Jerry Sloan Resigns

According to, SportingNews.com, Jerry Sloan will resign as head coach of the Utah Jazz at a press conference scheduled for later on today.

"The news follows a strange scene after the Jazz lost, 91-86, at home to the Chicago Bulls last night. Before speaking with the media immediately after the game as he normally would, Sloan met with GM Kevin O’Connor behind closed doors for more than 30 minutes, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. The Jazz coach then hastily answered questions and said he’d prefer to concentrate on game-related queries only."

Sloan is calling it quits mid way through his 23rd season with the Jazz. He is the only coach in NBA history to win 1,000 games with one team. However, Sloan has never won a coach of the year award, nor has he ever won an NBA championship. His glory days came in the 1990's when he had the dynamic duo of John Stockton and Karl Malone. Even after they had come and gone, Sloan still remained to keep the Jazz in the playoff mix. The Jazz have only missed the playoffs 3 times under Sloan, a disastrous three year stretch from 2003-2006. He has coached the Jazz to three 50+ win seasons in the last four years. His best season coaching the Jazz came in 1996-1997 when they won 64 games, advanced to the finals, before suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls.

The resignation does come at a strange time because the Jazz, like most years, are very much in the playoff hunt. No word on who will replace as the interim coach of Utah.

Sloan was inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 2009.