Utah Jazz: Timeline of head coaches throughout the years

The Utah Jazz have gone through eight head coaching stints in their history throughout the franchise’s 3,560 games played.

The Utah Jazz franchise took its place as an NBA team in 1974. The team began in New Orleans for the first five years before moving to Utah in 1979.

The Jazz have had eight head coaches during their time as an NBA franchise. Some were short-lived, while others experienced sustained success.

Below is a list of the eight coaches and the years they were with the Jazz, as well as their win/loss records.

• Scotty Robertson (1975): 1-14 record (.067), 15 games total
• Elgin Baylor (1974, 1976-79): 86-135 record (.389), 221 games total
• Butch van Breda Kolff (1974-76): 74-100 record (.425), 174 games total
• Tom Nissalke (1979-81): 60-124 record (.326), 184 games total
• Frank Layden (1981-88): 277-294 record (.485), 571 games total
• Jerry Sloan (1988-2011): 1,127-682 record (.623), 1,809 games total
• Tyrone Corbin (2011-14): 112-146 record (.434), 258 games total
• Quin Snyder (2015-present): 177-151 record (.540), 328 games total

Jerry Sloan is by far the most well-known, successful coach in Jazz history. Having coached the team for 23 years, he has coached in 1,238 more games than the next-closest coach (Layden).

Sloan took the Jazz to two NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998, losing both to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. He also appeared in six conference finals matchups and went to 15 consecutive playoffs.

As a result, he was also inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. Sloan is the only NBA coach to record 1,000 wins with the same franchise. He is one of only three coaches in NBA history to win at least 50 games in 10 or more seasons.

Tyrone Corbin was brought in during the 2010-11 season and didn’t have the success Jazz fans were hoping for following Sloan’s resignation.

In his first two years, they did have a winning record and made the postseason in 2012 despite point guard Deron Williams‘ departure. However, it was all downhill after that, and in Corbin’s final year with the team in 2014, they finished dead last in the Western Conference at 25-57.

It’s still early in his tenure, and there’s no telling how much longer he’ll be coaching the Jazz, but early signs point to Quin Snyder being one of the next great Jazz coaches.

Coming over as an assistant coach from the Atlanta Hawks, this is Snyder’s first head coaching gig in his career. He had a losing record in his first two years after inheriting a rebuilding team from Corbin, but he improved the team’s win total by 13 games in his first season as head coach.

During the past two years, he’s guided the team to a 99-65 record with trips to the playoffs in both years. Solid management and instilling the right franchise mentality has set the Jazz up for success for the future.

They have made the right draft decisions and added key pieces through free agency, which made the loss of Gordon Hayward to the Boston Celtics last summer much easier to bear.

For next season, the Jazz are already listed at No. 7 on ESPN‘s way-too-early power rankings. This speaks volumes to their strong, established culture and young talent led by Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert.

So far, Snyder is the only head coach in Jazz history not named Jerry Sloan to hold a winning record during his time with the franchise. It will be interesting to see how far Snyder can lead this team in the coming years.