The Utah Jazz announced today that the team has hired Jeff Watkinson as assistant coach/integrated player development and Zach Guthrie as manager of basketball strategy/technology.
For the past three seasons, Watkinson served as the strength and conditioning coach for the Atlanta Hawks (2012-15), who won a franchise-record 60 games in 2014-15 en route to the best record in the Eastern Conference. He rejoins Jazz Head Coach Quin Snyder after working with him in Atlanta (2013-14) and also at the University of Missouri (2001-06). Before working for the Hawks, Watkinson owned and operated Wat Training, where he worked with NBA players, including Pelicans guard Eric Gordon, to improve their strength, conditioning and basketball development skills. Prior to the NBA, Watkinson served as the head strength and conditioning coach at Indiana University from 2006-10, after holding similar positions at Missouri, Clemson, Charlotte and College of Charleston.
A native of Chicago, Watkinson began his studies in 1989 at Kishwaukee College in Malta, Ill., where he earned an associate’s degree in pre-medicine. He then received a baseball scholarship to attend North Carolina State, where he played for two years and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in pre-medicine in 1993. Watkinson went on to earn a master’s degree in exercise science from Indiana in 1996.
Guthrie arrives in Utah after spending three years with the Orlando Magic as the manager of advanced scouting from 2012-15. Prior to his time in Orlando, Guthrie spent two seasons with the San Antonio Spurs, ascending to the role of assistant video coordinator.
Guthrie got his start as a basketball operations intern with the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League in 2007, where he worked closely under Coach Snyder, then the Toros’ head coach. The San Antonio native graduated in 2010 from the University of Texas with a bachelor’s degree in business.
