Grizzlies hire Tuomas Iisalo as head coach, removing interim tag after playoff sweep

The Grizzlies have their next full-time head coach after firing Taylor Jenkins in March

The Memphis Grizzlies have hired Tuomas Iisalo as their head coach, the team announced Friday. Iisalo was named the team's interim head coach at the end of March, when the Grizzlies made the surprising decision to fire Taylor Jenkins just weeks before the playoffs. Iisalo went 4-5 in his nine regular-season games as head coach, and Memphis earned the No. 8 seed in the playoff field via the Play-In Tournament. 

Memphis ended up getting swept in the first round by the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder, and enter the offseason with some important questions facing them. One of them was about the head coaching decision, but now that Iisalo has been promoted, that box can be checked off.

Iisalo, 42, was hired as a Grizzlies assistant ahead of this season, and it was his first coaching gig in the NBA. The Finnish-born Iisalo previously coached in Europe and also had a lengthy basketball playing career in Finland.

The Grizzlies finished 48-34 in the regular season, but the sweep at the hands of the Thunder showed how far they are from serious contention, as our Sam Quinn wrote last week. Star guard Ja Morant was injured in Game 3 against OKC and said after the sweep that he had the Thunder "figured out."

Morant gave Iisalo a strong show of support after the season was over, which could have played a role in him retaining the job.

"I feel like Tuomas is a good coach," Morant said. "Going into my film sessions, we're just talking about the game of basketball, seeing and hearing that he sees the same thing I see out there on the floor. I wouldn't say it has been surprising but it has been very exciting because we continue to pick each other's brain and try to find the best solution for us. 

"He's a big time competitor, how I take on my matchups, how I go about who we're playing, he does the same thing with the opposing head coach. Feel like that's all good signs in a coach. Somebody that wants to go to war with you, he holds everybody accountable, but he also instills all the confidence in you."

Iisalo is the latest interim coach to get a full-time gig. The Kings recently removed Doug Christie's interim tag and the Spurs officially named Mitch Johnson as Gregg Popovich's successor on Friday after Johnson served as San Antonio's interim coach for most of the 2024-25 season.

With the head coach figured out, the Grizzlies must now shift attention to a roster that fell short when the playoffs started. Yes, Morant was injured, but had he been healthy, the results likely wouldn't have gone much differently. The same goes for if Brandon Clarke or Jaylen Wells had been available. The fact is the Grizzlies have a strong regular-season team, not a championship-contending one, and figuring out how to get there will be the main goal this summer. 

Maybe it's not the roster at all and Iisalo will provide the necessary change at head coach to get this team over the hump. That remains to be seen, but we'll find that out in the fall when he has a whole season to lead this team.