Frank Layden, known around Utah for his impact in the basketball community, has died at the age of 93.
Layden passed away Wednesday, the Deseret News confirmed. ABC 4’s Wesley Ruff was the first to report the news.
The enigmatic Layden was born in Brooklyn in 1932 and began his coaching career at nearby Niagara University in New York. After eight years there, he spent 1976-79 with the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks as an assistant coach.
Soon thereafter, Layden became a well-known figure in Utah.
He was named general manager of the New Orleans Jazz in 1979, then was named head coach of the Jazz, which had then moved to Salt Lake City, in 1981.
For the next eight years, Layden was head coach and GM of Utah’s NBA franchise, as he replaced Tom Nissalke as head coach.
“Layden became one of the most famous coaches in Jazz history due to his ability to connect with his players, fans and his community,” the Jazz noted back in 2023, in honoring him as one of the franchise’s best coaches.
He was named the NBA Coach of the Year in 1984, and was also honored as the NBA Executive of the Year that same season.
Layden went 277-294 during the regular season as the Jazz’s head coach. Under Layden, Utah made the playoffs five times, reaching the conference semifinals three times.
One of his greatest accomplishments as an NBA executive with the Jazz was drafting Hall of Famers John Stockton and Karl Malone in back-to-back years, turning the franchise into a perennial playoff contender and eventually leading the Jazz to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998.
When Layden stepped away from coaching, he stayed on with Utah as an executive — serving as the team’s president and general manager — and was instrumental in hiring his replacement, the late Jerry Sloan, who led those Jazz teams to the NBA Finals.
Layden briefly made a return to coaching in the late 1990s, coaching the WNBA’s Utah Starzz in 1998 and part of 1999, before retiring.
Though he stepped away from the game at that time, Layden didn’t shy away from sharing his humor and exuberant personality in the Utah community over the past two-plus decades.
“One thing I try to emphasize is it should be fun,” he told the Deseret News in 2014. “Anything you do. If you go to school, it should be fun; if you go to work, it should be fun. And then you work and each day there should be some satisfaction that you accomplished something.”