Pima College assistant womenβs basketball coach Jim Rosborough warms up the Aztecs before their game against Frank Phillips College on Dec. 30. Lute Olsonβs longtime assistant now assists Pima coach Todd Holthaus.
Jim Rosborough, seen coaching the Wildcats in 2004, says basketball will forever be a part of him. βIt gets in your blood and you canβt stop it,β he says.
Itβs been more than five decades since Jim Rosborough coached his first game β way back in 1970 for mighty Corkery Junior High β and he just canβt stop.
Heβs infected with basketball.
βIt gets in your blood and you canβt stop it,β said Rosborough, Lute Olsonβs top lieutenant for decades. βIβd bet you, wherever (former Purdue head coach) Gene Keady is, heβs watching the game and diagnosing it. At my age, which is quite a bit older than you or even your grandparents, I know I have a limited number of years left. But I love the process. I love the girls, coaching them and their response and wanting to get better.β
Rosborough has served as Todd Holthausβ assistant for the Pima College womenβs team since 2015, helping the Aztecs reach an unprecedented level of success.
There have been other stops β including a stint as Arizonaβs assistant womenβs tennis coach from 2010-2014 β but the longtime Arizona assistant still has a need to impart his wisdom.
βOut here with these girls, weβre a Division II community college, and we donβt have full scholarships, and to see these kids come in and develop and work, every single day?β he said. βWe do shooting drills, and finally it clicks, and I find that as rewarding as anything. I wonβt kid you, I like winning β I want a chance to go to a national tournament and it irritates me to lose β but to see that lightbulb on something weβve been working on time and time again, thatβs the best.
βYou give the kids the chance to feel good about themselves, and if they feel good, they play well.β
Rosborough and his wife, Kim β who runs an interior design firm in Tucson β remain active Tucson denizens, long after his tenure with the Wildcats. They often go to local plays, and to the museums; Kim is involved in her sorority at UA.
But basketball still runs through Rosboroughβs blood, and heβll be coaching the game just as long as he can.
βI made my first basket in my driveway at 3 years old,β he said. βItβs been there for a long time. You canβt get over it, period.β
Photos: Arizona vs. Kentucky in the 1997 NCAA Championship Game