Joe Pasternack is 11th UA assistant to become head coach

When former Arizona assistant coach Joe Pasternack became the head coach at UC Santa Barbara last week, he joined a long list of 11 other ex-UA assistants who left Tucson for their own gigs. It’s not foolproof. Five of those who took Division I head coaching jobs didn’t survive the first assignment. Jay John was fired at Oregon State; Phil Johnson at San Jose State; Rodney Tention at Loyola Marymount; and Ken Burmeister at UTSA. Four more didn’t remain head coaches over the long haul: Ricky Byrdsong was fired at Northwestern; Jessie Evans was fired at USF; Scott Thompson at Wichita State; and Kevin O’Neill job-hopped for 20 years. Only Indiana’s Archie Miller and Ball State’s James Whitford remain Division I head coaches; Burmeister is the head coach at University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. 

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