Utah Jazz coach Will Hardy is further putting his stamp on the franchise.
Hardy and the Jazz have finalized a 17-member coaching staff for the 2023-24 season, including two new faces to the Jazz’s higher-profile front-of-bench staff. With a maximum of 18 players on the roster come the regular season — 15 on the regular roster plus three two-way contracts — there will be nearly a one-to-one staff-to-player ratio.
Here’s what to know about the new additions:
Front of bench
NBA benches have room for just three assistant coaches on the front row alongside the team’s head coach. Last year for Hardy, those coaches were Alex Jensen, Bryan Bailey, and Lamar Skeeter. Jensen departed for the Dallas Mavericks to join Jason Kidd’s staff, while Bailey reunited with Quin Snyder in Atlanta.
That left room for two more coaches up front to join Hardy and Skeeter.
Boston Celtics assistant coach Scott Morrison, right, watches from the bench during the first quarter of Game 2 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series game against the Milwaukee Bucks in Boston, Tuesday, April 17, 2018. At left is Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
First is Scott Morrison, last year’s head coach of the Salt Lake City Stars. Morrison was a former Boston Celtics assistant who also spent a season in Australia leading the Perth Wildcats, and also has assisted Canada’s national basketball team. (Hardy noted his Prince Edward Island roots and his love of oysters.)
“He’s a brilliant tactician, great offensive mind. And for me, he gives me a ton of resources as somebody that’s been a head coach, has been in a lot of different scenarios as a head coach. And he’s somebody that I’m going to lean on a ton,” Hardy said.
“I think the value that he brought to our organization last year, as the head coach of our G-League team, you probably wouldn’t get to see because a lot of the stuff that he was doing for me was behind closed doors. But he was at practice anytime they were in town. He was at our home games’ he was in the back. He was a part of our coaches’ meetings. Scott, to me, has been a part of our staff since I got here, now we’re just sort of formalizing that.”
If Hardy is ejected, Morrison will stand in as head coach.
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Assistant coach Jason Terry as the Utah Jazz host the Sacramento Kings, NBA basketball in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 20, 2023.
Jason Terry, the 19-year NBA veteran who won a championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011, also becomes a front-of-bench assistant this year. Since his playing career, Terry has been an assistant general manager and head coach at the G-League level, along with a year as an assistant coach for the collegiate Arizona Wildcats. Terry was added to an NBA coaching staff for the first time by Hardy last summer.
“His experience speaks for itself. He’s incredibly bright, unbelievable personality, charismatic, has a great presence with the team,” Hardy said.
“And he has experiences that I will never have. I don’t care how much I empathize with players or research it. He sat in an NBA locker room for 20 years. (He) makes comments to me, either in front of the group or on the side, about the way the team may be feeling or how certain messages may land with the team — and so his value far exceeds just the X’s and O’s part, which he knows cold.”
“Our only hope with (Terry) is that he doesn’t get a technical this year,” Hardy added.
Behind the bench
The Jazz return Evan Bradds, Sean Sheldon, and Chris Jones as assistant coaches this season. Beyond that, three more coaches have been added.
Chad Forcier is a longtime NBA assistant, having been an assistant coach with the Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs, Orlando Magic, Memphis Grizzlies, and most recently with the Milwaukee Bucks. He began his NBA journey as an intern under George Karl in Seattle, but has also worked under Rick Carlisle, Gregg Popovich, Mike Budenholzer, and more. He was an assistant on the Spurs’ coaching staff when Hardy joined that team to begin his own NBA career.
“He has an unbelievable perspective on the NBA and has seen so many different situations over 26 years, that gives me a ton of insight. He’s more of a big picture thinker for us — he has a tremendous player development background,” Hardy said. “He’s going to do as much helping me as he will do helping our staff and our some of our younger assistants in terms of their process and teaching some of these things on the floor.
“So Chad is going to be vital to our staff this year. And to me, obviously it gives me a comfort level with our personal relationship.”
Mike Williams previously was head coach of the Capital City Go-Go, the G-League team of the Washington Wizards. Prior to that, Williams worked as a Wizards coach and with the G-League’s Erie Jayhawks. The University of Maryland graduate — he has a degree in multi-platform journalism along with a master’s in business and management — will join the Jazz’s staff this season.
“He was the youngest coach in the G-League, he was their head coach for two years. Mike is probably the most serious person we have on the staff outside of Sean Sheldon. He’s a very deep thinker, incredibly bright, thoughtful,” Hardy said. “Not only is Mike capable of helping tactically and on the floor from a player development standpoint, but he’s somebody else that I have already leaned on in terms of bouncing, more big picture, team type of concepts off of.”
Rick Higgins has been an assistant coach for the Rockets and Magic, beginning his career as the video coordinator for Steve Clifford’s Charlotte Hornets team in 2013. Higgins played for the Colorado Buffaloes in college, and is the son of former NBA player and general manager Rod Higgins.
“He’s a super bright coach on both sides of the ball, very detail oriented, and will do a great job with the players on the court as well,” Hardy said. “He has worked with some younger teams. I like having a staff that can give their energy on the floor. That’s where we are as a team — that’s what we need.”
Notably, local Jazz icon and former All-Star Jeff Hornacek will remain as a coaching consultant.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Jazz draft pick Taylor Hendrick speaks with Danny Ainge, CEO of the Utah Jazz, left, alongside coach Will Harding, John Collins, Jeff Hornacek and Jazz General Manager Justin Zanik during an NBA Summer League basketball game Wednesday, July 5, 2023, at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
George Rodman remains the team’s vice president of analytics and game strategy, while Becca Ward stays in her role as the team’s vice president of coaching and logistics. Anthony Beaumont is still the team’s lead video coordinator. Andrew Warren and Matthew Temple are returning assistant video coordinators, while Thomas Kithier and Brandon Robinson are new hires to that role.
“Our staff has run an incredible program this summer in terms of setting guys up for workouts — going to visit them and having people in our gym. So we’re lucky. We’re lucky that we have an energetic hungry staff that I also happen to think is incredibly bright,” Hardy said.
