Some perspective on JSlo:
Gallon of gas was 72 cents when Jerry Sloan was hired as Jazz coach
Jerry Sloan was coach of the Utah Jazz for 8,098 days. In other words, 22 years, 2 months and 1 day.
Sloan spent 699,667,200 seconds as the boss of the Jazz, 11,661,120 minutes,194,352 hours or 1,156 weeks (rounded down)
Since Jerry Sloan became head coach of the Utah Jazz on 12/9/88, there have been a total of 245 coaching changes in the NBA.
Below is a look each team’s changes, noting that every team has made at least two changes except for Utah.
1. L.A. Clippers 13
2. Denver 12
3. New York 12
4. L.A. Lakers 11
5. Memphis/Vancouver 11
6. Philadelphia 11
7. Washington 11
8. Chicago 10
9. Detroit 10
10. Golden State 10
11. Minnesota 9
12. New Jersey 9
13. Oklahoma City/Seattle 9
14. Sacramento 9
15. Cleveland 8
16. Dallas 8
17. Indiana 8*
18. Milwaukee 8
19. New Orleans/Charlotte 8
20. Orlando 8
21. Phoenix 8
22. Atlanta 6
23. Boston 6
24. Miami 6
25. Portland 6
26. San Antonio 6
27. Toronto 6
28. Houston 3
29. Bobcats 3
30. Jazz 0
* Sloan became the only coach in NBA history to have captured 1,000 wins with one team (1,127). He also leads all NBA active coaches with most wins with one team.
* .765 – Jerry Sloan’s winning percentage against the Clippers (75-23) highest winning percentage against any single team. Followed by the Raptors (.759 22-7) Grizzlies (.741 43-15).
* .469 – Jerry Sloan’s winning percentage against the Utah Jazz rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers (45-51)
* .429 – Jerry Sloan’s winning percentage against the Spurs (42-56) lowest winning percentage against any single team.
* Sloan had a losing record against only the Spurs and Lakers.
* Gregg Popovich becomes the longest tenured active head coach in NBA history with 15 seasons on the Spurs bench
* 40 – Number of players not even born when Jerry Sloan became Jazz head coach, who are currently playing in the NBA
* Forty current players were not yet born when Sloan took over as coach of the Jazz.
* Sloan has coached 133 players and seven All-Stars.
* The second-longest tenured coach, Gregg Popovich, got his job almost exactly eight years later.
* In all of major American sports, only three coaches (Connie Mack, Curly Lambeau and Tom Landry) have had longer tenures.
In the last 23 years, the Jazz have had 21 winning seasons. And consider the effectiveness of his flex offense: “The Jazz have been above the league average in offensive efficiency in 19 out of Sloan’s 23 seasons in Utah, averaging about three points per 100 possessions better than average, which is worth about seven or eight wins per year.”
Jerry Sloan is one of three coaches in NBA history to have 15+ consecutive seasons with a winning record (one of only two w/ 10+ with one team): Pat Riley (19, Lakers Knicks, Heat) Phil Jackson (19 Bulls, Lakers), Greg Popovich (13 Spurs), Red Auerbach (Celtics), Chuck Daly (Pistons, Nets) each had 11 season streaks
Tony La Russa, manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, is now the longest tenured coach in North America pro sports, followed by Lindy Ruff, coach of the Buffalo Sabres (13 years), Andy Reid of the Eagles is next at 12 seasons.
Events that happened in 1988 (Year Jerry Sloan was hired as Jazz coach)
* New York Yankees sign 12-year television contract with MSG for $500M (On Dec. 9, day Sloan was hired)
* Roy Orbison, rocker (Pretty Woman), dies of a heart attack at 52 (On Dec. 9, day Sloan was hired)
* George Bush Sr. is elected President.
* The greenhouse effect is discovered.
* America’s Most Wanted debuts.
* CD’s outsell albums for the first time.
* Lionel Richie’s wife was arrested for assaulting Lionel and a model she found him with.
* Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson get hitched.
* #1 Song of The Year: Roll With It – Steve Winwood.
* “She’s Like The Wind” shows Patrick Swayze can sing as well as dance and act.
* Salt N Pepa get their breakthrough hit with “Push It”.
* Julia Roberts hits the big screen in her first breakthrough role in Mystic Pizza.
* Top grossing film of the year: Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
* Spuds Mackenzie becomes the original party animal.
* Oprah Winfrey is the hottest talk show in America.
* The new Suzuki Samurai gets bad reputation for flipping over when turning corners.
* Penny Loafers with a penny in them and Levis with the cuffs rolled up were the fashion statements of the year.
* U2 records Rattle and Hum album and then later the documentary.
* Flying chair thrown by skinhead hits Geraldo in the nose on his self titled talk show.
* Average price of a car in 1988: $14065.00
* Average price of a gallon of milk in 1988: $2.00
* Average price of a loaf of bread in 1988: $0.61
* Average price of a stamp in 1988: $0.25
* Average price of a home in 1988: $138300.00
* Cost of a gallon of regular gas: it fluctuated between 72 cents and 98 cents
* New York’s City Council enacts a law in April requiring restaurants with 50 seats or more to provide separate sections for smokers and nonsmokers. Many restaurants predict a slump in business, but their dire outlook will prove unfounded.
* Radio personality Rush (Hudson) Limbaugh (III), 37, begins a syndicated program of right-wing opinion that will attract a huge audience and bring Limbaugh an annual income of some $23 million by the mid-1990s. Son of a Cape Girardeau, Mo., judge who owned the radio station that gave him his start as a teenager, he disparages liberal “dittoheads,” “feminazis,” and others whose views he finds distasteful.
