Empty Nest

      So, it's official. Jerry Sloan, coach of the Utah Jazz for the past 23(!) years, has officially resigned.  With his resignation and apparent desire to not coach again, Sloan leaves behind tremendous numbers, achievements and distraught fans.

     I have made no secret (in articles like this one) that Sloan is one of my top coaches in history, if not my favorite.  Like me, many would point to his longevity as his greatest achievement. He was the longest tenured coach in US Professional Sports history, staying with the Jazz for 23 years (as coach, almost 30 if you include his days as assistant/scout) while the other NBA teams combined for a jaw-dropping total of 245 coaching changes.  Yet, it's not enough to just put it plainly as keeping his job for 23 years, while some head coaches last barely a few months.




      To understand his greatness, one has to look at the man, not the tenure.  Jerry Sloan's greatness lies in his consistency and humility. Being a coach myself, I know how hard keeping your team winners can be.  Sure, any coach can luck into a winning season or five, but to do it year in, year out for more than 15 years? That's a different animal altogether.  Consistency means you have to be able to adapt and learn new things.  You have to learn to adapt to the different attitudes and quirks for the different players,  tailoring your coaching style to their needs.  You have to learn to adapt and learn new things to cope up with the modern techniques and plays of opposing coaches.  

     Sloan? He did all of that, very well, I might add.  Like any artist, his identity could be seen in all of his teams, his works of art.  No matter the year or the record, no one ever wants to play the Utah Jazz.  Sloan and his unwritten "no lay ups" rules made sure opponents would have to bleed (sometimes literally) for points.  His flex patterns and pick and roll plays were always used, yet none of the 245 coaches who faced him could completely figure them out because Sloan tweaked them regularly to fit the players he had. What resulted was 23 years of great Jazz teams.  His coaching record? 1,221 wins and 803 losses, an astounding .650 winning percentage.  He has also led the Jazz to an awesome 15 consecutive winning seasons, 2 appearances at the NBA Finals, and 196 (!) playoff games.  By the way, he is also the only coach to achieve 1,000 wins with the same club.  

       Sloan's humility is also the secret to his greatness.  All throughout his winning years, he never once spoke about how his plays or game plans contributed to the wins.  He always attributed wins to his players' talent and hard work.  When he became the third most successful coach in NBA history and when he made the Hall of Fame, all Sloan did was shrug and tried not to make a big deal about it.


       Coaches like Sloan don't come around very often, and he will surely be missed, not the least of which by me.  His toughness, humility, straight forwardness were some of the beacons that kept my coaching career (which has its fair share of tough moments) from being lost.  Perhaps, I can take comfort in that Sloan's exit was as low key as possible, in a small press conference in Utah.  It was the perfect exit for the man, leaving in the humblest way possible, still with a winning record.