Frank Layden, the man who led the Jazz to their first NBA playoffs look in 1984 and helped construct the foundations for profitable groups in the Nineteen Nineties, died Wednesday.
He was 93.
A cause of demise was not announced.
Frank Layden, former president of the Utah Jazz, is launched during a 20-year reunion ceremony for the team that reached the 1997 NBA Finals, at halftime of the team’s sport against the Knicks on March 22, 2017, in Salt Lake City. AP
The Brooklyn native helped the Jazz model into their new home in Utah after their transfer from New Orleans to Salt Lake City, taking over as common supervisor in 1979 and later changing 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 at the collegiate degree at his alma mater, Niagara University, where he coached for eight seasons and helped lead the program to an NCAA match 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 Gray, Niagara University’s affiliate vp for athletics, said in a assertion. “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 before taking the GM job with the Jazz three years later.
During his time in the Jazz entrance workplace, Layden made two of the greatest picks in franchise historical past when he chosen Karl Malone sixteenth general in 1984 and John Stockton in 1985 at thirteenth general.
Head coach Frank Layden of the Jazz calls a play against the
Kings on Jan. 2, 1988 at Arco Arena in Sacramento California. NBAE via Getty Images
Malone and Stockton would go on to become the faces of basketball in Utah and were both enshrined in the Naismith Hall of Fame.
It turns out 1984 may have been the finest 12 months for Layden.
He led the Jazz to the playoffs — a feat the team would pull off 5 occasions during his tenure — and coached in the NBA All-Star Game before getting named the NBA Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year.
Layden went 277-294 as Jazz head coach in the common season. In December 1988, he stepped down as head coach, while retaining the position of team president and common supervisor.
The transfer paved the manner for Jerry Sloan to lead the Jazz to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 1997 and 1998.
Layden briefly coached the WNBA’s Utah Starzz — who would later become the Las Vegas Aces — and served a quick time as a marketing consultant for the Knicks when his son, Scott Layden, was common supervisor.
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