Celtics assistant Will Hardy signs contract to become the next jazz head coach

Wilhardy, an assistant coach at the Boston Celtics who helped bring the team back to the NBA Finals this season, is reported to have signed a five-year contract to become Utah Jazz’s next head coach. according to ESPN’s Adrian Voinaroski.

Once the deal is signed, Hardy steps into the void left by Quin Snyder. Quin Snyder announced in June that he would resign from that role after eight seasons.

The jazz Snyder era was a huge success, ending with an overall record of 372-264, but the team never reached the height of being a long-time candidate for the NBA Finals, often beyond the first round. I had a hard time achieving that.

At Hardy, jazz takes a familiar experience and pivots to becoming the youngest active coach in the NBA at the age of 34. Still, he has never led a team at the NBA level, but Hardy’s basketball insights are advertised at each stop on the NBA’s journey.

The 34-year-old invaded the NBA as a video intern at the San Antonio Spurs in 2010 and learned from the strongest head coach in NBA history, Gregg Popovich and his staff. Hardy became the Spurs video coordinator in 2013 and continued to feel his presence, and she played that role until 2015.

“Soon he became the head of the person I was counting on,” Popovich told The Boston Globe’s Adam Himelsbach earlier this year. Sucked into something last night, he came in and said, “Well, look, this is what they did.” He will disassemble it for me. And I said, “Oh my god, this guy is breaking things down like we are.”

Since 2015, Hardy has been promoted to the position of Popovich’s coach staff. In the final offseason, he left San Antonio for Boston and reunited with another former Spurs assistant, Ime Udoka.

The success of the partnership has made Hardy one of the most popular candidates for head coach vacancies this summer. In April, he interviewed about the position of Sacramento Kings, but the team eventually chose his experience and chose Mike Brown, a former Golden State Warriors assistant.