Acting COY

Posted by: Jefferson Trimble on January 28th, 2011

The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of the Utah Jazz.

As I sat in the Energy Solutions Arena on Wednesday, something remarkable donned on me. I leaned over to my friend who I was at the game with and said, “Do you realize that there are four Coaches of the Year (COY) in attendance at tonight’s game and that none of them are Jerry Sloan?” Every game night Sloan just needs to look down the bench and listen to the half time report to notice two COY winners that work for the Utah Jazz, Phil Johnson and Tom Nissalke. This night also brought in Greg Poppovich of the Spurs and Hubie Brown the ESPN color commentator.  Of the past ten COY winners only two are still with the team they won it with, the aforementioned Poppovitch and last years winner Scott Brooks. Four of these coaches are not currently head coaches in the NBA. Now comes the insanity, exluding the last year’s winner, the past four winners have all been fired within three years of winning COY. Maybe Sloan is right he doesn’t need the COY in Utah he has something far better coaching a great team with the best fans in the world.

Now for the truely remarkable part of the Jerry Sloan saga, he has now out-survived Bobby Cox and Jeff Fisher the longest tenured coaches in the other two major sports. He has coached the Jazz in four different decades the ’80’s, ’90’s, ’00’s, and ’10’s. The longest tenured coaches now in the major sports are Tony Larussa of the St. Louis Cardinals in MLB and Andy Reid of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL. We need to be thankful for what we have here in Utah great ownership that is dedicated to a coach who is dedicated to a system that wins basketball games. We may not have won any championships and we’ve hit bumps in the road along the way, but we have had the best product on the court over the past 22 years.  We have only watched our team lose more games than it won one time since Sloan has been the coach. Let us stop focusing on the frustrating bump in the road and be thankful for the 22 year ride.



Replies: 4

 

Views: 901

4 Responses

1. David J. Smith says:

   January 29, 2011 at 3:29 pm

   Good reminder…we truly are lucky to have Jerry Sloan. If anyone in sports deserves a ring, it’s Jerry!
2. A.G. says:

   January 29, 2011 at 3:30 pm

   Jerry deserves all the respect in the world. From players and fans alike.
3. Jefferson Trimble says:

   January 29, 2011 at 6:55 pm

   I was talking with my friend at the game and said that teams had figured out to defend our offense. I also said that we would figure a way to bust their defense. It’s like a chess match and we have a chess master. Totally agree with you David and AG, Sloan needs the respect and a ring. Let’s hope he gets both.
4. leiqiong says:

   February 11, 2011 at 12:12 am

   I recently came across your blog and have been reading along.
   http://www.hatcapshop.com