Jerry Sloan
Sloan with the Chicago Bulls in 1969
Personal information
Born
March 28, 1942
McLeansboro, Illinois
Died
May 22, 2020 (aged 78)
Salt Lake City, Utah
Nationality
American
Listed height
6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Listed weight
195 lb (88 kg)
Career information
High school
McLeansboro
(McLeansboro, Illinois)
College
Evansville (1962–1965)
NBA draft
1965 / Round: 1 / Pick: 4th overall
Selected by the Baltimore Bullets
Playing career
1965–1976
Position
Shooting guard / Small forward
Number
14, 4
Coaching career
1978–2011
Career history
As player:
1965–1966
Baltimore Bullets
1966–1976
Chicago Bulls
As coach:
1978–1979
Chicago Bulls (assistant)
1979–1982
Chicago Bulls
1985–1988
Utah Jazz (assistant)
1988–2011
Utah Jazz
Career highlights and awards
2× NBA All-Star (1967, 1969)
4× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1969, 1972, 1974–1975)
2× NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1970–1971)
No. 4 retired by Chicago Bulls
No. 1223 retired by Utah Jazz
No. 52 jersey retired by Evansville Purple Aces
Career statistics
Points
10,571 (14.0 ppg)
Rebounds
5,615 (7.4 rpg)
Assists
1,925 (2.5 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Basketball Hall of Fame as coach
Gerald Eugene Sloan (March 28, 1942 – May 22, 2020) was an American professional basketball player and coach. He played 11 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) before beginning a 30-year coaching career, 23 of which were spent as head coach of the Utah Jazz (1988–2011). NBA commissioner David Stern referred to Sloan as "one of the greatest and most respected coaches in NBA history".[1] Sloan was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009.[2]
After playing college basketball with the Evansville Purple Aces, Sloan was selected by the Baltimore Bullets with the fourth overall pick of the 1965 NBA draft. He spent his rookie season with the Bullets before playing the remainder of his career with the Chicago Bulls, retiring due to injuries in 1976. Nicknamed "the Original Bull", he was a two-time NBA All-Star and the first player to have his number retired by the Bulls. Sloan then became a coach, and had a career regular-season win–loss record of 1,221–803, placing him third all time in NBA wins at the time he retired.[3] He was the fifth coach to reach 1,000 NBA victories and is one of two coaches in NBA history to record 1,000 wins with one club (the Utah Jazz). Sloan coached the Jazz to 15 consecutive playoff appearances from 1989 to 2003. He is one of only four coaches in NBA history with 15-plus consecutive seasons that have a winning record.[a][3] He led Utah to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998, but lost to Chicago both times.
After Tom Kelly stepped down as manager of the Minnesota Twins in Major League Baseball in 2001, Sloan became the longest-tenured head coach in American major league sports with their current franchise. He resigned mid-season from the Jazz in 2011 before returning in 2013 as an adviser and scouting consultant.
Early life
Born and raised in Gobbler's Knob, Illinois, 15 miles (24 km) south of McLeansboro, Illinois,[4] Sloan was the youngest of 10 children and was raised by a single mother after his father died when Jerry was 4 years old. He would wake up at 4:30 a.m. to do farm chores and then walk almost two miles to get to school in time for 7 a.m. basketball practice. Sloan graduated an all-state player from McLeansboro High School in 1960.[5]
Playing career
Sloan readying to jump with the basketball in his hand and a defender between him and the net
Sloan playing for Evansville in 1965.
Sloan attended the University of Evansville and played college basketball for the Purple Aces. He was selected 19th overall in the 1964 NBA draft by the Baltimore Bullets. But he remained in college and led the Purple Aces to their second in two consecutive Division II national titles and his second with the squad. He then was selected fourth in the 1965 NBA draft by the Bullets. The Chicago Bulls, an expansion team, selected Sloan in the 1966 NBA expansion draft. He became known as "the Original Bull", known for his tenacious defense, leading them to the playoffs in their first season, and to their first and only division title before the Michael Jordan era; after a series of knee injuries, he retired in 1976. He scored more than 18 points a game in 1970–71, and had three other seasons of more than 15 points per game.[6] At a height of 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), his career rebounding average was 7.4 rebounds per game, with one season having an average of 9.1 rebounds. He was a career 72 percent free throw shooter.[7] His number 4 jersey was subsequently retired by the Chicago Bulls in 1978, becoming the first retired jersey in franchise history.[8]
Coaching career
While at Evansville, coach Arad McCutchan suggested that Sloan coach at his alma mater. After retiring in 1976, Sloan took the Evansville job, but withdrew after five days.[9] That same season, the Evansville basketball team and coaching staff were killed in a plane crash at Evansville Airport.[10] Two years later, Sloan was hired by the Bulls as a scout.[11] After one season in this role, he became an assistant coach with the team. In 1979, Sloan was promoted to the position of head coach. He held the position for less than three seasons, winning 94 games and losing 121. He led the team to the playoffs in his second year, but was fired after a poor start during the following campaign.[12] After departing Chicago, Sloan became a scout for the Utah Jazz for one season. He then became coach of the Evansville Thunder of the Continental Basketball Association for the 1984 season but never coached a game instead accepting an assistant coach position with the Jazz. After Frank Layden became team president in December 1988, the Jazz chose Sloan as the new head coach.[13] Sloan enjoyed a successful run of 16 consecutive seasons of taking his team to the playoffs, during which time he coached future Hall of Famers Karl Malone and John Stockton, along with other players including Jeff Hornacek, Antoine Carr, Tom Chambers, Mark Eaton, and Jeff Malone.[14] Sloan led the Jazz to six division championships and 10 seasons with greater than 50 wins. He also took the Jazz to the NBA Finals twice, losing in 1997 and 1998, both times to his old team, the Michael Jordan-led Bulls. By the end of this period, he had joined Pat Riley and Phil Jackson as the only coaches with 10 or more seasons winning 50 or more games. After the retirement of long-time Jazz players Malone and Stockton, Sloan coached a younger group of players, including Carlos Boozer, Andrei Kirilenko, Mehmet Okur, and later, Deron Williams.[15] After John Stockton retired and Karl Malone signed with the Lakers in the summer of 2003, the 2003-2004 Jazz were widely predicted to be the worst team in the NBA[16] and some even predicted that Utah would set the all-time single season record for fewest wins in a season.[17] Despite the very low expectations and despite second leading scorer Matt Harpring being sidelined for 51 games due to a knee injury, Sloan and his team were involved in a battle for the eighth spot in the Western Conference, which would have given Sloan his 17th straight trip to the playoffs. The Jazz were tied with the Denver Nuggets for the eighth and last spot of the playoffs with three games to go in the regular season. The Jazz lost the final two games, causing Sloan to miss the playoffs for the first time in 18 seasons as Jazz coach. After leading a young team in its first year without Stockton and Malone to an unexpected 42–40 record, he finished just behind Hubie Brown of the Memphis Grizzlies in voting for the 2004 NBA Coach of the Year Award.[18]
Sloan collected his 1,000th career win against the Dallas Mavericks on December 11, 2006, in a 101–79 victory, which made him only the fifth coach in NBA history to reach the milestone.[19] After disappointing seasons in 2004–05 and 2005–06, the Jazz in the 2006–07 returned to contention. For this, Sloan was again on many sportswriters ballots for Coach of the Year, however he lost the award to Toronto Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell, who led his team to a franchise record-tying 47 victories and their first Atlantic Division title. Sloan lost the vote 394–301.[20]
Sloan in a suit, surrounded by several basketball players and a few other coaches, also in suits
Sloan as a coach of the Utah Jazz in 2010
The Jazz advanced to the Western Conference finals on May 15, 2007, with a 100–87 win over the Golden State Warriors. It was the sixth time in franchise history that Utah advanced to the conference finals, all coming under Sloan. However, they went on to lose 4–1 to the San Antonio Spurs.[14]
During the 2008–09 season, Sloan reached 1,000 wins as coach of the Jazz on November 7 after beating the Oklahoma City Thunder 104–97 in a Friday night game. He became the first coach in NBA history with 1,000 wins for one team.[21] Sloan returned as head coach of the Jazz for the 2009–10 season, leading the team to a 53–29 record and the playoffs.
Mirroring his tenacity as a player, Sloan was just as fiery as a coach. He was suspended one game for pushing referee Bob Delaney in April 1993. A decade later, Sloan was served a seven-game suspension in 2003 for pushing referee Courtney Kirkland in Sacramento.[22]
In April 2009, Sloan was named to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, in the same class as his former longtime point guard John Stockton. Sloan chose class of 2006 Hall of Famer Charles Barkley to introduce him during his induction ceremony.[23]
Resignation as Jazz head coach
Sloan revealed on February 7, 2011, that he had earlier in the year signed a contract extension to coach the Jazz for the 2011–12 season, which would have been his 24th season as head coach with the Jazz.[24] However, on February 10, 2011, Sloan and assistant Phil Johnson resigned their positions effective immediately.[25] Sloan downplayed reports that conflicts with players prompted his departure. "I've had confrontations with players since I've been in the league", Sloan said. "There's only so much energy left and my energy has dropped." KSL-TV later asked Sloan whether reported conflicts with guard Deron Williams forced him to leave. "I forced myself out", Sloan responded.[26] Williams acknowledged that he had a disagreement with Sloan during the previous night's game, but he added, "I would never force Coach Sloan out of Utah. He's meant more to this town, more to this organization than I have by far. I would have asked out of Utah first."[27] Sloan's last game as head coach came in a 91–86 loss to the Bulls on February 9, and assistant coach Tyrone Corbin was then named as Sloan's replacement.[3]
He was stubborn, you have to be as a coach. But he had a system and the system was effective. It's not easy to have a team in Utah. It's not the biggest draw in the country as far as free agents to go there. And they were able to have a really great home record, played the kind of basketball that was admirable. So we all had admiration for him as coaches around the league. So as a colleague, we’ll miss him.
—Phil Jackson, former Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers head coach[1]
Nearly two weeks later, Williams was involved in a trade on February 23, 2011, that sent him to the New Jersey Nets.[28] Ian Thomsen of Sports Illustrated wrote, "First Jerry Sloan leaves, now Williams is sent away. For two decades we knew who the Utah Jazz were and what they stood for as a franchise. Now we, and they, can have no idea."[29]
A year later, Karl Malone, who played under Sloan for over 18 years, indicated that Sloan did not feel supported by Kevin O'Connor and Greg Miller.[30] Longtime San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich would later mention him as a mentor for his overall coaching success in the NBA.[31]
Return to the Jazz
On June 19, 2013, the Utah Jazz announced that Sloan was returning as an adviser and scouting consultant.[32]
On January 31, 2014, the Jazz honored Sloan by raising a banner featuring the number "1223", which represents Sloan's wins with the Jazz from 1988 to 2011.[33]
Personal life and death
Sloan married his high-school sweetheart, Bobbye. After a well-publicized six-year battle against breast cancer, she died of pancreatic cancer in 2004.[34] They had three children and were married 41 years. One of his sons, Brian, was an all-state center for McLeansboro High School and was a member of its undefeated 1984 Class A IHSA basketball championship team. After leading the Foxes to the championship, Brian Sloan was named Illinois Mr. Basketball and was a McDonald's All-American for 1984 in Illinois. Brian Sloan also played five seasons under Coach Bob Knight at Indiana University, collecting an NCAA Division I basketball title in 1987, where he pledged Beta Epsilon. Brian's son, and Jerry's grandson, Grant is a member of the Indiana University baseball team.[35] In 2006, Jerry Sloan married Tammy Jessop, in Salt Lake City. Sloan had a stepson, Rhett, as a result of this marriage.[36] Sloan was known to wear John Deere hats,[4] collected antique furniture and dolls. [7] He also collected and restored tractors as a hobby.[37] After amassing a collection of tractors that numbered 70, Sloan decided to sell all but two of them after a 35-year-old Allis-Chalmers tractor was stolen.[38][39] After years of a self-confessed habit of drinking and smoking too much, he stopped both, although he said it never affected him or his coaching.[4]
In April 2016, Sloan was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and Lewy body dementia.[40] He died on May 22, 2020, at age 78, from complications of the diseases.[41]
Career statistics
Legend
GP
Games played
GS
Games started
MPG
Minutes per game
FG%
Field goal percentage
3P%
3-point field goal percentage
FT%
Free throw percentage
RPG
Rebounds per game
APG
Assists per game
SPG
Steals per game
BPG
Blocks per game
PPG
Points per game
Bold
Career high
Playing
NBA regular season playing statistics[42]
Year
Team
GP
GS
MPG
FG%
FT%
RPG
APG
SPG
BPG
PPG
1965–66
Baltimore
59
–
16.1
.415
.705
3.9
1.9
–
–
5.7
1966–67
Chicago
80
–
36.8
.432
.796
9.1
2.1
–
–
17.4
1967–68
Chicago
77
–
31.9
.385
.749
7.7
3.0
–
–
13.3
1968–69
Chicago
78
–
37.7
.417
.745
7.9
3.5
–
–
16.8
1969–70
Chicago
53
–
34.4
.421
.651
7.0
3.1
–
–
15.6
1970–71
Chicago
80
–
39.3
.441
.715
8.8
3.5
–
–
18.3
1971–72
Chicago
82
–
37.0
.444
.660
8.4
2.6
–
–
16.2
1972–73
Chicago
69
–
35.0
.411
.707
6.9
2.2
–
–
10.1
1973–74
Chicago
77
–
37.1
.447
.711
7.2
1.9
2.4
.1
13.2
1974–75
Chicago
78
–
33.0
.439
.748
6.9
2.1
2.2
.2
12.2
1975–76
Chicago
22
–
28.0
.400
.705
5.3
1.0
1.2
.2
10.1
Career
755
–
34.1
.427
.722
7.4
2.5
2.2
.2
14.0
All-Star
2
1
20.0
.353
.000
3.5
2.0
–
–
6.0
NBA playoff playing statistics[42]
Year
Team
GP
MPG
FG%
FT%
RPG
APG
SPG
BPG
PPG
1966
Baltimore
2
17.0
.417
.750
8.0
3.0
–
–
6.5
1967
Chicago
3
23.7
.387
.667
3.3
.3
–
–
10.0
1968
Chicago
5
27.4
.324
.760
6.4
2.4
–
–
8.6
1970
Chicago
5
38.0
.392
.640
7.8
2.2
–
–
14.8
1971
Chicago
7
40.6
.436
.739
9.0
2.4
–
–
17.0
1972
Chicago
4
42.5
.406
.579
8.8
2.5
–
–
15.8
1973
Chicago
7
41.7
.437
.737
8.4
2.0
–
–
14.9
1974
Chicago
6
40.0
.443
.759
10.3
2.0
1.2
.2
16.7
1975
Chicago
13
36.2
.460
.556
7.4
2.0
1.5
.0
13.1
Career
52
36.3
.427
.677
7.9
2.1
1.4
.1
13.8
Coaching
Legend
Regular season
G
Games coached
W
Games won
L
Games lost
W–L %
Win–loss %
Playoffs
PG
Playoff games
PW
Playoff wins
PL
Playoff losses
PW–L %
Playoff win–loss %
NBA coaching record[43]
Team
Year
G
W
L
W–L%
Finish
PG
PW
PL
PW–L%
Result
Chicago
1979–80
82
30
52
.366
4th in Midwest
–
–
–
—
Missed Playoffs
Chicago
1980–81
82
45
37
.549
2nd in Central
6
2
4
.333
Lost in Conf. Semi-finals
Chicago
1981–82
51
19
32
.373
(fired)
–
–
–
—
—
Utah
1988–89
65
40
25
.615
1st in Midwest
3
0
3
.000
Lost in First round
Utah
1989–90
82
55
27
.671
2nd in Midwest
5
2
3
.400
Lost in First round
Utah
1990–91
82
54
28
.659
2nd in Midwest
9
4
5
.444
Lost in Conf. Semi-finals
Utah
1991–92
82
55
27
.671
1st in Midwest
16
9
7
.563
Lost in Conf. Finals
Utah
1992–93
82
47
35
.573
3rd in Midwest
5
2
3
.400
Lost in First round
Utah
1993–94
82
53
29
.646
3rd in Midwest
16
8
8
.500
Lost in Conf. Finals
Utah
1994–95
82
60
22
.732
2nd in Midwest
5
2
3
.400
Lost in First round
Utah
1995–96
82
55
27
.671
2nd in Midwest
18
10
8
.556
Lost in Conf. Finals
Utah
1996–97
82
64
18
.780
1st in Midwest
20
13
7
.650
Lost in NBA Finals
Utah
1997–98
82
62
20
.756
1st in Midwest
20
13
7
.650
Lost in NBA Finals
Utah
1998–99
50
37
13
.740
2nd in Midwest
11
5
6
.455
Lost in Conf. Semi-finals
Utah
1999–00
82
55
27
.671
1st in Midwest
10
4
6
.400
Lost in Conf. Semi-finals
Utah
2000–01
82
53
29
.646
2nd in Midwest
5
2
3
.400
Lost in First round
Utah
2001–02
82
44
38
.537
4th in Midwest
4
1
3
.250
Lost in First round
Utah
2002–03
82
47
35
.573
4th in Midwest
5
1
4
.200
Lost in First round
Utah
2003–04
82
42
40
.512
7th in Midwest
–
–
–
—
Missed Playoffs
Utah
2004–05
82
26
56
.317
5th in Northwest
–
–
–
—
Missed Playoffs
Utah
2005–06
82
41
41
.500
2nd in Northwest
–
–
–
—
Missed Playoffs
Utah
2006–07
82
51
31
.622
1st in Northwest
17
9
8
.529
Lost in Conf. Finals
Utah
2007–08
82
54
28
.659
1st in Northwest
12
6
6
.500
Lost in Conf. Semi-finals
Utah
2008–09
82
48
34
.585
3rd in Northwest
5
1
4
.200
Lost in First round
Utah
2009–10
82
53
29
.646
2nd in Northwest
10
4
6
.400
Lost in Conf. Semi-finals
Utah
2010–11
54
31
23
.574
(resigned)
–
–
–
—
—
Career
2,024
1,221
803
.603
202
98
104
.485
