Utah Jazz: Tyrone Corbin says he's ready to be head coach

SALT LAKE CITY — Tyrone Corbin finally realized his dream of becoming a head coach in the National Basketball Association on Thursday afternoon, and after the long wait it only felt bittersweet.

That's because Corbin replaced his friend and coaching mentor after Jerry Sloan unexpectedly resigned as the Utah Jazz's head coach. Corbin, 48, found out shortly after noon on Thursday that Sloan — after a night to sleep on it following an emotional loss to the Chicago Bulls — was resigning and he was his replacement.

"It's difficult," Corbin said. "I'm not only a former player for him, but I consider him a great friend. I worked for him the last seven years, learning from him and just watching him work and doing the things he's done with the consistency he has about his life and his job. To see him leave now like this, it's bittersweet to me. I wish him nothing but the best, and I hope he'll be happy and enjoy the rest of his life."

While he has mixed emotions about replacing Sloan, everyone in the Jazz organization can agree on one thing about Corbin — he's ready. "I am ready," Corbin said. "I've had tutelage from two of the greats in the game (Sloan and Phil Johnson) the last seven years. I'm ready for the opportunity."

Corbin has been a candidate to fill a handful of other head coaching vacancies the last few offseasons. He interviewed with the New Orleans Hornets last offseason before they hired Monty Williams. In past offseasons, he interviewed for vacancies in Chicago, Phoenix and Seattle before the franchise moved to Oklahoma City.

"People forget he played 16 years in the league so that's certainly a lot of groundwork to it," said Jazz general manager Kevin O'Connor. "He spent some time in New York (as manager of player development for the Knicks). He's ready to be a head coach. I think you can judge by the number of interviews that he's had. Normally you interview the first assistant and that was Phil here. He was getting interviews for head coaching jobs when he was second or whatever you want to call him. He wasn't sitting next to Coach (Sloan); Phil was. So that says a lot for him."

"He'll do it differently," O'Connor adds. "He might even smile."

Corbin realizes he has a lot of work to do to make the atmosphere around the Jazz happy and harmonious again.