Hardy Had Long Path From Bees Intern To Jazz Head Coach
Jul 5, 2022, 1:56 PM | Updated: 2:10 pm
New Utah Jazz head coach Will Hardy, right, hugs Utah Jazz president Jim Olson at the Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, July 5, 2022. (Photo: Kristin Murphy/Deseret News)
(Photo: Kristin Murphy/Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – Will Hardy may be new to Jazz fans, but the team’s next head coach has a long history in the state of Utah.
Hardy first came to the state more than a decade ago, but his first job wasn’t coaching the team, and some of it didn’t include basketball.
“I spent a lot of time with the Salt Lake Bees handing out flyers on the concourse, I ran the tarp during a rain delay,” Hardy said. “It was great.”
The @utahjazz officially introduced Will Hardy as head coach. 🎷🏀
"It’s an amazing opportunity and not one that I take lightly." – Hardy #TakeNote #NBA #NBATwitter @BensHoopshttps://t.co/5doR2V3yvQ
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) July 5, 2022
The new Jazz coach originally landed in Utah on a summer internship with now Jazz president Jim Olson. But unlike his new role with the team, it wasn’t always glamorous.
“One of my first days here, one of my jobs was giving tours of the arena, an arena that I’d never been in before,” Hardy joked. “So those were adventurous for sure, I was kind of learning the building as I went.”
Hardy’s days were long during his first stint in Utah. Not only was he working on his internship with Olson, but he was also recovering from a serious injury that he had suffered during his junior season at Williams College.
“I had just had surgery on my hip before my senior year,” Hardy said, “and so I had a membership to a 24-hour gym and I would come here and work in the mornings, I’d go to the Bees in the afternoon, and I go to the gym and do my rehab.”
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The internship with Olson lasted just eight weeks in Utah, but it gave Hardy an introduction to the state he would eventually call home, even if he never imagined that this was where his career would take him.
“Jim and I had a really good laugh about that the other day,” Hardy said. “It’s really crazy how life works sometimes, I think if you would’ve told either of us then that I’d be standing here today as the head coach of the Jazz, I don’t know who would have thought that was crazier, him or me.”
Hardy will be in Utah while the Jazz host the Salt Lake City Summer League and will travel to Las Vegas to watch the roster later this week.
