Arizona's Sean Miller will hire Santa Clara's Justin Gainey for his final vacant assistant coaching spot, a source told CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein.Β
Arizona's Sean Miller will hire Santa Clara's Justin Gainey as an assistant coach, per a source. Joins Mark Phelps and Danny Peters on staff.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 17, 2018
Gainey played at N.C. State under both Miller and Herb Sendek, who was leading the Wolfpack at the time. Last spring, Gainey rejoined Sendek, the former ASU coach who is known to have a strong friendship with Miller.
Santa Clara produced this video on Gainey last year:Β
Before joining Santa Clara last spring, Gainey spent three seasons on the staff at Marquette, where he worked with UA assistant coach Mark Phelps in 2014-15. Before that, Gainey coached at Appalachian State and Elon. Gainey is married with two sons.Β
Miller now has a full coaching staff, after also hiring Danny Peters of Ball State earlier this spring.
Justin Gainey spent the 2017-18 season at Santa Clara following a stint at Marquette.Β
The Wildcats were in need of two full-time assistants after their NCAA Tournament run ended in the first round. UA fired assistant coach Book Richardson last season after he was arrested as part of the FBI's sting involving college basketball; support staffer Austin Carroll replaced him for the rest of the season but was not given the job permanently.Β
Associate head coach Lorenzo Romar lasted less than a year before he was named Pepperdine's head coach.
Romar served as Miller's top assistant and was paid handsomely β $400,000 per year. It is unclear if Miller will name a new associate head coach, or change the staff's pay structure. Phelps has by far the most experience on UA's staff, and has previous head coaching experience. Phelps makes $275,000 annually.Β
