This offseason, a few familiar names popped up in the coaching turnover radar.
Four-year Arizona point guard Jason Gardner left his assistant coaching position with the Memphis Tigers to take over at IUPUI. Former interim coach Russ Pennell took the head job at Central Arkansas following an interim stint in the WNBA. And Pennell's former assistant, Mike Dunlap, joined Loyola Marymount.
So I got to wondering how many Arizona Wildcats connections are out there and created the above map. Probably could have done a better job with a less-geographically oriented flow chart, but you get the point.
Going back to the 1997 national championship season, 19 former Arizona coaches or players are in the pro or college ranks.
While the Wildcats might be known as Point Guard U, or for simply for putting bodies in the NBA, they've also made a huge impact in the coaching ranks. Seven of the 19 are head coaches in the college ranks. Nine are former players.
Let us know if there are any omissions in the comments section (and yes, we're giving Jay John the doubt up at Cal for the time being). And please forgive geographical inaccuracies. There are too many Arizona connections in the Indiana-Ohio area and in Southern California to make it super accurate.
A quick color-coded guide:
- Straight lines lead to head coaches, while dotted indicate assistant coaches.
- Red = Lute Olson disciples.
- Dark Blue = Sean Miller disciples.
- Light blue = Players turned coaches