Grizzlies name Tuomas Iisalo head coach

Tuomas Iisalo (Steffen Probdorf, Wikimedia Commons)

The Memphis Grizzlies made National Basketball Association headlines with a shocking coaching change on Friday. According to Liam McKeone of Sports Illustrated, the Grizzlies fired head coach Taylor Jenkins of Arlington, Texas and replaced him with Tuomas Iisalo of Helsinki, Finland.

Iisalo becomes the first Finnish head coach in NBA history. He is the second Finnish head coach all-time in the four major professional sports leagues in North America. Alpo Suhonen of Valkeakoski was the head coach of the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League during the 2000-01 season.

The firing of Jenkins could be considered just as surprising as the hiring of Iisalo. Jenkins had a record of 250 wins and 214 losses in 464 games coached for a winning percentage of .539. This season at the time of the firing, Jenkins had a record of 44 wins and 29 losses after 73 games for a very respectable winning percentage of .603.

The bottom line is the Grizzles record was very respectable and at first glance was not a valid reason for Jenkins losing his job. Therefore, there seems to have been another reason for the coaching change.

According to McKeone, there is a belief that there was tension between Jenkins, and star player Ja Morant. There is no doubt that Morant has had significant off-court legal issues over the years. In this particular instance, there seemed to be a philosophical difference between Morant and Jenkins. Morant reportedly did not like the fact that Jenkins had not installed very many pick and rolls in his game plan.

The hiring of Iisalo, even on an interim basis, could be a surprise to some. That is because he only has one year of coaching experience as a NBA assistant.