Layden Quits as Jazz Coach : He Cites Pressure as Reason for Surprise Move

Coach Frank Layden, who was instrumental in improving the Utah Jazz from doormat to serious contender in the National Basketball Assn., resigned unexpectedly Friday, citing the pressures of the business.

Layden, 56, said that the recent heart attack of Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka, the resignation of Coach Jack Ramsay of the Indiana Pacers and the poor seasons of veteran National Football League coaches Tom Landry of Dallas, Chuck Noll of Pittsburgh and Don Shula of Miami convinced him that it was best to go out a winner.

The traffic death of Jazz player Terry Furlow and the suicide of Bill Robinzine, both in the early 1980s, and the past drug problems of John Drew also contributed to the decision, Layden said.

“You pay a big price,” he told reporters in Utah. “The sleepless nights, the pressure, it eats you alive.”

A member of the organization since it moved from New Orleans to Salt Lake City 10 years ago, Layden was named team president, replacing David Checketts, who has been president and general manager since the start of the 1987-88 season. Checketts now will solely be the general manager.

The new Jazz coach is Jerry Sloan, who played 11 years in the NBA with Washington and Chicago. He is a former Bull coach and has been a Jazz assistant since November 1984. No announcement was made on the length of his contract.

The timing of Layden’s decision was particularly surprising. The Jazz, which will play the Clippers tonight at the Sports Arena, had its best November, going 9-4. The Jazz lost to the Dallas Mavericks, 97-89, Friday night to end a 9-game home winning streak. Dallas (11-6) knocked the Jazz (11-7) out of first place in the highly competitive Midwest Division.

Layden had been coach since December 1981, the third-longest tenure in the NBA, behind only close friend Doug Moe of Denver and Pat Riley of the Lakers. He took over a team that finished 25-57 in 1981-82 and averaged 7,665 fans at home, and after signing a 10-year contract in 1983, he turned the situation around.

Last season, the Jazz finished third in the Midwest Division at 47-35, breaking the team’s 4-year-old record for victories by 2, and beat Portland in the first round of the playoffs. Utah lost to the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals but pushed the eventual champions to 7 games.

That was the franchise’s fifth straight season at .500 or better and also marked its fifth consecutive playoff berth, including a Midwest Division title in 1983-84, when Layden was named coach of the year. The Jazz also increased its average home attendance to 12,292 in 1987-88.

Layden, who compiled a 277-294 record--102-79 in the last 2-plus seasons--said he wanted to quit coaching after last season but agreed to stay for one more season.

He didn’t last that long.

“Sometimes in the NBA, you feel like a dog,” he said. “You age 7 years in 1. The pressure in the NBA is intense. It’s time to have my time.”

Layden and owner Larry H. Miller also mentioned recent incidents by abusive fans as a reason for resigning. Miller, who was tearful much of the time while he addressed reporters at Salt Lake City, said some bad scenes had soured Layden on the profession.

“After the Seattle game (Nov. 29 at Washington), fans waited around for an hour to curse at him,” Miller said.

Layden, bespectacled and rotund, had a reputation as one of the game’s funniest men, one who often poked fun at himself. But laughter was not always in his heart.

“We’re not in a dugout; the fans are right on top of us,” he said. “I’ve had people spit on me. I had a guy come up to me and say, ‘Hit me. Hit me. I’m a lawyer.’

“I think America takes all sports too seriously. There’s no dignity.

“I don’t want to happen to me what is happening to Landry and Shula. We (coaches) get dumb in one summer.

“But there have been a lot of good things, nice benefits. It’s a young man’s game. I certainly feel for a coach like Jack Ramsay. What happened to him this year would eventually happen to me.”

Miller said he was shocked when Layden said after the Nov. 30 home victory over Chicago that he planned to resign. Others within the organization expressed similar surprise Friday.

But Checketts said he was not surprised.

“When we were winning and it didn’t taste good to him, I think I saw it coming,” Checketts said.

Miller said: “This is a difficult and an emotional thing to see happen. But he’s doing it in his way and in his time. Frank says this is the best the Jazz has ever been, and I agree with him.”

Then Miller said to Layden: “In the heat of the battle, a lot of times, things get said that shouldn’t be said and things that should be said aren’t. This sounds so shallow for what you’ve done, but, thank you, Frank. You’ve been the steadying point of this franchise. The one common thread throughout has been Frank Layden.”