Today may just be the saddest day I've ever known as a sports fan. I've lost Super Bowls, bowl games, NBA Championships (damn you MJ) and games to BYU, but I've never lost an institution. Jerry Sloan resigned from the Utah Jazz today. I'll get into what I think about the future and circumstances later, but right now I just want to reflect on what Jerry Sloan has meant to us as Jazz fans and to the rest of the NBA as a living legend. First thing is an incredible statement that the greatest basketball player to ever play once made. Michael Jordan once said in an interview that if he could play any NBA player in history to really test his skills, it would be Jerry Sloan. He said if he could score on Sloan, he could score on anyone, ever. Sloan made the all defensive team 6 times and an all-star twice. The beauty of that is that he doesn't care about that kind of accolade. Even now, when he has been snubbed for coach of the year, which I believe he earned many, many times, when asked about it, he rolls his head and says "I never really cared about that stuff." Jerry Sloan was the epitome of hard work. I love this piece done on him years ago. It shows who he truly was as an NBA player.
As a coach, if you ask me, there is none better. Especially none better for the state of Utah. Jerry Sloan ranks 4th all time among coaches in wins with 1190. 9th all in win % with .604. He has the most wins with 1 team (941) and his 23 years as a head coach with one team will probably never be matched again. Jerry Sloan had 1 losing season in his 23 years in Utah. He even lead a team that was projected to be the worst team in NBA history and win 9 games, to an even .500 record. He never had a perfect team, but coached them to perfection. Even in the two years they had championship runs, he had Greg Ostertag and Byron Russell starting for him. Almost every player he coached played better under him than anywhere else. He made an all star out of head case Carlos Aroyo and guys like Shannon Anderson, DeShaun Stevenson, Adam Keefe, Chris Morris, all played better as Jazz men than anything else. Even more recent, Ronnie Brewer's numbers are down, Kyle Korver got better by being here, and even Carlos Boozer was better last year as a Jazz man.
He was hard on his players, but they loved him for it. Look at his relationship with Greg Ostertag, he was always yelling at him and trying to make him better. The one year Greg wasn't here, he hated not playing for Jerry. Jerry Sloan was a perfect fit for Utah and Larry Miller was a perfect fit for Jerry Sloan. All my memories of professional basketball involve Jerry Sloan. I am 32 years old and he has been the head coach here in Utah for almost as long as I can remember. He will be missed greatly and should be remembered by all Jazz fans as a great man with great values who taught us that if we work hard and compete, we can do anything. Oh, and he was a damn good basketball coach.
As a side note to this, Ty Corbin should be a seamless transition and hopefully fill out his coaching staff with like minded individuals. I really hope he succeeds and the Jazz continue to succeed under his tutelage and he is given the same opportunity to grow as Jerry was.
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