(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});Utah Coach Jerry Sloan Resigning Source: NBA.com // By: ClutchLikeMelo // February 10, 2011
Again Im on teh iPhone but wanted to share this late breaking news so sorry bout the copy and paste :p
Utah's Jerry Sloan, the longest tenured coach in any of the four major North American pro sports, will resign later Thursday, according to a report in the Deseret News. The newspaper also reports that Sloan's long-time assistant, Phil Johnson, also will step down from his post.
Sloan, who turns 69 next month, announced earlier this week that he had signed a one-year extension on his contract. But the Jazz, mired in sixth place in the Western Conference, have been struggling lately.
They are 4-6 in their last 10 games and have not won back-to-back games in nearly a month. Sloan's system has been criticized publicly as too restrictive by his All-Star point guard, Deron Williams.
In 25-plus seasons coach in the NBA -- he began his career in Chicago -- Sloan has a 1,221-803 record (.603). After his stint with the Bulls, he took over for Frank Layden in Utah in 1988 and is the only coach in the NBA to win 1,000 games with a single franchise.
Other than Johnson, the Jazz's assistant coaching corps is rounded out by former Jazz player Tyrone Corbin and Scott Layden, a former Jazz executive and the one-time general manager of the New York Knicks.