Mark Harlan remembers the rallies. Utah’s athletic director is convinced the Rice-Eccles Stadium crowd influenced the fourth quarters of November football games vs. Oregon and BYU, and those snapshots of his first year on the job will stick with him.
“I knew there was incredible passion here … but until you come and live it and learn it, it’s not real,” Harlan said, describing the atmosphere as “more than anything I could have expected — and I expected a lot.”
Every school year is eventful for a college athletic department, yet the 2018-19 calendar produced more major developments than usual for the Utes as Harlan followed Chris Hill’s tenure.