Tag: Frank Layden

The Chicago Bulls legend with the …

The Chicago Bulls legend with the steely defense and the hard-nosed reputation walked into Frank Layden’s office, hoping the Utah Jazz head coach would hire him for a scouting job. Layden didn’t know it at the time, but the two would become attached at the hip and lifelong friends and lead a team together that would become one of the standards of small-market NBA franchises. Layden, already legendary in Salt Lake City for the work he had done with the Jazz to that point, could feel Jerry Sloan’s presence. It didn’t take more than a few minutes for Layden to know exactly what he was dealing with. He liked him immediately.

And that loyalty, all stemming from an …

And that loyalty, all stemming from an initial meeting, it meant everything to Layden, who is an icon himself, still sharp as a tack at 88 years old and very deserving of his flowers while he is still with us. “We lost a giant today,” Layden said. “We were fortunate here. We had a Lombardi type. He always told me that you had to be tough enough to take the losses and the disappointment with the wins. He lived by that.”

Sloan told Layden that day that he was …

Sloan told Layden that day that he was coming to the Utah Jazz to learn from him. Layden told Sloan: “I know. That’s why I’m hiring you.” A few years later, Sloan informed Layden that he would never look for another job, that he would be fine being Layden’s assistant for the bulk of his career. Layden responded by resigning as head coach, taking the job as team president and offering to make Sloan his first hire. Sloan told Layden to slow down, take some time. “Is hiring me what you really want to do?” Sloan asked him. “He actually tried to talk himself out of the job,” Layden said with a laugh. “He was so humble and so appreciative. It was wonderful.”