the Jazz said in a statement<\/a> Wednesday. \u201cThere 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.\u201d<\/p>\nKnown for his humor and sideline antics, Layden coached the Jazz from 1981-89 and had 277 wins, third-most in franchise history. He\u2019s the only coach in Jazz history to be named NBA coach of the year, earning the honor in 1984, when he also was honored as executive of the year.<\/p>\n
Among the best one-liners attributed to him was one about a problem player he coached: \u201cI told him, \u2018Son, what is it with you? Is it ignorance or apathy?\u2019 He said \u2018Coach, I don\u2019t know and I don\u2019t care.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
For years, including during his time coaching the Jazz, Layden struggled with his weight, leading him to quip: \u201cI don\u2019t know but I stepped on a scale that gives fortunes and the card read \u2018Come back in 15 minutes alone.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Born in Brooklyn in 1932, Layden began his coaching career in the high school ranks before moving on to coach at his alma mater, Niagara University. He made the jump to the NBA in 1976 on Hubie Brown\u2019s staff with the Atlanta Hawks and became the New Orleans Jazz\u2019s general manager in 1979.<\/p>\n
Layden moved with the team to Salt Lake City, then took over as coach after Tom Nissalke was fired midway through the 1981-82 season. Layden led the franchise to its first playoff appearance in his second season. Layden stepped away from coaching early in the 1988-89 season and was replaced by future Hall of Famer Jerry Sloan.<\/p>\n
Layden stayed on as the team\u2019s president and general manager, part of a staff that selected Hall of Famers John Stockton and Karl Malone. He spent one season as coach of the WNBA\u2019s Utah Starzz in 1998-99.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to imagine the story of the Utah Jazz without the presence of Frank Layden,\u201d Jazz owners Ryan and Ashley Smith said. \u201cHe was an amazing person who meant so much to this organization and to our fans. His love of the sport was felt around the NBA, and he set the franchise on a course for success, helping to build an enduring legacy for the state of Utah.\u201d<\/p>\n
Layden remained in the Salt Lake City area after leaving coaching and earned the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/nba<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SALT LAKE CITY (AP) \u2014 Frank Layden, the sharp-witted former coach who led the Utah Jazz to the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":54459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[40315,40311,40312,40314,40313,361,353,1260,6326,3579,405,12299,406,62,40316,67,132,68,436,424,3132],"class_list":{"0":"post-54458","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ashley-smith","9":"tag-frank-layden","10":"tag-hubie-brown","11":"tag-jerry-sloan","12":"tag-karl-malone","13":"tag-la-state-wire","14":"tag-louisiana","15":"tag-nba","16":"tag-nba-basketball","17":"tag-nba-playoffs","18":"tag-new-york","19":"tag-notable-deaths","20":"tag-ny-state-wire","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-tom-nissalke","23":"tag-united-states","24":"tag-unitedstates","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-ut-state-wire","27":"tag-utah","28":"tag-utah-jazz"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114829692948007624","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}