SALT LAKE CITY (October 30, 2012) – The Utah Jazz announced today that the team has elected to exercise its option on head coach Tyrone Corbin’s contract through the 2013-14 season. Per team policy, financial terms were not released.
“Greg Miller, Randy Rigby and Kevin O’Connor made an excellent choice when they selected Tyrone Corbin to lead this team. I have been very impressed with Ty’s leadership skills, as well as his openness and collaborative nature,” said Jazz General Manager Dennis Lindsey. “He inherited a young team under difficult circumstances and did a remarkable job last season of developing our players and advancing the team to the playoffs. He has shown poise, steadiness and an overall passion for the franchise’s well-being that I am confident will serve the Jazz well moving forward.”
Corbin, who was promoted to head coach on February 10, 2011, guided the Jazz to a 36-30 (.545) record and a playoff appearance during the shortened 2011-12 season, his first full season at the helm. Under Corbin’s leadership, the team closed the season 7-2 over the final nine games to overtake both Houston and Phoenix to earn a playoff berth. Overall, Corbin has a 44-50 (.468) record as head coach entering the 2012-13 season.
Corbin is the seventh head coach in Jazz history and only the fourth since the franchise’s relocation to Utah in 1979. Corbin previously served as an assistant coach for the Jazz from 2004-2011, and prior to the 2010-11 season ranked second in voting for the NBA’s top assistant coach as selected by league general managers. Corbin served as head coach of the Jazz’s summer league entries from 2004-2010 and was one of five NBA coaches selected to coach the USA Basketball Men’s National Team Program mini-camp in 2009. Corbin joined the Jazz after spending the 2003-04 season as manager of player development for the New York Knicks. Prior to his stint with the Knicks, he spent two seasons as a player mentor for the North Charleston Lowgators of the NBA Development League.
With a basketball career spanning 30 years, Corbin has both played and coached under some of basketball’s best. In addition to seven seasons working as an assistant under Jerry Sloan and another three seasons playing for him, Corbin also played for Rick Adelman, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Pat Riley and Lenny Wilkens over 16 seasons as a player. In fact, Corbin is tied for the second-most NBA playing experience among all current NBA head coaches.
A native of Columbia, S.C., Corbin played for nine teams during a 16-year NBA career (1985-01), including three seasons with the Jazz from 1991-94, where he averaged 9.6 points and 6.2 rebounds in 233 games. Corbin appeared in a total of 1,050 games over the course of his career that included stints with San Antonio, Cleveland, Phoenix, Minnesota, Utah, Atlanta, Sacramento, Miami and Toronto. Corbin was originally drafted by San Antonio in the second round (35th pick overall) of the 1985 NBA Draft out of DePaul University, where he earned a degree in computer science during his four-year, two-time honorable mention All-American career with the Blue Demons.