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The Arizona Wildcats are hiring Riccardo ‘Ricky’ Fois as an assistant coach, according to Stadium’s Jeff Goodman.
Fois, 34, has spent the last two seasons in a player development role for the Phoenix Suns and previously spent five seasons working with UA head coach Tommy Lloyd at Gonzaga—four as the program’s director of analytics.
Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd is hiring Ricky Fois as an assistant coach, sources told @Stadium. Fois is from Italy, worked on Mark Few’s staff for 5 years & was with Phoenix Suns last two years in a player development role. Fois knows Lloyd’s system and can recruit internationally.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) August 22, 2021
Prior to Gonzaga, Fois was a graduate assistant at Pepperdine from 2012-14. The Italy native played for the Waves in 2008 before going pro in his home country for a few years.
The Wildcats still have one more assistant coaching vacancy to fill now that Jason Terry is leaving to lead the Denver Nuggets’ G League team, and Goodman says Arizona will likely target an experienced coach for that role.
Most of Lloyd’s hires so far have had Gonzaga connections, including director of scouting Ken Nakagawa, director of player development Rem Bakamus, and recruiting coordinator TJ Benson.
Look for Tommy Lloyd to target an experienced assistant to replace Jason Terry, who took a G-League head coaching gig. https://t.co/tABaMJ2Zim
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) August 22, 2021