SALT LAKE CITY — "I'm so glad I was able to do this, it's like a dream I didn't know that I had," said clinic participant, Amanda Money.
Over 300 coaches spent their Saturday at Zion's Bank Basketball Campus with Utah Jazz Head Coach Will Hardy and his staff. "We're members of this community first and foremost, our jobs just happen to be on TV," said Hardy, "we feel like it's very important to give the community and other basketball coaches an opportunity to be in this building."
Coaches got to meet and interact with the entire Jazz coaching staff, learning how an NBA team operates. "We enjoy taking some time out of our schedule to pass down any knowledge that may help," said Jazz assistant coach Andrew Warren.
West High boys basketball head coach Mason DuPaix said, "They're breaking down a lot of good stuff, how to run a defense, how to run an offense, how to have a good team culture."
American Fork Junior Jazz coach, Seth Brockbank added, "It's really cool, these guys are obviously coaching for the Jazz, so to have the opportunity where talking to them they're like 'okay what age are you coaching at?' and they kind of simplify it."
Warren has been on the Jazz coaching staff since 2024 and credits fundamentals early as a key to success on the hardwood. "One of the questions is, like teaching the young kids, 'are these good habits or mechanics to teach younger kids?' and I say 'yes' because if they do a good job and give the younger kids a good foundation, it's going to help the kids as they get older, which if they make it to the NBA and they come see us, it'll make our job easier as coaches," said Warren.
This is the 3rd Utah Coaches Collective Clinic hosted by Hardy and his staff. "I think this is the coolest thing, I can't believe I didn't know that this was going on for the last couple years, but it's here, they're taking 4-5 hours out of their day to set this thing up," said Brockbank.
Hardy adds, "This organization has been kind of the centerpiece of this community for a long, long time, we want to keep that going."
