Utah Jazz: Sloan will return for 21st year

When the Jazz's 2008 NBA playoff run ended last month, Jerry Sloan — as is typically the case after each season concludes — declined to say for sure that he would coach yet another year.

All indications were that he would, but nothing was certain.

During a break in chores on his farm in southern Illinois, however, Sloan said Wednesday morning that he indeed would return.

In doing so, he will fulfill the final season remaining on his current contract.

"I'm planning on coming back," he said by phone, "and looking forward to it."

Last week — along with other Jazz officials, including general manager Kevin O'Connor — Sloan attended the league's annual pre-draft camp in Orlando.

He plans to return to Utah in time to attend workouts next week in advance of the June 26 NBA Draft, anxious to learn what the next year will bring.

It will be the start of a 21st season in Utah for Sloan, who is tenured with the same team longer than any other coach or manager in America's four major professional leagues — the NBA, NFL, NHL and Major League Baseball.

The decision to continue, Sloan suggested, was a relatively easy one this offseason — especially after he had time to decompress following a season in which the Jazz reached the second round of the NBA postseason before being eliminated by the Los Angeles Lakers.

"I think we have a good team, and they can get better," he said of a club that also reached the 2007 Western Conference finals.

"And I think that's their ambition, based on what we talked about when we met after the season ended."

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