Jerry Sloan has been whistled for more technical fouls than anyone in NBA history, it's believed, somewhere north of 400 during his playing and coaching career. Back in his playing days, they came with a $100 or $250 fine, and throughout much of his coaching career, they cost a minimum of $500 each, sometimes more. Now they're $1,000 for the first 10 violations each season, then escalate from there.

"My price is $2,000 right now, I believe," Sloan said.

So when you multiply those sorts of penalties by the Jazz coach's legendary short temper with referees, it's entirely possible that Sloan has ponied up - gulp - a quarter of a million dollars for nothing more than using some juicy language.

At a current salary of $4.5 million per year, he can certainly afford it. But just imagine how many more John Deeres that dough could have bought.

Understandably, he'd rather not.

"I don't think about the money when I'm coaching," Sloan said. "When the game's over, then sometimes I say, 'Well, I gotta pay for that.' "

Which is fine, the coach said. He doesn't mind if it costs him money. He just hopes it doesn't cost him a game or two as well.

Detroit's Rasheed Wallace was suspended by the league over the weekend for earning his 16th technical foul of the season, part of the NBA's recent effort to curb misbehavior toward referees. The sanction was all but inevitable for the volatile veteran, who has long been a particularly consistent violator of court decorum.

But if Wallace is the current hothead hotshot, he's got nothing on the cursing career of Sloan. So the Pistons forward might have company soon. Sloan has been whistled 13 times this season, and at that rate, he could be expected to pick up four more technicals in Utah's final 20 games. Which means Sloan might only see 19 of them.

"I'll have to be more careful. Those are the rules and we all have to live with them," the coach said on the eve of his team's four-game road trip, which starts tonight in Miami (5:30 p.m., FSN Utah). "I'm trying to stay out of trouble."

Keeping Sloan on the sidelines has always been a priority for assistant coach Phil Johnson, who is quick to step in and try to calm everyone down when tempers heat up. By running interference, Johnson figures, the coach is less likely to say something that will get him ejected. "He's pretty good at it, too," Sloan said. "But sometimes I have a hair trigger."

Maybe, but Johnson intends to disarm him over the season's final five weeks. "He's not getting any more," Johnson vowed. "He's aware of the number, and I'm aware of it. It's very difficult to control when the game's going on and your competitive nature kicks in. But we're going to make sure he avoids [suspension]."

Sloan, perhaps the only NBA figure ever to receive 400 technicals (reliable records are not available before 1970), had noticeably cut down on his technicals over the past couple of seasons, receiving only 14 in the first two post-Stockton-and-Malone seasons combined. But as the Jazz have blossomed into a playoff team this season, his intensity has racheted up again, just as the league decided to crack down.

His players have noticed. "Coach is a very passionate person," center Jarron Collins said. "He's just tries hard to make sure the refs keep it fair."

"It's how you want a coach to be in games," added Andrei Kirilenko, who has earned only one technical foul in his six-year NBA career. "He fights for us."

pmiller@sltrib.com