After suffering a significant knee injury early last season, former Arizona forward Ryan Anderson has decided to begin his coaching career by returningΒ to the Wildcats as a graduate assistant for the upcoming season.
Anderson, 28, moved to Tucson last spring and has been spending time with the Wildcats while taking classes and applying to the Eller College of Management. He said he was accepted last month and will pursue a master's degree in entrepreneurship, clinching his decision to take the GA job.
Anderson told the Star on Thursday that UA coach Tommy Lloyd extended him an offer to join the team as a GA, adding that he and his Lithuanian club came to a mutual agreement to pass on the final year he was under contract for.
"It's hard to walk away from the game when you know you can still play at a high level, and you have probably more you can prove," Anderson said. "But I couldn't pass up the chance to come here and learn from coach Lloyd and the other great coaches here."
A product of Los Angeles, Anderson became first-teamΒ all-Pac-12 pick for the Wildcats in 2015-16Β after transferring fro Boston College in 2014 and sitting out the 2014-15 season in Tucson while rehabilitating a shoulderΒ injury.
Anderson went on to a pro career thatΒ included stops in Belgium, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg and Ukraine. He also spent the 2018-19 season in the G League.
But last October, Anderson suffered a serious knee injury early in a game while playing for his new Lithuanian club, BC Siauliai.
Terrible news for BC Siauliai, as Ryan Anderson looks to have sustained a very serious knee injury just 25 seconds into their game vs CBet Prienai. Anderson was one of team leaders up to this point, averaging 14,7 PTS and 8,7 REB.Get well soon, Ryan!@betsafeLKL
— Magic Jordan (@dogtheballer) October 4, 2020
According to a translation of the club's official game story, "the American injured his knee while striking the basket. The middle striker did not get off the parquet for a while, and was later taken out in a wheelchair by medics."
Anderson expressed frustration on Twitter afterward.
I just donβt understand...I really donβt
— Ryan Anderson (@M12terAnderson) October 4, 2020
Some dudes donβt take care of themselves at all, donβt treat ppl well, just donβt live the right way. I always try to do right by folks, I focused on my mental, physical, spiritual health more than ever. I was genuinely so happy to just play ball and have fun and then itβs goneπ€¦π½ββοΈ
— Ryan Anderson (@M12terAnderson) October 4, 2020
Anderson moved back to his Los Angeles home while rehabilitating, and said then-UA coach Sean Miller called to expressed support after his injury and offered help in whatever way he wanted to go with his career.
Anderson bought a home in Tucson last spring, not expecting he would join the Wildcat staff but Lloyd offered him a chance to stay after taking over the Wildcats in April. Anderson said it may have helped that longtime UA staffers Ryan Reynolds and Justin Kokoskie recommended him.
"Actually coach (Jack) Murphy and Tommy and everybody kind of had reached out to me and said if I wanted to come in, they would love to have me," Anderson said. "So it was a good opportunity. I came by over the summer a couple of times to see everybody and introduce myself, and it kind of just kind of built up from there.
"With the new staff it's been fun just getting to know everybody and learning a different approach to basketball. Tommy and all the guys he's brought from Gonzaga are just basketball minds. It's really great. I feel like I've learned so much and it's only been a short period of time so I just look forward to keep building relationships with them and trying to soak everything in."
