During a recruiting event in Florida a few years ago, Arizona associate head coach Jack Murphy introduced former Northern Arizona University subordinate Brandon Chappell to UA coach Tommy Lloyd before abruptly heading to another gym.
That was enough.
“Tommy knew Brandon worked for me, and those guys kind of just hung out,” Murphy said Monday, after Arizona announced Chappell would be a new assistant coach. "I remember Tommy coming back later on and saying 'Hey, look, if we ever have an opening in the future, you’ve got to stay on me, because I really liked Brandon.'
“So this wasn’t something where we were talking every day about it, but you just never know in this business. I think that when all this came about, Brandon was at the top of coach's mind.”
What came about for the Wildcats this spring was the retirement of assistant coach Steve Robinson after a 42-year college basketball coaching career, prompting Lloyd to make Chappell his first outside assistant coach hire since he assembled his initial UA staff in 2021.
Chappell, 41, has spent the past 12 seasons in college coaching after playing five seasons at Lamar through 2007 and another five in Germany through 2012. His coaching career includes a two-year NAU stint under Murphy and the past three seasons at Texas under head coach Rodney Terry, who was fired after the 2024-25 season.
Former Texas assistant coach Brandon Chappell
“It is exciting to welcome Brandon and his family to the Arizona basketball family,” Lloyd said in a statement. “He is a high-character person that brings energy and enthusiasm every day that makes those around him want to strive for more. He will fit in great with the culture that we have built.”
Lloyd’s staff essentially had zero turnover until assistant Riccardo Fois left to become an assistant with the Sacramento Kings, but Lloyd elevated special assistant TJ Benson into Fois’ spot before last season.
This time, Lloyd turned to Chappell, who hit the open market after former UA coach Sean Miller took over the Longhorns.
In a series of coincidences, Miller had coached Xavier past Texas in the 2025 NCAA Tournament First Four just before the Longhorns fired Terry and hired him, then Miller hired three assistants with UA ties (Ryan Anderson, Adam Cohen and David Miller) to join him at Texas but did not retain Chappell.
Miller was also the same coach who hired Murphy away from NAU in 2019 to become UA's associate head coach, while Murphy stuck around in 2021 to join Lloyd's staff ... where he will now rejoin Chappell.
“I think Sean might have had ideas about his staff, but Brandon had other opportunities,” Murphy said. “I think he felt good about this chance, and Brandon's done a great job at his young age, working at the highest level.”
While Chappell wasn’t immediately available for comment Monday, he said in a UA statement that he was “incredibly grateful” for the chance to join Lloyd’s staff.
“It's an honor to be part of such a storied program with a championship tradition, passionate fan support and a standard of excellence that few programs in the country can match,” Chappell said. “I'm excited to get to work and help our student-athletes grow on and off the court.”
A decade earlier, Murphy said, Chappell helped NAU’s players develop and did just about everything else. Chappell began his coaching career in 2013-14 as an assistant coach for Division II Armstrong State of Georgia, then joined Murphy as a graduate assistant in 2014-15.
“He was involved in every facet of the program, on campus, recruiting, talking with players, player relationships,” Murphy said. “He would work as hard as anybody. He was an integral part of our team success and his first year with me, we won the most games (23) in school history.”
Chappell (pronounced shuh-PELL) left NAU in 2016 after completing a postgraduate educational leadership program, becoming a fulltime assistant coach at Arkansas-Fort Smith in 2016-17 and at Lamar for the following four seasons.
In 2021-22, Chappell joined the UNLV staff as an assistant before joining Terry in 2022-23, when the Longhorns won the Big 12 tournament title and reached the Elite Eight. Texas also reached the NCAA Tournament in 2023-24 and 2024-25.
Throughout all of Chappell's stops, Murphy said he stayed in close touch before the two had a memorable chance to chat in person Monday when Murphy picked him up at a Tucson hotel to begin his job orientation.
While driving “from the hotel down the campus, we called a couple of our former NAU guys, and they were so excited that Brandon's here at Arizona,” Murphy said. “They like me, but they love Brandon.
“That says a lot about Brandon and it says a lot about them, too. We're kind of a family from those NAU days and Brandon's a big part of it.”
Welcome to the family Coach Chappell 🐻⬇️ pic.twitter.com/xRryF2DnY6
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) May 5, 2025
Brandon Chappell
Age: 41
Hometown: Beaumont, Texas
Education: Lamar, business administration (2006); NAU educational leadership masters (2016)
College career: Lamar (2003-07)
Pro career:
BBC Bayreuth, Germany (2007-08)
TV Langen, Germany (2008-10)
Licher Baeren, Germany (2010-12)
Coaching career:
Texas, assistant coach (2022-25)
UNLV, assistant coach (2021-22)
Lamar, assistant coach (2017-21)
Arkansas-Fort Smith, assistant coach (2016-17)
NAU, graduate assistant/recruiting coordinator (2014-16)
Armstrong State, assistant coach (2013-14)
