He’d started with the San Antonio Spurs as a “basketball operations intern” in 2010 — which, practically speaking, meant being a warm body to help players with whatever they needed on-court during morning practices and workouts, then generally doing any menial task that anyone of any consequence in the front office needed in between. It also had the benefit of allowing him to (silently) sit in on decision-making meetings and draft preps.
A year later, he became a “video room intern.” Then, after a time, the “video coordinator.” After three years of that, legendary coach Gregg Popovich called him up and told him he was now an assistant coach — one who would sit on the arena’s second row during games, behind the main bench, yes, but still. And now, finally, on that summer day in 2019, came his biggest promotion yet: one of the three coveted “front row assistant” gigs, which would make him one of Popovich’s most trusted advisors.
The team’s PR staff issued a press release to announce the day’s news, with a big, bold headline declaring:
“Spurs hire San Antonio legend Tim Duncan as assistant coach.”
Below that, in a much smaller, plainer font, came the perfunctory subhead: “Will Hardy also hired as bench assistant to Popovich.”
Hardy, known for his dry self-deprecation, found it funny, laughing and joking with some of the team’s beat writers who playfully teased him about his place in the organizational food chain.
A little less than three years later, on June 29, 2022, Hardy’s latest biggest promotion would also be made public in a press release on the same day that his team was announcing the hiring of a more well-known name into the organization.
This time, though, Hardy did not get second billing to new associate general manager David Fizdale.
No, this time, the announcement of Hardy as the head coach of the Utah Jazz got the attention it deserved.
Of course, with that increased attention comes increased scrutiny.
Why was this guy the choice of CEO Danny Ainge and general manager Justin Zanik and owner Ryan Smith to replace the departed Quin Snyder? To take the team into its next era? To be the one tasked with delivering the organization its first NBA championship?
Yes, he came with an impressive résumé, having spent more than a decade under the tutelage of Popovich, serving as an assistant coach on the gold medal-winning USA men’s basketball team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, then going through this past season as the associate head coach under Ime Udoka with the Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics.
On the other hand, he is just 34 years old, the youngest head coach in the NBA. He has only three total years on the front row, and zero previous head coaching experience on any level — unless you want to count heading up rag-tag rosters during the last few Salt Lake City and Las Vegas summer leagues.
