Frank Layden, the person who led the Jazz to their first NBA playoffs look in 1984 and helped construct the foundations for profitable groups within the Nineteen Nineties, died Wednesday.
He was 93.
A reason behind dying was not introduced.
The Brooklyn native helped the Jazz fashion into their new residence in Utah after their transfer from New Orleans to Salt Lake Metropolis, taking on as common supervisor in 1979 and later turning into head coach in 1981.
“Frank Layden made a lasting impact on the Jazz, the state of Utah, and the NBA,” the Jazz posted on X. “There will never be another like him. Our thoughts go out to his family as we join in mourning his loss and celebrating his life. Rest easy, Coach.”
Layden started his teaching profession on the collegiate degree at his alma mater, Niagara College, the place he coached for eight seasons and helped lead this system to an NCAA event look in 1970, the college’s first.
“Frank had the unique ability to be larger than life yet able to care for those in his circle on a personal level,” Simon Grey, Niagara College’s affiliate vice chairman for athletics, stated in a press release. “Although it has been 70 years since he graduated, I am confident that Niagara was on his mind at some point of every day since. He consistently checked in with his alma mater and showed his love for Monteagle Ridge in a myriad of ways. We will miss him dearly.”
He moved to the skilled ranks in 1976 as an assistant coach with the Hawks earlier than taking the GM job with the Jazz three years later.
Throughout his time within the Jazz entrance workplace, Layden made two of the most important picks in franchise historical past when he chosen Karl Malone sixteenth general in 1984 and John Stockton in 1985 at thirteenth general.
Kings on Jan. 2, 1988 at Arco Enviornment in Sacramento California. NBAE through Getty Photographs
Malone and Stockton would go on to grow to be the faces of basketball in Utah and had been each enshrined within the Naismith Corridor of Fame.
It seems 1984 could have been the very best yr for Layden.
He led the Jazz to the playoffs — a feat the workforce would pull off 5 instances throughout his tenure — and coached within the NBA All-Star Sport earlier than getting named the NBA Coach of the Yr and Govt of the Yr.
Layden went 277-294 as Jazz head coach within the common season. In December 1988, he stepped down as head coach, whereas retaining the position of workforce president and common supervisor.
The transfer paved the best way for Jerry Sloan to guide the Jazz to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 1997 and 1998.
Layden briefly coached the WNBA’s Utah Starzz — who would later grow to be the Las Vegas Aces — and served a short while as a marketing consultant for the Knicks when his son, Scott Layden, was common supervisor.
