The Jazz have made some personnel additions. Utah announced today in a press release that the team will bring back assistant coaches Alex Jensen, Lamar Skeeter, and Bryan Bailey – all of whom operated as assistants under previous Jazz head coach Quin Snyder – to work under new head coach Will Hardy.
They will join a robust assistant staff that includes the previously announced Jason Terry, Evan Bradds, Irv Roland, and Sean Sheldon. Other staffers noted in the statement include player development coaches Chris Jones and Sanjay Lumpkin, who previously had different gigs under the Snyder regime.
Utah is hiring Becca Ward as its new director of team operations. The team’s video coordinator will be Anthony Beaumont, assisted by Andrew Warren and Matthew Temple.
In terms of other new additions, the Jazz also announced that former longtime Utah wing Jeff Hornacek will return to the team as a coaching consultant. Hornacek worked as an assistant coach for Utah from 2011-13 under head coach Tyrone Corbin. Most recently, he served as an assistant coach on Stephen Silas‘s Rockets staff from 2020-22.
Utah is undergoing a seismic roster rebuild, having already offloaded veterans Rudy Gobert, Donovan Mitchell, Royce O’Neale and Patrick Beverley this summer in separate deals. The team appears to be prioritizing a long-term rebuild, accruing oodles of future draft picks and young players in its trades this summer and building a coaching group set to develop its youth for years to come.
That’s quite the coaching roster. I liked Terry and Jensen as possible head coach candidates, but I liked Hardy the best. Glad he was given the chance. It also shows that Terry and Jensen are able to set aside pride, and seize a great opportunity when they see it.
The Jazz coaching positions have to be one of the most stable jobs in professional sports, along with the Spurs. Snyder would’ve been brought back if he wanted to. I’m happy for him that he was able to see he was worn out right now. He deserved a break with all the turmoil there apparently was, along with his hip problems. It’ll be interesting to see where he goes in the future.
I’m curious what Hornacek’s role will be? Sounds like he’ll be a part-time or something? I would guess he’ll be a great shooting coach. The team’s he helped coach with the Jazz were great or developed into better shooters, pretty much top to bottom. Him and Terry should be able to help guys like THT improve their 3-point range and accuracy.
As for the far future, keep an eye on who is chosen for video coordinator. That’s where Hardy started from on the Spurs. =)
Excited for this upcoming season! So many unknowns and possibilities! Go Jazz!
The possiblity of tanking.
That’s certainly a possibility. =)
Although, I’m referring to the big picture. I’m not just looking at one season with this new direction.
So many different ways they could build this team. I do think long, athletic players at every position would be ideal, but not the only way to do it.