That's because while he loves hustle and hard work, he doesn't love being honored or hullabaloo about himself. And the latter happened way too much for his liking this past fall when the media, the Jazz organization and fans had a heyday with the anniversary of his two-decade tenure and the millennium milestone in wins as Utah's bench boss.

In case you still need to send him a belated congratulations card, here are the two dates that mattered most for the longest-tenured coach in U.S. pro sports:

Nov. 7, 2008: Jazz beat Oklahoma City Thunder 104-97 to give Sloan his 1,000th win as the franchise's head coach — a feat no other NBA coach had ever accomplished.

To paraphrase Sloan's response: "(Grumble.) $#%#*!. I don't care. (Grumble.) It's about the players, not me. (Grumble.)"

Dec. 9, 2008: Jazz game — which happened to be a thrilling come-from-behind win at Minnesota — comes 20 years to the date after Sloan replaced Frank Layden as head coach of the Jazz in '88.

To paraphrase Sloan's response: "(Grumble.) $#%#*!. I don't care. (Grumble.) It's about the players, not me. (Grumble.)"

7. Arena football: Season goes down in a Blaze

The coffers half-full news is that the Utah Blaze can't repeat their 0-9 start to the '08 season next year. The coffers half-empty news is that the Blaze and the rest of the Arena Football League will go oh-fer the entire season next year.

The nationwide economic recession resulted in a leaguewide operation secession of the '09 season by AFL owners, including Blaze owners/auto dealers John and Robert Garff. And that, despite the league's players agreeing to cut their salary caps from $2 million to $1.4 million per team.

At least that nine-game losing streak isn't the Blaze's last memory. Utah bounced back from that rough start and actually made its firstr trip to the postseason.

The Blaze can only hope it wasn't their last visit — or shot.

8. Utah State football: Guy's out, Gary's in

Eight children might've been enough, but eight wins in four years was not enough for Brent Guy to keep his job as Utah State's football coach. He was Donald Trumped by the Aggies in November. His players then gave him a nice parting gift by crushing New Mexico State 47-2 in the unofficial "Which Aggies Are The Worst Bowl."

Hand it to Guy, though. He did have the Aggies improving every year. They were well on their way to a 12-0 season in 2018 after going from 1-11 in 2006, to 2-10 in '07, to 3-9 this past year.

It'll be up to Gary Andersen, Utah's defensive coordinator, to try to keep that level of improvement up.

9a. BYU basketball: Cougar cagers conquer MWC (but postseason spoils fun)