Seven years after being fired by the University of Utah, Jim Boylen is an NBA head coach.
Boylen, 53, was promoted Monday as coach of the Chicago Bulls, after the team fired Fred Hoiberg.
Multiple outlets reported that Boylen is not being given an interim tag, and presumably will coach the Bulls at least through the 2018-19 season. Boylen is “well regarded by management and ownership and has a chance to win the job permanently,” the Chicago Tribune said.
The Bulls are 5-19 this season with a six-game losing streak. Boylen's first game in charge is Tuesday at Indiana, where he landed as an assistant coach in 2011 after his four-year Ute tenure ended. Chicago will visit the Jazz on Jan. 12.
Between his stints as an NBA assistant coach that have totaled 20 seasons, Boylen worked as a Michigan State assistant and was hired by then-Utah athletic director Chris Hill as the replacement for Ray Giacoletti in 2007. Boylen posted a 69-60 record with one NCAA Tournament appearance, but a downturn to seasons of 14-17 and 13-18 in his last two years cost him his job.
“As you know, I wanted another year,” he said in a Tribune interview during his first season with Indiana. “I wanted to coach that team. It didn’t work out.”
The 2008-09 Utes earned a Mountain West co-championship and then won the conference tournament in Las Vegas behind center Luke Nevill. Utah earned a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, but lost to Arizona in the first round in Miami.
Returning to the NBA, where he was involved in two championships with Houston, Boylen joined Indiana coach Frank Vogel’s staff. After two seasons in Indianapolis, he moved to San Antonio under coach Gregg Popovich and helped the Spurs reach the NBA Finals twice, winning one.
Boylen joined the Bulls in 2015 when Hoiberg was hired.
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