Frank Layden, 1932-2025

Cover photo: Frank Layden coaching the Utah Jazz in 1988. Layden, who coached the Jazz from 1981-1988 and is responsible for bringing John Stockton, Karl Malone, and Jerry Sloan to the organization, passed away on July 9 at the age of 93.

Former Utah Jazz President, General Manager, and head coach Frank Layden passed away on Wednesday, July 9 at the age of 93. 

Layden, a New York, N.Y. native, attended Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn. He played collegiately at Niagara University from 1950-1953 and later on coached the Purple Eagles from 1968-1976. Layden won 119 out of 216 games as the program’s head coach, and in 1969-70 coached the program to the NCAA Tournament. At the time, the squad was led by future Hall of Fame guard Calvin Murphy. 

From 1976-1979, Layden was an assistant coach with the Atlanta Hawks. After Atlanta, he became the Jazz’s General Manager in 1979, when the franchise was still located in New Orleans. It was two years later in 1981 when the franchise moved to Utah and Layden became head coach. During the 1981-82 season, he took over for the fired Tom Nissalke. Layden held that post until 1988. 

The head coach accumulated 277 wins in his coaching career and coached the Jazz to 45 wins in 1983-84, a fifteen-game improvement from 1982-83’s 30-52 campaign. The Jazz finished first place in the Midwest division in ‘84 and Layden was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year. Utah’s star at the time was Adrian Dantley, who led the league in scoring that season at 30.6 points per game. Also in 1984, Layden was the coach of the Western Conference in the All-Star Game, was awarded the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship award, and was named the NBA’s Executive of the Year. 

In 1985, Jerry Sloan joined Layden’s staff as an assistant, and served in that capacity through the 1987-88 season. Layden then elevated Sloan to head coach, and Sloan led the Jazz to nineteen winning seasons from 1988-2011. Layden’s vision to hire Sloan as head coach paid dividends in the form of Sloan being enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009. 

From 1998-99, Layden was head coach of Utah’s WNBA team, the Utah Starzz. 

As the President and General Manager of the Jazz for so many years, Layden oversaw one of the most successful organizations in the NBA during the late ‘80s to the 2000s. In addition to drafting Stockton and Malone, Layden was instrumental in the selections of Darrell Griffith (2nd overall in 1980) and Mark Eaton (fourth round in 1982). Griffith was the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in 1981 and Eaton led the league in blocks four times. Layden also orchestrated trades for Dantley and Jeff Hornacek.

There is no Utah Jazz as we know them now without his foresight. 

RIP, Frank Layden.