Jazz Hardy, 34, Will Be NBA’s Youngest Head Coach
Jun 28, 2022, 2:06 PM | Updated: 2:37 pm
New Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)
(Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images)
SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Jazz are planning to hire Boston Celtics assistant Will Hardy as their next head coach. At just 34 years old, Hardy will be the youngest leading man in the NBA next season.
Depending on the Jazz roster movement this summer, Hardy is younger than both Mike Conley and Rudy Gay who are under contract for the team next season.
Hardy is two years younger than Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault and is the youngest head coach hired by an NBA team since Ryan Saunders was promoted to oversee the Minnesota Timberwolves full-time in 2019 as a 33-year-old.
According to multiple reports, the @utahjazz will hire @celtics assistant Will Hardy as their next head coach.
Read more about Hardy here.#TakeNote https://t.co/7vgFFqVvFZ
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) June 28, 2022
The new Jazzman is only the sixth head coach to lead the team since it moved to Utah in 1979, and the ninth coach dating back to the organization’s time in New Orleans.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Jazz have officially offered Hardy a five-year contract to coach the team.
“Will Hardy and the Jazz are finalizing a five-year contract to make him the franchise’s next coach, sources tell ESPN,” Wojnarowski tweeted. “Hardy, 34, will be the youngest active coach in the NBA.”
Hardy was a standout forward at Williams College where he led the Ephs to a 30-2 record as a senior before his team fell in the 2021 Division-III national championship game.
At 34, Will Hardy joins Lawrence Frank, George Karl, and Jeff Van Gundy as the third-youngest full-time head coaches in NBA history.
Only Minnesota Timberwolves coaches Ryan Saunders and Sidney Lowe (both 33) were younger.
— Ben Anderson (@BensHoops) June 28, 2022
After college, Hardy joined the San Antonio Spurs organization as a video intern under future Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown.
Hardy was promoted to an assistant coaching role under Gregg Popovich where he quickly moved up the Hall of Fame coach’s bench.
Last year, Hardy left the Spurs to take a leading assistant coaching position with the Celtics under first-year head coach Ime Udoka.
Previous head coaches in the Jazz organization include Scotty Robertson, Elgin Baylor, Butch van Breda Kolff, Tom Nissalke, Frank Layden, Jerry Sloan, Tyrone Corbin, and Quin Snyder.
