Former Jazz head coach and general manager Frank Layden dies at age 93

Frank Layden (United States Forest Service, Wikimedia Commons)

Former Utah Jazz head coach and general manager Frank Layden of Brooklyn, New York has passed away at the age of 93 according to Carter Bahns of CBS Sports on Wednesday. Layden was the Jazz general manager from 1979 to 1987, and again from 1989 to 1999, and the head coach from 1981 to 1988.

Layden posted a regular season record as a coach of 277 wins and 294 losses in 571 games. He had a winning percentage of .485. Layden also coached the Jazz five consecutive seasons to the NBA playoffs from 1984 to 1988. In that time the Jazz won three opening round playoff series. They eliminated the Denver Nuggets in five games in 1984, upset the Houston Rockets win five games in 1985, and upset the Portland Trail Blazers in four games in 1988.

In 1983-84, Layden was named the NBA coach of the year. The Jazz had a record of 45 wins and 37 losses for a winning percentage of .549. Utah won the Midwest Division and Layden guided the Jazz to a 15 win improvement from the previous season.

As a general manager, Layden will always be linked to the two Hall of Famers he drafted, power forward Karl Malone of Summerfield, Louisiana (13th overall in the 1985 NBA Draft), and point guard John Stockton of Spokane, Washington (16th overall in the 1984 NBA Draft). In 2019, we ranked the top 10 players in NBA history. Malone was eighth and Stockton was ninth. Layden also hired hall of fame coach Jerry Sloan as the Jazz head coach in 1988.

In 1989, the Jazz retired the number one in Layden’s honour. He would remain as the Jazz President for another decade. Layden was also an assistant coach of the Atlanta Hawks from 1976 to 1979, and the head coach of the Utah Starzz of the WNBA for 17 games from 1998 to 1999.