The Memphis Grizzlies made Tuomas Iisalo’s stay behind the bench a permanent one by naming him the Grizzlies’ head coach on Friday.
“I have full confidence in Tuomas serving as head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies going forward,” general manager Zach Kleiman said in a statement. “Tuomas’ teams at every level have been disciplined, tenacious and connected on both ends of the floor, consistently exceeding expectations. We look forward to the same in Memphis.”
The Grizzlies fired head coach Taylor Jenkins on March 28 despite the club’s 44-29 record at the time and named Iisalo interim head coach.
Under Iisalo, the Grizzlies went 4-5, finishing 48-34 in the regular season and making the playoffs via the play-in tournament before being swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round.
Iisalo, 42, joined the Grizzlies as an assistant under Jenkins ahead of this past season. He was coming off a stint as the head coach of Paris Basketball in 2024, when he was named EuroCup Coach of the Year in his native Finland.
The hire makes him the first NBA coach born in Finland.
Iisalo, who had a 14-year professional playing career in Finland, has big shoes to fill. Jenkins, 40, is the winningest coach in Grizzlies’ franchise history with a 250-214 record with three playoff appearances since being hired in June 2019.
–Field Level Media
