Jerry Sloan

Jerry Sloan, the coach of the Utah Jazz pro basketball team, abruptly resigned this week.

Sloan will be missed. He was a great coach. His teams always seemed to have more wins than losses, even though Sloan often worked with B-level talent. Salt Lake City, a small, remote, decidedly Mormon and Caucasian market, was not a place where ambitious African-American basketball players wanted to make their names. Sloan coached the players he had, and typically made them better players. He didn't write self-aggrandizing books, as Phil Jackson and Pat Riley did. Sloan wasn't a telegenic coach, like Rick Pitino or the smug Mike Krzyzewski. He didn't invent a highfalutin' "system," reinvent the jump shot, or leverage the past to monetize the present.

He is the only coach to win 1,000 games with one NBA team. That's approximately 300 more than Boston Celtics legend Red Auerbach, to give you a feel for the scale of the accomplishment. Sloan's teams played the way he played -- hard. Sloan, a two-time All-Pro guard, loved the game, and he always appreciated what it gave him. He made his name as a player with the Chicago Bulls, and his personality completely meshed with the Windy City's fans demands for toughness and desire. He remains very much respected in Chicago, and no one held against him his losing record as Bulls coach. (The b&w photo shows Sloan the player with Bulls' teammates Norm Van Lier, Chet Walker, and Bob Love.)

He came close to winning a championship with the Utah Jazz. It took a Michael Jordan-led Chicago team to beat Sloan's squad in consecutive seasons. The Jazz were never close to an NBA crown after that. As a consequence, there won't be an NBA championship on Sloan's resume. However, he can take solace from his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame while he was still coaching the Jazz. An active coach's induction is a rare honor; in Sloan's case, it's an entirely deserved one.

Ironically, Sloan was never named NBA Coach of the Year.