Ex-Jazz Coach Headed For WNBA

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

July 27, 1998 / 9:15 PM EDT / CBS Sportsline

Some say Frank Layden saved the Utah Jazz. Now he'll try to do the same for the team's WNBA counterpart.

Layden, a former NBA Coach of the Year with the Jazz, was hired on Monday to coach the Utah Starzz. He replaces Denise Taylor, who was fired after compiling a 13-34 overall record, including a 6-13 mark this year.

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"There's been a void in my life since I left coaching," said Layden, who stepped down from the Jazz in November 1988 after parts of eight seasons as coach. "I miss the competitive spirit."

The popular Layden debuted on Monday against the Phoenix Mercury. Layden will retain his position as president of the Jazz, but he stressed that his new job was not temporary.

"This is not an interim position," Layden said. "This is a position I plan to hold for a long time to come."

Layden, 66, has never coached women's basketball, but he has been the color commentator on Starzz television broadcasts this season. He retained Fred Williams, Taylor's assistant and a former head coach of the women's team at Southern California, as his associate coach.

"Our organization doesn't make many changes, as you know," said Jazz and Starzz vice president of basketball operations Scott Layden, who also happens to be his new coach's son. "But in my mind, we've got the best coach in the world."

Taylor's firing came as no surprise in Utah, where attendance has dropped as the team struggled despite the presence of 7-foot-2 Margo Dydek and a talented group of players.

All told, the Starzz have the world's tallest player in Dydek, an all-WNBA second-teamer in Wendy Palmer, the MVP at this summer's World Championships in Russian Elena Baranova and a deep backcourt.

They also have the worst franchise record of any of the WNBA's original eight teams. After a league-worst 7-21 season in 1997 under Taylor, the Starzz are stuck in the Western Conference basement again this year.

Taylor's dismissal came shortly after the team returned home from a 2-2 Eastern road trip. The Starzz lost to Cleveland 69-59 on Saturday despite leading the Rockers by four points in the closing minutes.

The firing is the second in the WNBA in less than a week. The Washington Mysics fired coach Jim Lewis on July 23.

Layden was named the Jazz's general manager in 1979, a month after the team announced plans to move from New Orleans to Salt Lake City. The former player, coach and athletic director at Niagara became head coach in December 1981 and quickly made Utah competitive.

The Jazz won their first Midwest Division title in 1984, and Layden was named Coach of the Year. After four more .500 or better seasons, an obese and mentally exhausted Layden relinquished the job to Jerry Sloan.

Since then, Layden has enjoyed a semi-retirement. Three years ago, at the urging of his wife, he lost more than 150 pounds and resumed an active lifestyle. The gaunt, white-haired man who took the Starzz job on Monday little resembles the man who left the NBA a decade ago.

Layden said he spoke with WNBA Commissioner Val Ackerman two years ago about joining the league as a coach with another team, but the right situation never presented itself.

"The more I was around the ladies, the more I saw of the game, I was intrigued," Layden said. "I don't know if this team is having fun right now, but I intend to have fun."