Corbin fondly remembers coach

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Mar 18, 2006 | by Tim Buckley Deseret Morning News

ATLANTA -- From the moment he met him, Jazz assistant coach Tyrone Corbin was a huge Ray Meyer fan.

Corbin, at the time a high school player from South Carolina, was recruited by Meyer to DePaul University in Chicago.

"You're thinking of Ray Meyer, and DePaul University, and how big he was," Corbin recalled, "and he just sat down and started talking like he's one of the guys.

"He was just a nice guy."

It was that way until the end, said Corbin, who fondly remembered his former coach after Meyer died Friday at the age of 92.

"He was the kind of guy that if you had an issue with anything, you could always go and talk to him about it," said Corbin, who played four years at DePaul in the early 1980s, including three under Ray Meyer and one for his successor and son Joey Meyer.

"You would think, sometimes, when you get these big-time head coaches, they don't have time for the players and their issues. He always had time for it. Whatever it was -- if you had a problem in class, if you had a problem at home, he wanted to know, because he'd give you advice on it or some of his wisdom. He was always willing to sit down and talk to you about it, or direct you in the right direction."

More than anything, Corbin suggested, Meyer should be remembered for his long-running relationship with DePaul.

"He is DePaul basketball to me. When you think of DePaul basketball, you automatically think of Ray Meyer -- and rightfully so, because he's done so much for the university," said Corbin, who also played three seasons for the Jazz during his 15-year NBA career. "He loved that school. I mean, everything he talked about was about DePaul University."

JACKSON GOES NETWORK: Ex-Jazz point guard Mark Jackson is joining the pre-game studio cast for ABC's Sunday coverage of NBA games, the network announced.

He will team with former Chicago Bulls star Scottie Pippen on the show, which will be hosted by longtime ESPN anchor and sports-talk radio host Dan Patrick.

Jackson played 17 NBA seasons, including one in Utah. He will remain as analyst on the YES Network's telecasts of New Jersey Nets games.

MISC.: With Jazz coach Jerry Sloan shortening his bench for a playoff push, center Greg Ostertag, guard Milt Palacio, forward Kris Humphries and guard C.J. Miles did not play (coach's decision) in Friday's win at Atlanta . . . Miles, a rookie second-round draft pick, turns 19 today . . . Josh Childress played 24 minutes off the bench for the Hawks in his fifth game back after missing five straight with a sprained ankle . . . More than 50 friends and family members of Jazz forward Matt Harpring, an Atlanta-area native who played locally at Georgia Tech, watched Friday's game from a private sky box at Philips Arena.

E-mail: tbuckley@desnews.com