The one job in professional that is as cutthroat as any today is the head coach position. No matter how good their players may be or how good their team is from season to season, head coaches always seem to be on the hot seat as one season they could be the coach of the year and the next season unemployed.

Every now and then, there is a head coach that can defy the odds and be the face of the franchise for years or maybe even decades. In the NFL, it was the Tennessee Titans’ Jeff Fisher. With 16 seasons on the Titans’ sidelines, Fisher has been able to stand the test of time, but recently stepped down because he felt it was time to leave Tennessee.

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In the NBA, the same thing has happen as Jerry Sloan of the Utah Jazz has finally decided to call it quits. After 23 years as the head coach of the Utah Jazz and 26 years of coaching in the NBA, Jerry Sloan has decided to throw in the towel as he feels that it is time to go. Even though Sloan has been regarded as one of the best NBA head coaches of all-time, the longest tenured head coach never won the Coach of the Year or an NBA title.

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Despite not having the titles or the awards to cement his career amongst the likes of Red Auerbach and Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan has the respect of everyone in the league and retired NBA legends.

Along with always being able to get the Utah Jazz in the playoffs ever single season, Sloan has also coached some very talented players like Hall of Famers John Stockton, Karl Malone and current players like Carlos Boozer and Deron Williams.

Reportedly, the reason for Jerry Sloan’s sudden resignation was due to a dust up with his point guard Deron Williams during the loss to the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night. This was somewhat ironic as Sloan played for the Bulls in his playing days and lost to Chicago in the only two NBA Finals appearances with the Jazz.

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Like many old school head coaches that have been around forever in professional sports, they like doing things their way and only their way. It hard to argue with head coaches like Jerry Sloan as they have been so successful for such a long time, but there always comes a point in time where the old philosophy just isn’t working and the players aren’t responding.

Unfortunately for Jerry Sloan, that time came against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday and it was enough to retire from the head coaching profession after 26 years on the sidelines in the NBA.

So after 26 years of head coaching in the league, Jerry Sloan will finish his head coaching career with 1,221 wins (1,127 with the Utah Jazz) and third on the all-time wins list behind Lenny Wilkins (1,332) and Don Nelson (1,335).