions and in my words to help that person see Jesus in a new way?”

Serving the elders and sisters of the Texas Houston South Mission

Latter-day Saints called to preside over missions for their church are typically in their 50s or 60s. Some are in their 40s.

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Guthrie was still in his 30s when he and his wife, Jenny, were called to be mission leaders in Houston in 2018.

He was just a year removed from making his final start in a Major League Baseball game while competing for the Washington Nationals.

Being called to preside over a mission of men and women who were likely about the same age as some of his rookie teammates from just a year earlier “was very surprising and humbling,” he said.

Yes, there were advantages to being a 30-something mission president. The Guthries had plenty of physical energy and “emotional zest” for connecting with the missionaries “and striving to help invite them to come unto Christ.”

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But on the flip side, the young Guthries felt the emotional weight of the calling.

“Our oldest daughter, at the time, was just 14 years old,” recalled Guthrie. “So we had never parented or raised a teenager ourselves — and now we were arriving in Houston with 165 (similarly-aged) young men and women who were waiting for our leadership and our love to help them on their own personal journeys.”

But despite feelings of inadequacies, the Guthries moved forward and got to work. “We learned to rely upon the Lord and his grace to strengthen us — and to help us do things that really we weren’t qualified or capable of doing on our own.”

Guthrie’s mission in Houston marked his second full-time mission. As a young man, he put his baseball career on hold to serve a mission in Spain — learning a language he later utilized throughout his sports career and his subsequent ecclesiastical duties.

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The principles he learned on the mission — as both a young elder and a mission president — anchor Guthrie’s day-to-day life as a husband, a father and now as a businessman.

“I have a better understanding of the principle of agency — choosing for ourselves and learning through our experiences,” he said.

“That’s a principle and a doctrine that I’m still trying to grasp. … Trying to better understand the love that our Heavenly Father has for us and the great plan that he had for us to allow us to come to earth to learn and choose for ourselves.”

Spanish and ‘el idioma’ of baseball

Today’s Major League Baseball rosters are filled with players from Latin American countries.

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So it’s no surprise that the foreign language “Elder Guthrie” acquired on his mission to Spain allowed him to bond with countless teammates by speaking in their native tongue.

“I could engage with teammates in our (Spanish) conversations … which naturally lent itself to deeper relationships and a better understanding and support for my teammates,” remembered Guthrie.

“I felt like I could understand those from a different culture a little bit better because I understood more of what was going on in their lives and where they had come from.”

And, yes, it was always an unexpected, sometimes comical surprise when Latin American players discovered that their Japanese American teammate from Oregon could “habla el idioma.”

A lifelong sneakerhead

Folks acquainted with Jeremy Guthrie know of his devotion to his faith and family. They know all about his World Series starts, his 2015 World Series ring and his long MLB pitching career with multiple squads.

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They also likely know that Guthrie’s a hard-core sneakerhead.

He may be a father, a retired pro athlete and a beloved mission leader — but he’s also got a passion for all things “kicks.”

He remembers being a kid and lacing-up his first pair of “Sky Jordan 1s” — the youth version of the Air Jordan 1. “What started my love and affinity for Nike — as well as for Michael Jordan — was wearing that shoe.”

Guthrie’s sneaker fever only grew during his athletic career. It continues to this day.

“It’s natural to recognize that the right shoe, in the right moment, can actually enhance your attitude and your energy for what you’re doing — and that leads to better performances,” he said. “There’s a lot of truth to it. It’s not just rhetoric.”

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At various times during his baseball career, Guthrie designed his own cleats.

Now he’s several years removed from pro baseball, but his connection to sneakers — and specifically cleats — continues today.

In 2015, Guthrie was an investor in Custom Cleats, a company that converts sneakers into cleats — allowing baseball, football, soccer and softball players and other athletes at all levels to better express themselves and, well, have more fun competing.

After returning from his mission in Houston, he assumed co-ownership of Custom Cleats.

“We are fortunate enough to work with thousands of athletes from all over the world — including a number of Major League players that use our service for their own careers,” said Guthrie.

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“That’s one way that I stay close to baseball is by working for baseball players and softball players — and really athletes of all sports that need cleats.”

Big league baseball in Utah: ‘A no-brainer’

A multisport athlete at Oregon’s Ashland High School, Guthrie played at Brigham Young University before finishing his college baseball career at Stanford.

He’s maintained close ties to Utah.

His son, Hudson, is an athlete at Pleasant Grove High School. And Guthrie’s a staunch supporter of bringing a Major League Baseball franchise to the Beehive State.

“Utah is a state that loves their sports — loves to participate in sports and loves to support sports,” he said.

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“The Jazz are a perfect example of that, as well as the soccer team, and now hockey. This is just a community that loves to be out, as families and individuals, watching sporting events and having that be a part of their community.”

A big league baseball team in Utah, he insists, “is a no-brainer.”

Guthrie added that well-established, Utah-loving community leaders such as the Miller family are essential to MLB’s future in the state.

The Millers, he said, “are an altruistic family that has done so much good for the Salt Lake City community, and beyond.”

Additionally, said Guthrie, the Millers have already proven their bona fides as a sports franchise ownership group.

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“They had one of the best teams in the NBA for an extended period of time in a smaller market,” he said, referencing the Miller Jazz years.

“They were always competitive. They always put a great team on the court. They’ve shown the ability to run a franchise well and compete — even if the amount of money didn’t mirror that of some of the other larger franchises that are known for heavy spending.”