Utah Jazz: Smooth transition at 1-year point in coaching change of guard

SALT LAKE CITY — A year ago today, Tyrone Corbin received a phone call that set in motion a life-changing day.

One minute, he was at home faithfully doing his assistant-coach duty of preparing a scouting report for his team's game the next night against the Phoenix Suns.

A while later — after being summoned by general manager Kevin O'Connor to meet with his basketball bosses — Corbin was unexpectedly getting his dream job.

Suddenly and surprisingly, Hall of Famer Jerry Sloan was out as head coach after 23 years — and Corbin was in.

"It was a whirlwind," he admitted.

Nitty-gritty details behind why Sloan abruptly left haven't been fully divulged — and perhaps never will.

Yes, there had been a halftime locker room altercation the night before — and not his first verbal sparring — with Deron Williams during the Jazz-Bulls home game on Feb. 9, 2011, and frustrations boiled over.

There was also a lot of earnest pleading by management for him to reconsider stepping down, both that night and the following morning.

Ultimately, what mattered most was that the Jazz's longtime bench boss said he was drained of energy required to do his job, and then he was gone.

End of subject.

End of one amazing era. Beginning of another hope-filled one.

"In the beginning," Corbin explained, "your mind's racing."

No wonder.

Overnight, Corbin's responsibility du jour went from prepping his team for Phoenix to replacing a living legend and steadying the organization that had just been rocked by the departures of both Sloan and his longtime assistant, Phil Johnson.

"Now," he recalled, "you've got to rally all the troops together because of the change and make sure that everybody understood that we (needed to) continue to work to get better."

Today marks the one-year anniversary of that fateful day when Sloan bid adieu and endorsed Corbin to be his replacement.