No, this blog has nothing to do with super-hot former UA swimmer Amanda Beard, but I had to get your attention somehow, and admit it, it worked.
Now lets get to the real point of this post... Zona's coaching carousel. Let's face it, Arizona Basketball was widely seen as a disaster this last season, and to some it still is, mainly due to the whole Lute leaving/O'Neill stepping in, getting the promise to the keys to the program after Lute retires thing. To call the actual season a disaster is a bit overly-dramatic, seeing how we managed to uphold the longest active streak of tournament appearances in the nation (24) despite the lack of the Silver Fox, a bench so shallow it made the Clippers look stacked, and mid-season injuries. It was really the off-season that was a disaster. Lute Olson promptly announced he was going to return to take the helm for the 08-09 season, soon thereafter declaring a small war on the media and announcing to everyone's surprise (yes, even AD Jim Livengood) that he no longer wanted Kevin O'Neill anywhere on the basketball staff, thus getting O'Neill banished to a fundraising role. This may have been great news for many die-hard 'Zona basketball fans because of the promise given to O'Neill that he would succeed Olson, but this didn't help U of A's national image, and even hurt its standing with some recruits, but we'll talk more about that later. Then in July, O'Neill finally received the coaching offer he had been waiting for (which was really any coaching offer) and quickly jetted to join Marc Iavaroni's Memphis Grizzlies coaching staff. So, One coach down, two to go.
Not too long after the O'Neill incident, it was announced that Lute was going to hire Russ Pennell, a former coach at ASU and most recently a coach on the AAU circuit. Soon thereafter Miles Simon, MOP of the 1997 Championship, found out that his contract was not to be renewed, or in other words, he was being fired. Disappointed and confused, he naturally decided to talk to his boss, the very man who coached him and offered him a job on the bench, only to find out that Lute apparently had no idea what he was talking about, saying it was completely Livengood's doing. Now whether one believes Lute had something to do with it or not, it once again did not reflect well on the program's reputation, and Simon also did not take it well stating he felt unsatisfied with the way the situation was handled. And then there was one.
Reports then begun to circulate that Lute was going to bring in an old friend of his; Denver Nuggets Assistant Mike Dunlap, who had also worked as a head coach in Australia for a number of years and a successful coach at Metro State in Denver. Not gonna lie, i was really impressed, it was one of the few productive things Lute had done since returning to his post, I mean the guy has experience on both the college and NBA level, as well as great international recruiting connections. Don't get too excited, let the bubble-bursting proceed.
This next coaching change was as hard for me as it was for anyone die-hard Arizona basketball fan. Many remember Josh Pastner as the energetic walk-on/cheerleader on the National Championship winning team, much like our David Bagga, only that Pastner went on to work for the athletic department, and soon thereafter got a coaching job on Lute's staff. He quickly made a name for himself as one of the most tireless recruiters in college basketball, creating a Houston to Tucson recruiting pipeline, and was widely seen as one of the top up-and-coming assistants in the nation. On top of it all, he was dedicated to the Arizona program and the Tucson community, and he was one of the few Lute prodigies that really showed future promise. During the off season, he was almost immediately offered a spot on John Calipari's staff at Memphis. Although he was the only coach from the previous season's staff that had been offered a spot on the upcoming staff, it was easy to see that Lute was revamping, and with the addition of the new coaches, it had become obvious that he would be bumped to the bottom of the bench. This, coupled with the opportunity to work with what is currently one of the best college basketball programs in the nation was too much to pass up. Pastner, however, thought about it long and hard (even though I'm pretty sure everyone knew he was gonna book it, after all, why wouldn't he?), and even though he decided to go to Memphis, he took advantage of every last minute as a Wildcat, welcoming recruits and making his presence known, sporting an Arizona shirt around the 2008 Tucson Cactus Classic.
Well, by the end of the weekend, he was gone, and talks of his replacement had already begun, soon ending with the selection of Reggie Geary. That selection was a "meh" selection to me... in other words, although he had coached under Lute before, and in the D-League, he feels like just another end of the bench coach to me.
Sure, that brings us to 0-3 for the '07-'08 coaching staff, but I think we're in pretty capable hands with the three new guys. I'm really more curious to see how the new, "revamped" Lute will fare this season.
Note: We'll cover the impacts these moves had on recruiting, and the apparent new Tucson-Tennessee pipeline in upcoming posts.
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