Arizona Basketball: Assistant coaching changes contributed to struggles

How important were assistant coaches to the success of the Arizona Basketball program? Pretty darn important, let’s not gloss over one of the big reasons for the Cats struggled in 2018-19.

No one seems to be talking about it, but after watching all 12, Pac-12 team benches, coaches, and players, it is obvious that the loss of the Arizona Basketball assistant coaches severely impacted the overall success of the team.

I’m not going to say we know how the newer assistant coaches for Arizona Basketball did in relation to Sean Miller’s or the teams’ expectations, but it is obvious to us now, that the intensity and overall impact, were substantially less than almost all the other Pac-12 teams this year.

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Think back, ever since Emmanuel ‘Book’ Richardson was let go, the team didn’t perform as well, and the players still defend Book to this day. He was the good cop to Miller’s fiery personality. When players came out of a game, Sean could yell at them and by the time they got to Book, he would pump them up and build them back up before they sat down. He was like a dad to a lot of the players I have talked too.

Then, and this was very recently, Mark Phelps was let go for something not yet disclosed and Phelps has said he is innocent of the NCAA rules violation he is allegedly guilty of. Phelps recruited quite a few key players under Miller, and he was the first point of contact, as many highly recruited high school players have told us.

Many liked talking with coach Phelps, and over the years, they would do so regularly, Shareef O’Neal being one. Without the coach who did most of the recruiting and communication with the players on the team this season, it must have been hard to adjust, and certainly was a huge loss when it came to mid-game adjustments and advise to Miller.

Often during games, you would see Phelps actively instructing players on the bench and from the bench to the players on the court. Phelps was the head coach at Drake before he came to Arizona. And he, Book and Joe Pasternak (now Head Coach at UCSB) coached and recruited NCAA Tournament teams while at Arizona. None of these coaches were assistants for the Wildcats this season. Phelps was let go nearly half way through the season.

In June 2015, Phelps had replaced Damon Stoudamire (now Head Coach at University of the Pacific), and it’s no coincidence that many of Miller’s assistant coaches are now head coaches.

Last season, Lorenzo Romar joined the coaching staff after Joe Pasternack took a head coaching job, joining the Cats as an associate coach. Romar even had to take over as head coach for a game! He is now Head Coach at Pepperdine University and was the former head coach at Washington, as well as an assistant at UCLA.

Former Wildcat Joseph Blair, now the Rio Grand Vipers head coach (Houston Rockets affiliate G-League team) struck up great relationships while working as an assistant coach at Arizona, especially it seemed with Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. The team had to be bummed when he left. These assistant coaches are mentors and big brothers, even dad-like figures in young players’ lives, helping them keep everything together as a student-athlete.

No dig to the replacement coaches for the Cats this season, but you have to wonder if Miller still had any combination of the past coaches next to him on the bench if things may have turned out differently in the 2018-2019 season.

Look at Will Conroy, an assistant coach at Washington, Bill Walton sang his praises during the PAC-12 Tournament finals broadcast. He adds a ton to the overall success of that team, always coaching up the players while his head coach is busy with the play on the court. This helped Washington get a bid to the NCAA Tournament, without his help, the Huskies may not have had the overall development and season they had.

Watch Oregon’s assistant coaches Tony Stubblefield who is in his eighth season, Kevin McKenna who is in his eighth season and Mike Mennenga who is in his third season. When watching these coaches, you see Dana Altman, Oregon’s Head Coach doesn’t have to say much because his assistants do all the yelling, coaching and pumping up of the players on the bench.

The Ducks are extremely vocal and active during the games. Players come up to them or sit with them to get more insight on how to adjust to win. This year’s Oregon Ducks started the Pac-12 Tournament as the No. 6 seed and ended up winning the tournament to get an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Both Oregon and Washington played in the Finals of the PAC-12 Tournament this past Saturday. Coaching or lack of experience and relationships (from recruiting through committing and playing) did play a factor for the last two seasons, and it is hard to argue that it didn’t.