Arizona Wildcats' Sean Miller came from 'left field' to land longtime foe Lorenzo Romar as top assistant

Seven straight top-10 recruiting classes say something about Sean Miller’s persuasiveness, but this was something else all together.

The Arizona basketball coach invited Lorenzo Romar to Tucson on April 4 to meet, dine and, just maybe, see if the former Washington coach was interested in working for him.

That’s right: Miller was asking a former rival and the dean of Pac-12 head coaches — until Washington fired him last month — to be his No. 2 guy.

“He said, ‘This might be out of left field,’” Romar said.

Romar, who was formally named Arizona’s associate head coach Saturday, said he didn’t want to detail the conversations the two had in Tucson that day. But he made it clear their connection was unmistakable.

“The things he said — it was almost as if he had spoken to my wife beforehand and said, ‘OK, if we want Lorenzo, what is going to be important to him?’” Romar said. “And he said those things. When he said them, I just thought, ‘Wow. Wow.’”

Romar was sold. Arizona just had to post the job opening for 10 days, and former associate head coach Joe Pasternack had just been announced as UC Santa Barbara’s head coach earlier on April 4.

So Romar went underground for those 10 days, having decided almost immediately that working for Arizona was a better idea than waiting to see if he could get on an NBA staff or maybe become the head coach elsewhere in college.

Romar is expected to earn a mid six-figure salary at UA, which paid Pasternack $302,000 for the same role last season. Romar received a $3.2 million buyout from Washington.

Romar was 298-195 with six NCAA Tournament appearances over his 15 years at Washington, which was 9-22 overall and 2-16 in the Pac-12 last season. He said he isn’t sure if he’ll want to be a college head coach again or try the NBA, but was convinced of his next move.

“I was thinking it might be possible to get on as an assistant in the NBA or maybe talk about doing television, or be out a year, take some time off and see what happens,” Romar said. “But two things happened. One, Sean contacted me and I was very humbled he would call me because I have a lot of respect for him and the program. I thought it was very intriguing.

“And the second thing is I would have gone crazy sitting around for a year. I still wouldn’t have been part of a group. I’ve been so accustomed to being part of a group, mentoring, that I would have gone crazy sitting around. With this opportunity, I got really excited about it and my wife picked up on that.”

No doubt Miller felt the same vibe.

Miller has long spoken highly of Romar. The two came to know each other through the Pac-12 in recent years, while Romar’s background suggests he will bring an experienced touch to mentoring the Wildcats while also bringing a strong West Coast recruiting connection.

“Lorenzo’s accomplishments in this game speak for themselves, including his successful tenure as the head coach at Washington for the last 15 seasons,” Miller said in a UA statement. “However, his dedication to his players, passion for this game and impeccable character is what everybody that knows him loves about him. He will no doubt make a significant impact in all aspects of our basketball program as we continue to build and improve in all that we do.”

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Romar’s addition also drew excitement from UA leading scorer Allonzo Trier, a native of Seattle who had attended Romar’s camps since fourth grade.

“ROMAR!!!!!!!!!!” Trier tweeted Saturday.

Miller and Romar were rivals on the court and on the recruiting trail almost immediately after Miller took over the Wildcats in April 2009. Arizona won only two of its first seven games under Miller against Washington and had a particularly memorable pair of finishes in 2010-11, when Derrick Williams swatted away a potential Husky game-winner at McKale Center and Isaiah Thomas hit a buzzer-beater to beat UA in the Pac-10 Tournament.

But the coaches also came to know each other in the offseason, once squaring off for future NBA lottery pick Aaron Gordon on the recruiting trail and also coming across each other during Pac-12 meetings, Nike meetings and even at USA Basketball camps.

Miller was an assistant coach for USA’s U18 team in 2014 and the head coach of the U19 team in 2015. Romar was part of the USA Junior Team Committee, which evaluates and selects the players trying out.

“When Sean first joined the conference, I remember talking to him at Pac-12 meetings and seeing him out recruiting and welcoming him to the league,” Romar said. “I always liked the way he stayed out of everyone’s way, but the few words we had together I enjoyed. As we’d go on and play each other, we’d joke around, and he’d make comments and I think we both felt more comfortable with each other.”

However, the two coaches have differences in both philosophy and personality.

Romar’s teams at Washington were known for fearless, gambling defense that powered its up-tempo offense with turnovers; Miller prefers a packed-in defense that emphasizes keeping opponents out of the lane over gambling for steals and a slower offensive tempo.

Their personalities might be even more contrasting. Miller is known for his intense sideline manner and all-the-time, on-the-sleeve passion while Romar may appear calmer at times — even if he isn’t inside.

“I think we’re both intense and that manifests itself in different ways,” Romar said. “He’s really, really fiery out there and he is so focused because he wants it done right. You can tell he’s a perfectionist. I’m probably different. I can probably use a little more of what he brings.”

Romar said the two haven’t spoken at length about how his role will play out at Arizona, but added that he isn’t “coming in here with any ego” and wants to help wherever needed.

It’s been a while, but Romar says he’s comfortable with that sort of thing.

A point guard for Washington in the late 1970s who played in the NBA for five seasons, Romar was an assistant before and during his 21-year head coaching career, which counts the last 15 seasons at Washington, and three each at Pepperdine (1996-99) and Saint Louis (1999-2002) before that.

Romar was an assistant under Jim Harrick at UCLA in the 1990s, a part of the Bruins that won the 1995 national title, while he’s also served as an assistant coach for Tom Izzo and Rick Majerus on USA Basketball junior teams.

“With USA Basketball, I was fine with it,” Romar said. “And again, this a situation where I respect who I’m working with and the program I’m working with. I feel it could be a good marriage, and hopefully we can help each other.”