Jerry Sloan Is A Top 10 Coach in NBA History
Jerry Sloan is underappreciated. Unless you are in Utah, where he has juice like the Osmond’s, Sloan is absolutely taken for granted. After 21 years of roaming the sidelines for the Jazz, Jerry not only has the longest head coaching tenure in the NBA, but in all of professional sports. Eighteen of those 21 seasons have been playoff appearances, highlighted with two straight Finals appearances in ‘97 and ‘98, where they lost to MJ’s Bulls – arguable the greatest team in NBA history. Yeah Sloan doesn’t have a chip, but there is no doubt he is one of the top 10 coaches in the history of the League.
I lived in Utah for 17 years and even wrote for the Jazz for a season, so obviously my judgment is a little skewed. Like Charles Barkley, John Stockton and Karl Malone, Sloan will never get the recognition he deserves because he never he has never won an NBA Championship (although technically he still could, but Kobe is awfully good). On the flip side, he has gotten the most out of his players. He made mediocre guys like Howard Eisley, Shandon Anderson and John Crotty aka “The Crotty Kid” look like legit NBA players.
The year after Stockton retired and Malone went Hollywood, the Jazz were supposed to be contenders for the worst record in NBA history. But Sloan guided a young and inexperienced team that featured Mo Williams, Raja Bell and a guy named Ben Handlogten to 42 wins the ‘03-’04 season. Sloan always gets his teams to play hard, play ‘D and play the right way. His 1,136 career victories makes him the fourth winningest NBA coach of all time. If he wasn’t the coach for the Jazz, there would be no longer a team in Salt Lake.
Even though he is a lock for the Hall of Fame, the 67-year-old coach has surprisingly never won the Coach of The Year award. And to be honest, I don’t think he could care less. He is as old school as it gets and doesn’t like attention. He doesn’t appear in commercials, he likes to ride John Deere Tractors and he doesn’t even own a cell phone. So, accolades and fame mean nothing to him, he just wants to coach. But for the rest of us that are Jerry advocates, we wish he’d get a little more love.
What do you guys think? Is Jerry Sloan one of the top 10 NBA coaches of all time? Jazz fans please have my back on this!
August 28th, 2009 at 10:43 am
KenAdams says:
Top 10! I say top 5! He is what a coach should be and deserves a Coach of the Year award or a coach of the decade award. He makes players better. They leave the Jazz and go else where and they suck. He gets the most out of his players.
August 28th, 2009 at 10:57 am
Jayo says:
“He made mediocre guys like Howard Eisley, Shandon Anderson and John Crotty aka “The Crotty Kid” look like legit NBA players.”
That alone makes him a Top 10 coach. Those guys disappeared after they left Utah. No to mention made players out of: Jeff Malone, Bryon Russell, & Ostertag. too bad he couldn’t help Luther Wright.
August 28th, 2009 at 10:59 am
True_Hooper says:
Has nothing to do with it…just wanted to know who saw this video for nba 2k10
http://www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshh49p82bruxg6hs5lU
August 28th, 2009 at 11:01 am
yoda says:
im a laker, but i agree that he’s one of best of all time. true, my extensive knowledge of nba coaches and players is from early ’90s till now, because i was too young to follow nba before that.
i hope he will win COTY, but not chip too, because, well like i’ve said, im a laker
August 28th, 2009 at 11:04 am
weezy f says:
definately top 5…its stupid that he hasnt won a coach of the year award…even mike brown got one come on breh wheres the justice?!?!
August 28th, 2009 at 11:18 am
jzsmoove says:
Who doesnt know that this guy IS A COACH’s COACH? umm duh.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Smithy says:
To be a head coach for 21 years and perform, gotto give the man respect!
August 28th, 2009 at 11:28 am
Joe says:
Major props to him. Tough as nails.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:30 am
TJ says:
I definitely agree. Championships are decided by great players and luck, not coaches. Pop gets crazy credit in SA, but those championships are all Duncan.
P.S. I know Pop was the GM for a long time, but I’m talking about the credit he gets as a coach.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:40 am
JTL says:
Would love to see a tag team match where he and Popovich coached circles around Riley and Jackson seven days a week and twice on Sunday.
August 28th, 2009 at 11:44 am
marcus the great says:
not a jazz fan but i got your back. sloan is def one of the greatest and he deserves a coty award. right now i think the only coaches that are in his league are Pop, Doc, avery johnson (when he gets a job) and believe it or not stan van gundy
August 28th, 2009 at 11:47 am
marcus the great says:
@TJ yea Duncan did a lot for those championships but best believe he’s not the reason for their crisp ball movement and defensive schemes. i think SA has consistently been one of the better defensive teams for a while and thats all Pop
August 28th, 2009 at 11:50 am
sh!tfaced says:
The Coach of the Year is the L’s most bullshit award if there ever was one – just refer to last season for proof.
In the last 20 seasons Sloan has coached the Jazz, he only missed the playoffs THREE times and EIGHT of the last 20 COY winners were eventually fired.
Firing no. 9 might happen sooner than we think especially if Shaq won’t play well… we have a better chance of seeing Boozer taking a pay cut than see Shaq admit it’s his fault and take the blame…
August 28th, 2009 at 11:54 am
gus says:
did sloan ever get a ring??…..case closed
August 28th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Al Dogg says:
Sloan gets shafted every year. He has deserved multiple COTY awards throughout his career. He’s one of the top 5 coaches of all time WITHOUT having a ring. Someday day he’ll get appreciation he deserves.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
jh says:
18 of 21…that’s better than most players FT %. Sloan deserves top 10 status but shouldn’t break top 5 w/o a title.
No cell phone? Possible but I’m not buying it.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
POPPI GEE says:
I can agree he is top 10. I do feel at this point his best years are past him and he needs to bow out gracefully.
He and his team were pretty much the team you didn’t want to see consistently, yet they could never win it all do to numerous excuses depending on who you talk to.
I feel if any coach ever came the closest to perfecting the pick and roll it was Sloany. In continuing to stay with what works, he continued to be successful, excellent and wonderful but not great in different regards, mainly because of not winning a championship.
Unfortunately that’s what success is based on for many in a big regard, and that will forever be the achilles heel for him.
Still he by far is and has been excellent, but it is time for Utah to bring in new blood, a new system and a few new players and for him to call it day, as he has had excellent years.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
MSkittle says:
According to John Amaechi, he is too tough on his players, though.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
Chicagorilla says:
Jerry Sloan is hands down my favorite coach in the NBA and has been since Tex Winter left Chicago in 98. Sloan is the Bobby Knight of the NBA and I wish he could have won a Chip in 94-95. Too Bad he ran into my Bulls in 97-98, otherwise he’d be in the ranks with Pop and Phil.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
Chicagorilla says:
@17
It seems like you are putting blame on him for not having the top players to execute his Pick’n'rolls and not giving him enough credit for using the pick’n'roll to make hall of famers out of Stockton and Malone. There is a reason why Malone was useless when he left Utah and why Stock NEVEr left Utah to begin with. Stock was still getting 7assist a game playing like 25min a game, in Sloan’s system. Deron Williams looks all-world in this system. Not to mention Boozer is 20-11 in this system without having an actual post game. The guy is a basketball genius.
You have to remember, he had to make a lot of his players through draft and low end free agents and could not just pluck them from the Big time free agents like the Lakers, Miami, Dallas, and several other big market teams.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Rob says:
I had a some thoughts on Sloan the other day that I wrote up on my blog:
“…This is probably the same type of person that thinks that the Jazz would be better off with someone else as coach besides Jerry Sloan, as if coaches of his caliber are on every street corner. OK genius, who do you replace him with? If you look through the world of basketball who do you feel is a better coach? The only people who could possibly fit would be currently employed in San Antonio and L.A. and are not about to leave their respective locations. Really learn something about the system Jerry Sloan runs and then look at what other NBA teams do, Jerry Sloan is one of only maybe 20% of NBA coaches that really coaches and has a real system that is run. A system that has been successful for more than 20 years. What was the last thing you did that was successful for over 20 years?”
August 28th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Rob says:
oh yeah, I never thought I’d see that someone from Dime had lived in Utah, AND admit it.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
POPPI GEE says:
@20 it seems you are saying Stock and Malone wouldn’t have done as great if not greaterrr (winning a championship(s)) in other places. World will never know. Still I don’t attribute all their success to Sloan or his system, as they were excellent players regardless.
Malone was an old dog by the time he got out from under Sloan, so don’t act like it’s all because he left Sloan’s system. Had Malone left in his prime who knows?
Again bridesmaid and never a bride with Sloan. Granted he might have been the tops bridesmaid ever but still again many will say that despite all his triumphs he never won the war.
Personally I feel Deron is going to do well regardless of the system so to me that is mute too.
Look I ain’t saying Sloan didn’t take sh*t and turn it to sugar cause he did. I am just saying for me, it’s a new day and if once you don’t succeed try and try again, but come on he and Utah been trying for years and despit the many different reasons, from lack of great players, to they met Jordan and the market, he has not gotten to the top of the peak even if he has climbed the mountain more than many.
I like him and give him plent of credit but I just think it’s time for a change. I ain’t saying his system was and is doo doo, again just that it’s time for a change.
No disrespect meant to the man, his players or fans. I just don’t see him, especially at this point going any further than he already has. Isn’t the object to win it all?
August 28th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Mess says:
“Even though he is a lock for the Hall of Fame…” If by “lock”, you mean already elected and will be inducted later, then you’re right.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Gerald Narciso says:
What up Al Dog!!! For those who dont know, Al Dog is the biggest Jazz fan in the world.
http://origin.nba.com/jazz/features/typicaljazzfan.html
@ Rob
hahah. Yeah man I love Utah, not embarassed one bit! Holladay!!
Obviously Sloan is not perfect. He has made questionable game time decisions and has failed with a lot of players: Amaechi, John Starks, Chris Morris. But I think he as consistent and he doesn’t back down from any player – that is why I think people respect him. I don’t think there is any coach like him
August 28th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
NYCBalla@gmail.com says:
If dude coached in NY maybe we’d have a reputation for winning championships! Any coach that can continue to produce for a small market team would no doubt rack up rings in a big market where he had all stars at his disposal.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Brado says:
Jerry Sloan is an easy top-5, and he’s done it with a small market team. Major props.
The Jazz need to dish Booze and get another legit scorer to feed off D-Will and they will be back in line to make a serious run. They won’t be the best in b-ball, but they’d be good enough to turn heads and upset!
August 28th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Chicagorilla says:
@26/27
Exactly. Small Market and still banged with the big boys. And banged hard! My favorite coaching job of all time was the season that Sloan took Utah to the playoffs with No one on his team. I think they lost to Portland or something.
August 28th, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Sanssasin says:
sloan is hands down a top 10 coach all-time.
he got hosed by the nba and the olympic group in that he should have coached the ‘00 team. he got hosed in ‘03-04 and should have gotten coach of the year. but he never said a word.
when his 2 greatest players, and arguably the best at their positions all-time, retired most coaches would have left town (ala phil jackson, pat riley, and every coach not named red aeurbach) but not j-slo. he stuck around. that tells me all i need to know about his integrity and his character. not many like him.
he’s a dude i can relate to, when things appear shitty at work you just stick it out. i like him. he’s earned my respect and then some. also, what other coach in the nba is as tough as that joker? you know if you were at a bar heckling him, he’s the type of guy that would just get up and knock the $#*& outta ya and would go and sit back down like nothing happened. i can’t think of any other coach that’s as tough as that guy. he’s 67 and i bet he could knock the hell out of 90% of the nba players.
thanks for the article. i’ve always respected sloan and he doesn’t get even a percentage of the coverage that he deserves.
August 28th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
Amar says:
Re: Sloan
good coach, great numbers, probably not a great coach. he was never COY, yeah, but his head assistant (phil johnson) has one. does it matter? it’s all popularity — bill russell wasn’t ROY, but some other guy on the boston celtics was? (WHAT THE EFF?) not important. what counts is winning — sloan is a winner.
http://allthatjazzbasketball.blogspot.com/2008/10/five-epic-qualities-of-jerry-eugene.html
he has flaws and qualities, like all coaches, but some of his flaws have been quite bad.
http://allthatjazzbasketball.blogspot.com/2008/09/five-epic-errors-of-jerry-eugene-sloan.html
he’s a good coach, if you have the time check out those two different links, you may learn more about my opinion on him.
August 28th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
doc says:
He’s a hell of a coach.Phil,Red,Pat,Pop,Chuck Daily,and Larry Brown I would take before him because bottomline they did something he didnt.He had two of the greatest ever at the same time and they produced jackshit on the ring side of things.He might be top 10 but Im taking those coaches before him.
August 28th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
the cynic says:
top 10, yeah. He does everything a coach can do. Unlike his modern day rivals Phil and Pop he builds his teams from scratch; not that it makes him a better coach then Phil or Pop, but its worth noting