Horny for Head Coach?

Posted by Laurie Nylund on October 17, 2007

“Failure to plan for succession is planning to fail.”

- J. K. Williams; President & CEO– Williams Buggy Whip Co., Inc.; 1902

Mr. Williams might not have known in 1902 that the end was imminent, but obviously he was not successful in plotting a viable transition strategy for his company. Known as the buggy whip syndrome, this is what happens to organizations when they fail to plan for the future. So I was interested to read the story in the Salt Lake Tribune the other day that indicated Larry Miller was preparing for the day when Sloan steps down. Not that I want this to happen any time soon-I love being a fan of the team with the longest tenured coach in all of professional sports!-but in the back of my mind I know it is inevitable.

Miller didn’t drop any names in this particular interview about who his successor might be, so I started to speculate on what he might be thinking. Previously, Miller has said that the job was Johnson’s if he wanted it, and Phil is still the obvious choice. While I am sure he would want to put something of his own stamp on the team, Johnson would be as seamless a transition as an owner could hope for. Not exactly a Jerry Sloan clone, but darn near. Yet Phil is already 66 years old and maybe he too would be ready to retire when Jerry decides to hang it up in a year or two.

So who else would be a good choice?

Not that this hasn’t come up in fan discussions before, but Jeff Hornacek as the head coach of the Jazz seems more and more possible. I know people are thinking Horny is just here to help AK with his shooting, but that may be a small part of the real story. Jeff has acted as shooting coach before, but he hasn’t (to my knowledge) traveled to games with the team like he did to Phoenix this week. Maybe the Jazz organization is really transitioning Hornacek into the coaching staff in preparation for a bigger future role.

And it’s not like the idea of Hornacek as Head Coach is just a Jazz fan’s dream. In 2004, Danny Ainge considered him for the vacant Celtics job. Jeff has the pedigree (his Dad was a coach), the intelligence, the work ethic, and the knowledge of the Jazz system. He got to spend some significant time with his family since he left the court, and now his kids are all teenagers soon to leave him with an empty nest. If he is “sensitive” enough to work with Andrei, he would probably be a better fit psychologically with today’s players. The only thing he really lacks is actual coaching experience. But heck, this is the country that elected an actor for President. So I say, Horny for the next Head Coach!