Fans of real basketball will miss Sloan

First appeared on February 16th, 2011
in The Lebanon Reporter

When Jerry Sloan stepped down as head coach of the Utah Jazz last week it marked the end of an era. The end of an era not only for fans of the Utah Jazz, but for professional basketball coaches as well. And while rumors swirl that Sloan’s franchise player, Deron Williams, forced his coach out, the real story is Sloan himself.


The world is full of people who know the game better than the coaches who cross their paths. In the murky depths of this jungle, Jerry Sloan coached the Jazz for 23 years. During his tenure in Utah the Pacers franchise alone went through 11 different coaches.

Born one of 10 children near Gobbler’s Knob Illinois, Sloan cut his teeth on farm chores and learned early the core set of values he would carry to basketball’s biggest stage. The fact Sloan was different soon became apparent when he worked part time at a Whirlpool plant while playing collegiately at Evansville.

After a stand out career with the Purple Aces, Sloan would become the first ever draft choice of the Chicago Bulls. An honor that would earn him the nickname “The Original Bull”. After a respectable playing career, he found himself on the Utah bench when legendary coach Frank Layden stepped down. The Jazz turned to Sloan and, after 1,127 victories and 23 years, he called it quits last week.

No coach has more wins or a longer tenure with one team. In total his Utah teams made 19 playoff appearances, including a run of 15 straight. Behind front men John Stockton and Karl Malone, Sloan’s Jazz teams lost twice in the NBA Finals to Michael Jordan’s Bulls.

From the mid 80’s until today the style of play in the NBA has recycled itself from the wide open game of Larry and Magic to the defensive, grind it out style of the Pistons, Bulls and Spurs to the return of the fast break. During that time, franchises reached for coaches familiar with the en vogue style. Jerry Sloan was the exception to this rule.

And while Sloan’s place on the Mount Rushmore of coaches is debatable, the fact he was a quality human being who stayed true to his core beliefs as a coach is not. If “players coaches” and the media were sharks in a tank, Jerry Sloan dove in wearing a three piece suit made of Spam. He’s an artifact. A dinosaur frozen in ice before the asteroid cloud.

And even if point guard Deron Williams didn’t force him out, it still happens. The NBA is a players’ league where coaches are hired almost out of respect for tradition. It’s almost as if coaches are simply included because, like beer vendors and mascots dunking off trampolines, fans expect to find them at games.

They say NBA coaches have a 3-5 year window before they lose the ear of their players. Jerry Sloan was the exception to this rule. They say coaches never outlast their superstars but Jerry Sloan was the exception. They say a coach has to win titles or be flamboyant or outspoken to endear himself to fans. Again Jerry Sloan was the exception to this rule.

And as shocking as lasting 23 years or interviewing in a John Deere hat is, as unfathomable as 1,000 wins with one team may be, far beyond the fact he made 15 straight playoffs in a place like Utah or that he was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, perhaps the most unbelievable thing about Jerry Sloan is that never once was he voted NBA coach of the year.