Ivaroni to be named Grizzlies Coach

[houstonbrave]

The reports indicate that Mark Ivaroni will be named the Memphis Grizzlies head coach. With Jerry West headed out of town as the GM what are Tony Barone and JJ likely to do ?? Any rumors ? I thought JJ might have been a candidate for one of our assistant coaching jobs.

[Da Coach]

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/grizzlies/2007-05-31-iavaroni-coach_N.htm

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2887293

It sounds like the Memphis owner and management people want to get a clean start with this hiring. I expect Tony, JJ and most of the people hired under Versace to be out. Probably the only one left will be Dana Davis, who is well liked by the owner and does a good job there.
He has been described as "irreplaceable"--

http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/grizzlies/article/0,1426,MCA_475_5439806,00.html

Marc Iavaroni, as some will recall, is an old friend and former teammate of Jim Les. They were teammates on the 1988-89 Utah Jazz. That was Jim Les' first season in the NBA, and was Iavaroni's last season.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/lesji01.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/i/iavarma01.html

Another strong NBA connection for coach Les. I expect to see him working for an NBA team somewhere in the future. Hopefully not too soon.