He has hardly done it all by himself, especially recently.
But over the years -- 20 of them since he first joined the organization -- Frank Layden has had a hand in just about all that is the Jazz.Which is why leaving is so tough.
"I'm part of almost everything that has been here in Utah . . . whether it was the decision to change the uniforms, or the design of the floor, or draft picks, or what have you," said Layden, the former Jazz general manager and coach who retired last Tuesday as president of the franchise. "I had a little bit to do with all of those things. And I think about the (NBA) All-Star Game being here, the Old-Timers Game being here, the great playoff games, the first Sunday game when we beat the (Los Angeles) Lakers.
"Yeah, it's hard."
Equally challenging is the task of filling the front-office void created by Layden's retirement and the resignation just one week earlier of longtime GM Tim Howells. That is the chore that lies ahead for Jazz owner Larry H. Miller, who has given more than passing thought as to how he will go about doing it.
Miller considers Layden irreplaceable, and has no plans to name a new president. But he does envision hiring a successor to Howells, who sat above a string of six vice presidents with duties ranging from marketing, promotions and sales to finance, public relations and broadcasting.
"I think it would be similar to the way the structure was with Tim Howells," Miller said, "although . . . I do think I have to add (the question) that, 'With Frank leaving, are there some changes we want to make in the structure, since we're looking, in a sense, to
fill those two holes?'
"Do we reorganize or restructure? Is it a time to do that, or the reasons to do it? That's one we have to talk through."
Perhaps the biggest question for Jazz fans, however, is how the club's on-the-floor product will be affected. From a basketball perspective, as opposed to a business perspective, little is likely to change with the two latest absences from the Jazz front office.
But nothing's set in stone.
Layden has served as much as an ambassador as anything else in recent years, leaving day-to-day personnel matters to others. And even though the basketball department fell under Howells' command on the corporate power structure, his forte was business matters.
Decisions related to the Jazz roster have fallen in previous seasons to Layden's son, Scott, who left this past offseason to join the front office of the New York Knicks.
Now they are in the hands of Kevin O'Connor, who succeeded Scott Layden as vice president of basketball operations, and Jerry Sloan, who has stayed as head coach since being elevated from his assistant's position when Frank Layden resigned from that job back in 1988.
How O'Connor, and Sloan to a lesser degree, will be affected remains to be seen.
In most NBA organizations, the man with the title of general manager is primarily charged with overseeing the basketball product. Non-player personnel matters are dealt with separately, by business experts who are not necessarily basketball people first.
The Jazz has done it differently in the past, and these latest changes could offer an opportunity to make the front-office structure more in line with that of the rest of the league.
But how?
Make O'Connor general manager, and bring in someone else to separately oversee business matters? Bring in a basketball man above O'Connor, and make the new hire GM? Or perhaps keep all the titles the same, but move the new GM (essentially a business expert) to the side of the flow chart so that the top basketball man, O'Connor, has a more direct path to Miller's ear?
And what of Sloan, who is in his 12th season as head coach?
Well, Sloan said he has no interest whatsoever in front-office work. Miller seems to be quite high on O'Connor, diminishing the likelihood he will bring in someone above him. The likeliest scenario may be a restructuring among those already in place, with perhaps one additional business-side hire.
O'Connor just trusts Miller will do what is best, and isn't really concerned about whether or not his title will change.
"You put people in a position where they excel," O'Connor said, "and that's what Larry (Miller) does best."
Bringing the basketball operations department closer to Miller seems to make the most sense.
As is stands now, the person closest to Miller within the Jazz organization is attorney Dennis Haslam, a former Utah State Bar president who now serves as president and chief operating officer of Larry H. Miller Sports & Entertainment Division. Below Haslam was Howells, who structurally sat above the six VPs and the now O'Connor-led basketball department.
By elevating basketball to be on par with business, player personnel needs and desires can flow up and down to Miller with at least one fewer layer of formality between the owner and his basketball people.
Giving the traditional GM's title to a basketball man like O'Connor, though, could rub some Jazz long-timers the wrong way.
The six business-side VPs are an experienced bunch, and a new GM could come from them. At least some of the six, including marketing senior VP Jay Francis, apparently does have interest in becoming GM, and Miller is known to like to promote from within.
"We have this layer under him of the six vice presidents who were in place before Tim got here," Miller said of Howells, who was named GM in 1989. "They're still in place as he leaves. Same people. Not just the same structure, but the same people."
O'Connor, also a VP by title, re-joined the Jazz this past offseason after spending the last two years as director of player personnel working with Philadelphia 76ers coach Larry Brown. Previously, from 1994-97, he served as a regional scout for the Jazz. The 52-year-old former Virginia Tech, VMI, University of Colorado and UCLA assistant coach has also worked as a scout for the New Jersey Nets, Portland Trail Blazers and Los Angeles Clippers.
But even he knows his length of service with the Jazz pales in comparison to the likes of Francis (17 seasons), public relations VP David Alldred (19 seasons) and promotions/game operations VP Grant Harrison (21 seasons). The other three in the group of six are finance executive VP Robert Hyde, broadcasting VP Randy Rigby and sales VP Larry Baum.
"There's a lot of people who have been here and in place," said O'Connor, who is sensitive to their positions. "I'm just going to try to be a team player."
He may have to be patient, too, because Miller may not be in any hurry to name a new GM.
"We're about a third of the way through the season," Miller said the day Layden resigned . "And since the season's under way, and a lot of those things are in place, we're not going to rush into that. It may be that a decision will manifest in a week or two weeks, (but) we think we may go as late as the 10th or 15th of June. We're not going to delay it unnecessarily, but we're also not feeling any time pressure to make a replacement."
Frank Layden, meanwhile, is in no hurry to do much of anything these days.
He has a lot planned to fill his days as a retiree, including travel, spending time with his grandchildren and finishing a book. He won't miss the grind of regular visits to the Jazz offices, though there will be some voids.
"I think the part I will miss the most is the friendships -- you know, working with the people here," Layden said. "One thing about the Jazz is they have been very consistent in the fact they never change. I mean we have people in our front office who have been with us since I got here -- (and) now will be here longer than me.
"There's so many people who have been here so long. They become more than co-workers. They became friends. And, like any family, you have your ups and downs."
Layden just tried to make sure there was more of the former than the latter.
"I tried . . . to not be the president so much, or at the top of the organization. I tried to be part of everybody," he said. "I tried to think that when we go out on that floor at night to play a game, we owe it to a lot of people.
"Hundreds of people put us out there. The guys who put the floor down, the people that are in our operations department, the broadcasters, the ushers, the people that work in our office, the typists -- you know, it takes a lot of people to put those players out there. Now, a lot of times, the players think that they are the whole show. But, I tried to figure (it) out: It takes about 300 people, 400 people, a night to put us out there."
And now Miller must add one more new one to the mix. Or maybe just promote an old one who is already in it.