Giacoletti would compile a 69–50 (.580) record as head coach at Eastern Washington, including a 41–17 (.707) record in Big Sky Conference play. In his third season as head coach of Eastern Washington, Giacoletti led the Eagles to an 18–13 record and the school's first post season tournament in school history, making the 2003 National Invitation Tournament. Giacoletti's best season was the 2003–2004 season, where the Eagles went 17–13 (11–3 in Big Sky play) and won the Big Sky Conference Championship. Giacoletti then guided the team to its first ever Big Sky tournament championship and the school's first ever NCAA tournament appearance. Eastern Washington would lose to highly favored Oklahoma State in the first round. After successful stints with North Dakota State and Eastern Washington, Giacoletti was named the head coach of the University of Utah Utes. He replaced the legendary Rick Majerus, who retired in the middle of the 2003–2004 season. In his three seasons at Utah, Giacoletti led Utah to a 54–40 (.574) record. In Giacoletti's first season, the Utes went 29–6 (.829) and won the Mountain West Conference regular season championship. After beating UTEP in the first round, the 6th seeded Utes upset 3rd seeded Oklahoma in the 2nd round to advance to the NCAA Sweet 16. It was the school's first Sweet 16 since the 1998 season, when Utah finished as the NCAA runner-up to Kentucky. Ironically, it was Kentucky who would beat Utah once again, ending the 2nd winningest season in school history. During Giacoletti's tenure, Andrew Bogut was named the John R. Wooden Award winner and became the #1 draft pick in the 2005 NBA draft – joining fellow University of Utah student-athlete Alex Smith as the only time that two athletes from the same school were selected #1 in their respective drafts in the same year. Giacoletti was named the 2005 Mountain West Coach of the Year, after guiding the Utes to a 13–1 conference record, the best record in conference history. Giacoletti's second season was dramatically different from his first. Gone was All-American Andrew Bogut, starting point guard Marc Jackson graduated, Justin Hawkins decided to transfer to New Mexico State and Richard Chaney transferred to Troy State, all major players in Utah's Sweet 16 run the season before. The Utes struggled with a young team and finished with the school's first losing record since the 1989 season, with a record of 14–15.