Utah Jazz notebook: Utah Flash coach Jones gets one-year deal

Coming off of a trip to the D-League Finals, the Utah Flash will get their head coach back for another year.

Brad Jones, the Flash's coach for their first two seasons, agreed to a one-year deal with the Utah Jazz's affiliate in Orem.

The former Jazz scout is anxious to build on the Flash's success of last season when Utah improved its record by 10 wins, going 32-18 en route to advancing to the championship round.

"I enjoy working in the D-League and with the Flash. We have some great talent on the team, and that makes my job easier," Jones said in a statement released by his organization. "We had a good year last year and hope to build on that success this coming season."

Terms of the contract were not released by the team.

"Coach Jones was our pick from day one," Flash owner Brandt Andersen said. "And after last year's success, it makes perfect sense to bring him back."

The team also officially announced — as was reported earlier this summer by the Deseret News — that Dale Osbourne is leaving his Flash assistant position to take on a new role. After two years with the Flash, Osbourne will be on the Oklahoma City Thunder's coaching staff this season.

"We will miss Dale and the energy and excitement he brought to the team," Flash president Joe Brown said. "But we wish him the best of luck, on those nights he is not playing us."

INT'L MAN OF MYSTERY: After a promising start with his national team, Kyrylo Fesenko has suddenly become missing in action for Ukraine during the country's European relegation round.

In fact, Fesenko's stat line from Ukraine's game Thursday — a 77-69 win over Hungary that evened the country's tourney record to 2-2 — was similar to many of his games with the Utah Jazz. Meaning, of course, he didn't play.

The report on EuroBasket2009.org didn't specify why, but the 7-1 center, who will return for a third season with the Jazz this fall, did not play at all against Hungary. And that was coming off a nine-minute performance against the Czech Republic earlier in the week when he only scored two points and grabbed one rebound.

In the first two games — against Hungary and Estonia — Fesenko averaged 10 points and 6.5 rebounds in 24 minutes.