The Jazz continue to add names to their wide-reaching list of coaching candidates, requesting permission to interview three more assistants around the league, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Utah has reportedly submitted requests to speak to Heat assistant Chris Quinn, Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin and Suns assistant Kevin Young about the team’s current coaching vacancy, per Wojnarowski.
The Jazz have cast a wide net in the early parts of their search for a new coach following the resignation of Quin Snyder earlier this week. Wojnarowski reported that former Lakers head coach Frank Vogel was among those expected to receive an interview in Utah after his dismissal from the L.A. franchise earlier this offseason.
Jazz assistants Alex Jensen and Lamar Skeeter, Knicks assistant Johnnie Bryant, Celtics assistants Will Hardy and Joe Mazzulla, Bucks assistant Charles Lee and former Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts are also on the initial list of candidates for the job, per Wojnarowski.
Although it’s still early in the process, the new Jazz coach will inevitably face a tall task in taking over the team. Utah finished this past season at 49–33 and was knocked out of the first round of the playoffs. The franchise has made the postseason six years in a row but has never made it past the second round in that span.
On top of the team’s middling finishes, a new coach may have to deal with an increasingly disgruntled star in Donovan Mitchell. According to Wojnarowski, the 25-year-old guard was left “surprised and disappointed,” by Snyder’s resignation and is described to be “unsettled, unnerved and wondering what it means for the franchise’s future.”
Balancing an increasingly frustrated front office and fanbase will be difficult for any of the aforementioned candidates on the Jazz’s early list. However, it’s possible that a new leader in the locker room could be exactly what Utah needs to take the next step toward contending in the Western Conference.
