LAKE SALT CITY – The Utah Jazz face an unexpected search for a new coach.
Utah was set to head into next season with Quin Snyder at the helm until the head coach unexpectedly resigned after eight seasons. The two sides recently discussed an extension with Snyder, who still has two years left on his contract. They failed to reach an agreement before Snyder decided to leave.
“We’ve spent the past few weeks talking, Quin and I, about a lot of different things,” the group’s CEO Danny Ainge said at a press conference Monday, a day after Snyder announced he was leaving. . “And I think it’s pretty clear, we really want him to stay. At the same time, I’ve left the coaching job and left the general manager position after 18 years in Boston, and so I trust Quin.” knows more than what’s best for him and his family, more than we do.”
Snyder hit 372-264 with the Jazz, his win rate of .585, ranking 18th among NBA coaches who have worked the least in the long run. He’s one of only two coaches to have a winning record with the Jazz, with Jerry Sloan being the other. Regular season success under Snyder never translated into the knockout stages. Jazz is 21-30 in post-season games under him.
“The time has come,” Snyder said. “It’s time for Jazz to move forward. It’s time for me to move forward. It means the most to me.”
Ainge will now conduct his third coach search as an NBA executive.
He hired Doc Rivers and Brad Stevens for 18 years at the Celtics’ main office. Rivers led Boston to the 2008 NBA championship and back to the 2010 NBA Finals. Stevens led the Celtics to the Eastern Conference finals three times in four seasons before succeeding Ainge as forward.
“There are a lot of names I know and I’m familiar with in the coaching world,” Ainge said. “This will be much different than the previous two and perhaps more thorough.”
Team owner Ryan Smith said there’s no timetable for recruiting and the team doesn’t feel pressured to complete the search before the upcoming NBA draft.
“We’ll take our time,” Smith said. “Must get it right.”
Who succeeds Snyder will be Utah’s fourth head coach in 34 seasons. Jazz has had only six head coaches since moving to Salt Lake City from New Orleans in 1979.
Smith’s ideal successor would be a coach able to build on the foundation Snyder has laid out rather than rebuild entirely.
“There isn’t really a pamphlet when it comes to this,” says Smith. “I’m truly blessed to be in an organization that Quin helped build. He left this organization a lot better than he found. But more than that, he built a foundation that we can build from.”
Although Ainge says he knows Snyder “will be coaching somewhere else in the near future, possibly next year,” Snyder declined to say he plans to take another coaching job during his tenure. early time or not.
“That didn’t come to my mind at all,” Snyder said. “I’m just focused on this. I don’t know what I’m going to do next year or coaching next year or anything related to that.”
