Arizona Wildcats: Top 30 athletes in school history

Nov 16, 2014; Tucson, AZ, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Sean Miller and assistant coaches Damon Stoudamire and Book Richardson sit on the bench during the second half against the Cal State Northridge Matadors at McKale Center. Arizona won 86-68. Mandatory Credit: Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Most Wildcats fans would probably recognize Damon Stoudamire from sitting on the bench next to Head Coach Sean Miller during last season’s basketball games, but his history with the Wildcats goes much deeper.

Damon Stoudamire joined Sean Miller’s staff as an assistant coach at Arizona in 2013 and stayed for two seasons helping the Wildcat reach back-to-back Elite Eights. He made the tough decision last May to move back to Memphis to coach on Josh Pastner’s staff to be closer to his family and children.

Damon, a cousin of former Wildcat Salim Stoudamire, attended the University of Arizona from 1991-1995. Point guard for the Arizona Wildcats, he also played for the legendary coach, Lute Olson. Damon played alongside Khalid Reeves in his junior year and led the team to the Final Four. In his senior year, he was elected the Wildcats, team captain.

Damon was selected to the First Team All-American and the Pacific-12 Conference Player of the Year after the 1994-95 season. He was also a finalist for College Player of the Year and the 1995 Wooden Award.

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Generated 11/27/2015.

Stoudamire was drafted No. 7 in the first round by the Toronto Raptors in the 1995 NBA draft. Standing only five ft 10 in he earned the nickname “Mighty Mouse,” he also has a Mighty Mouse tattoo on his upper right arm. In his rookie year, he won NBA Rookie of the Year and NBA All-Rookie First Team honors. According to the Arizona Wildcats Hall of Fame post he also recorded some Arizona firsts:

"First in the UA career record books, at the time of his induction, for three-point field goals (272) and three-point field goal attempts (677) and second all time assist man at Arizona (663). He became the sixth player in Pac-10 history to have a triple-double when he scored 32 points to go with 14 assists and 11 rebounds versus Oregon in Tucson as a senior in 1995."

Stoudamire accumulated 11.763 points (13.4 ppg), 5,371 assists (6.1 apg), and 953 steals (1.1 spg) in his 18 year NBA career. Stoudamire played with Toronto for three seasons, then was traded to the Portland Trailblazers in 1998 and played with the Trailblazers for eight seasons. In 2005, he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies and then waived three years later when he signed and played with the San Antonio Spurts for his final season. Stoudamire played from the age of 22 to the age of 34.

After the NBA, Stoudamire took to starting a coaching career, starting out with Rice University and moving to the NBA alongside fellow Arizona Wildcat Mike Bibby’s dad, Henry Bibby.

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