http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_yl...retiring021011
Sloan resigning after clash with Williams
By Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears, Yahoo! Sports
26 minutes ago
After a 23-season Hall-of-Fame run as coach of the Utah Jazz, Jerry Sloan abruptly resigned his job on Thursday.
Sloan, 68, had agreed to a one-year contract extension in the past week but things publicly turned late Wednesday after a long meeting with Jazz general manager Kevin O’Connor following the team’s loss to the Chicago Bulls in Salt Lake City. Sloan and his longtime assistant, Phil Johnson, resigned together on Thursday. The Jazz planned a 5 p.m. ET news conference to officially make the announcement.
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Sloan’s relationship with point guard Deron Williams(notes) had grown progressively worse over the course of the season, league sources said, and the coach had tired of dealing with the team’s best player. The frustration escalated on Wednesday night when Sloan and Williams clashed in the locker room at halftime.
“He decided right there in halftime that he was done,” a league source told Yahoo! Sports. “He felt like ownership was listening more to Williams than they were to him anymore. He was done.”
One source said Sloan had become tired of Williams “blaming everything on everyone else.” Still, Williams, who can become a free agent in the summer of 2012, has remained the Jazz’s best and most consistent player after the departure of several key teammates. Williams has always had a reputation for wanting to win badly and being a strong leader.
Assistant coach Ty Corbin, who is expected to be a candidate for other head-coaching jobs next offseason, is believed to be the heir apparent. His agent, Steve Kauffman, was still waiting to hear from Jazz officials on Thursday afternoon about the naming of Corbin as the interim coach.