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SALT LAKE CITY — When Will Hardy walked into the gym at the Zions Bank Basketball Campus practice facility on his first day as the Utah Jazz head coach, he felt everyone's gaze turn to him.
For a brief moment, he was a bit confused. Why did everybody just stop? And what were they all staring at? Then he remembered a crucial point: "Oh wait, I'm the head coach."
For someone whose first experience working for the Jazz included giving tours of Vivint Arena and being on tarp duty at Smith's Ballpark, that momentarily lapse was understandable. But after learning under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio for over a decade and then helping the Boston Celtics to the NBA Finals as an assistant, all eyes in Utah are on Hardy.
The 34-year-old first-time head coach was introduced to the media Tuesday at the Legends Club within Vivint Arena.
Utah cast a wide net during its coaching search, interviewing former head coaches and more experienced assistants, before landing on Hardy. Ainge said Hardy's "presence, his confidence, his knowledge, his basketball acumen" helped separate him from the crowded pack.
"We put him through some exercises — basketball scouting reports, player development plans — and he seemed very, very qualified; and on top of that, in his answers, he spoke my language," Ainge said.
That maturity and knowledge made it so Hardy's age (Hardy is the youngest NBA head coach) ended up being irrelevant to Ainge and the Jazz brass. Once Ainge and Justin Zanik zeroed in on the former Boston assistant, they had Jazz owners Ryan Smith and Dwyane Wade meet with Hardy. After that final interview, everyone was in agreement: Hardy was the guy.
"It was unanimous, because when we were looking at Will, you saw everything that he stands for; the way that Will has taken advantage of every single opportunity that he's had, and found opportunities that probably weren't there," Smith said. "The trajectory for Will Hardy is as far as he wants to take it."
And when it comes to him being on the younger side, Hardy doesn't think much of it.
"You know, I am 34, and I'm fine with that," he said. "So I look forward to just building these relationships, very honestly, candidly and get this process going."
During the interview process, Hardy said Ainge was open to the fact that the team was very much in transition (evidenced by Utah trading cornerstone center Rudy Gobert to Minnesota soon after the coach was hired). There are plenty of options on the table for the Jazz as the offseason continues: from retooling around Donovan Mitchell to a full on rebuild. Hardy said he doesn't really have a preference.
He won't be asking for specific players to fit a predetermined system, either.
"I think a lot of it is going to be tailored to the players, especially on the offensive end," he said of the type of basketball he will bring to Utah. "Defensively, there's always things that you believe in. But I wouldn't be doing my job if I wasn't trying to tailor what we do to our roster."
While the exact system is still up in the air, he did reveal how he plans to run the program. Hardy said he wants the Jazz to embody three words: toughness, sacrifice and passion. And he plans to practice — a lot. But that doesn't mean Quin Snyder's infamous three-hour sessions will be sticking around.
"I think in order to build habits you need to practice," he said. "I think one thing that's really interesting is that when you say the word practice, I think everybody thinks hour and a half; like 90 minutes just kind of jumps in your head. I think we need to reframe that a little bit — practice can be 30 minutes. The middle of the season can be hard; the schedule is grueling, but I think in order to build habits and to know what doing it right feels like, you need to do it full speed."
But before those kick into high gear, he wants to meet his players as people first. He plans to spend Summer League meeting with players, staff and their families to start to build relationships.
He's been in touch with most of the current Jazz roster and said the players have been receptive thus far. Hardy was on the Team USA's World Cup staff in 2019, where he coached Mitchell. He said "it was great to kind of pick up where we left off."
As for his coaching staff, he said he's open to the possibility of Snyder's assistants staying on board, too.
"There's a lot of great coaches in the NBA, and some of them are already here," he said.
One of those, the Jazz are hoping, is Hardy himself — a thought that would have seemed outright crazy over a decade ago — when the newly minted Jazz coach first worked for the organization. Before his senior year at Williams College, Hardy did a summer internship with the Jazz's business operations department.
"I would describe it as sort of your classic, 'yes man' summer internship," Hardy said of his previous stop in Salt Lake City.
He gave tours of Vivint Arena, despite not really knowing the building. His afternoons were spent at Smith's Ballpark, handing out fliers and running out the infield tarp. His boss back then? Current Jazz president Jim Olson.
"Jim and I had a really good laugh about that the other day. It's really crazy how life works sometimes," he said. "If you had 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."