We Are Utah Jazz: The Ty Corbin Edition

When Jerry Sloan resigned as head coach of the Utah Jazz I cried. Sloan was all that I knew as a head coach. I do remember Frank Layden as a head coach at least a few years but I was young and wasn't a diehard fan quiet yet. I was a big Jerry Sloan fan, especially as I got older. No coach is perfect, they all make mistakes including Jerry but he was what I knew and what I liked. Hearing reactions from players and coaches around the league when Sloan left the Jazz my admiration only grew for him. Still today you read about former Jazz players such as CJ Miles and Mo Williams complimenting Sloan.

While it was hard to get over Sloan's resignation I knew that I was a Jazz fan and not just a Jerry Sloan fan so like with any other major change, life goes on. When the Jazz announced that Tyrone Corbin would replace Jerry, I thought well that makes sense with both Sloan and Phil Johnson leaving, Corbin is the obvious choice. Even though Corbin had never received a 2nd interview with any of the teams that he had interviewed for as head coach, I trusted that the Jazz knew what they were doing.

In an email I sent to Moni the day Sloan resigned, I said this among many other feelings I had about the day:

Ty will do great. (February 11, 2011; 9:01 p.m.)

I am sharing that just to show that despite my sadness about Sloan leaving I had a positive attitude with regards to Ty being the coach.

Its funny because just a few weeks earlier we were emailing about the slump the Jazz were in and what it would take to get out of it and I said this:

I do think we can get out of this slump without a major over haul (like that would ever happen)
Go Jazz! ( January 31, 2011; 3:50 p.m.)

I am sharing that because I have seen a lot of tweets and comments lately about how the Jazz NEVER do this or would NEVER do that. We never thought Sloan would leave when he did, it just goes to show the predictable Jazz can be quite unpredictable at times.

Tyrone Corbin has been coach of the Utah Jazz for over three seasons. While Corbin has always had built-in excuses for having "difficult circumstances" , the Jazz have gone out of their way to show him support and convince fans of what an awesome coach he is.

The over-the-top comments is what bothers some fans, telling fans that John Wooden, Greg Popovich or Phil Jackson wouldn't have done as well of a job as Ty did last year is just insulting our intelligence. There are many comments like that that make it hard to take the Jazz's opinion of Ty seriously.

We have heard that Ty's strength is that he is a "players coach". While maybe some players do/did like Ty, I think Al Jefferson genuinely liked Ty (and Al is a good guy) we have had example pass example of players unhappy with how Ty has communicated with them or bothered by the lack of communication.

We have heard that Ty's lack of offensive system was due to Al Jefferson now we don't have Al and yet the players seem really confused on offense nearly all the time. As soon as the opposing coach makes adjustments the Jazz are done for the night.

We have heard the same about Ty's defensive system, that he wasn't able to implement it fully because of Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap and now we have Favors and Kanter and we are still one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

Maybe this is all on the players but I don't think that is the case. It has to be on both. But I'd like to assume we drafted talented players, smart players who can run a system. So either the system is not working or it is not being run properly by the players whether they just don't want to run it or they weren't taught it well.

The Jazz have told us time and time again that Ty is a good coach. I like the Jazz, I'm kind of a big fan and I would like to believe them. I do believe them. Ty is a fantastic guy, I have met him many times, he is nice, he is funny, he seems smart. What I do have to question though is this team right for Ty? If he is an amazing coach like we have heard then why don't we see results on the court? Is he meant to coach a team that isn't so young? Yes its a season of discovery, a season where we are rebuilding but the problems that the players have had in games aren't unique to just this season.

Wins don't matter this season but development and chemistry do. I hope we can start to see that with this team.

I hope in the comment section we can share our feelings on the future of this team. I would like to hear from those fans that do see the good things that Ty is doing as a coach. Also feel free to comment on things that the team can improve on. As always feel free to share what ever opinion you have.