Who is Tuomas Iisalo, the Grizzlies’ head coach after sudden firing of Taylor Jenkins

The Memphis Grizzlies parted ways with head coach Taylor Jenkins with just nine games left to play in the regular season. Jenkins was the winningest head coach in Grizzlies history, so his successor will have big shoes to fill.

It wasn’t long after the shocking news broke that Jenkins was fired that the Grizzlies named Tuomas Iisalo as the interim head coach going forward.

Who is Tuomas Iisalo?

Iisalo was hired by the Grizzlies in July 2024 as the first assistant coach, responsible for their offense. The 42-year-old is the first Finnish-born coach in the NBA.

He previously coached in Germany in the Bundesliga and coached the Paris Basketball team in the Euroleague in the 2023-24 season. He had a successful career in Europe, with accolades and championships in the EuroCup, FIBA Basketball Champions League, and German League.

Tuomas Iisalo accolades as head coach:

• Paris Basketball
  • EuroCup: 2023–24
  • French League Cup: 2024
  • LNB Pro A runner-up: 2023–24
• Telekom Baskets Bonn
  • Champions League: 2022–23
  • Bundesliga runner-up: 2022–23
• Crailsheim Merlins
  • ProA runner-up: 2016–17, 2017–18

Iisalo also had a successful playing career when he was a shooting guard for 14 seasons in Finland. He won the 2009 Finnish Cup. After he retired from playing, he immediately began his coaching journey with Tapiolan Honka as the team’s head coach in the 2015 season.

He moved to Germany the following year to coach Crailsheim. In his five seasons as their head coach, he led the team from second division to a fifth-place finish in the top league in the 2020-21 season.

In 2021, he signed a two-year deal as the head coach of Telekom Baskets Bonn in Germany. He led them to third place in the league and a FIBA Champions League victory in 2023. He was named German League Coach of the Year in both 2022 and 2023.

He has an intense coaching style that players seem to like, as six followed him from Bonn to Paris in 2023. He’s now being tasked with helping the Grizzlies adjust to the new change and taking them on a postseason run in less than two weeks time.

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