Quin Snyder steps down after eight seasons with Jazz originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
The first big domino of the Utah Jazz’s offseason has fallen.
Head coach Quin Snyder stepped down from his position, the team announced on Sunday.
“I am incredibly grateful to have spent the last eight years with such a respected and historic organization and in the beautiful, kind and supportive community of Salt Lake City,” Snyder said in a statement. …
“I strongly feel they need a new voice to continue to evolve. That’s it. No philosophical differences, no other reason. After eight years, I just feel it is the right time to move onward.”
“Quin Snyder has embodied what Jazz basketball is for the last eight years,” Jazz owner Ryan Smith said in a statement. “The tireless work ethic and attention to detail Quin displayed each day is a testament to the professional he is. I have nothing but admiration for Quin and respect his decision.”
After spending a handful of seasons as an assistant coach across the league, Snyder earned Utah’s head role ahead of the 2014-15 season. The team had a 372-264 regular season record in Snyder’s eight-year tenure and made six straight postseason appearances.
The postseason is where things have gone awry for Snyder and Co. Utah has won just one playoff series over the last four seasons. That series victory came in 2021 as the top-seeded Jazz beat the No. 8 Memphis Grizzlies in five games. The team’s postseason run came to a disastrous end in the second round as it blew a 2-0 series lead to the No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers, who lost Kawhi Leonard to a major injury midway through the series.
Utah ran it back in 2021-22 with Snyder, Donovan Mitchell and Rudy Gobert as the team’s core. The team earned the No. 5 seed in the West but had a golden opportunity to make it past the first round. The Jazz beat the No. 4 Dallas Mavericks, who were without Luka Doncic, in Game 1 of the series, but they quickly dropped the next two games. They rebounded when Doncic returned for Game 4, but Dallas closed out the series in six games.
Snyder, 55, was the fourth-most-tenured coach in the NBA, trailing the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich, Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra and Golden State Warriors’ Steve Kerr.
Now, the Jazz join the Charlotte Hornets as the only teams with a current head coaching vacancy and have plenty of decisions to make regarding their roster.
