Sean Elliott's latest achievement: Earning UA degree after years of procrastinating, persevering

For nearly three years, Sean Elliott kept his secret pretty well hidden.

Almost nobody knew that, over three decades after ending his legendary Wildcats basketball career, Elliott had again become an Arizona student, gradually erasing a shortfall of 27 units via online classes since COVID hit in 2020 until he graduated this week.

Only his family, a few friends and two members of the San Antonio Spurs’ broadcast team knew he was doing it … plus a few astute students who just happened to notice the words “Sean Elliott” pop up on the screen during group communication.

It was there Elliott could not hide.

“Almost every one of my classes had discussions where I had to comment on somebody else’s discussion post, write a couple responses and then write my own,” Elliott said. “There were a few students that said, `Hey, it’s great that you’re back in school. I can’t believe it. Is that you? Really?’

“I was like, `Yeah, that’s me.’ That kind of surprised me because the kids are so young nowadays. I want to figure out who’s going to school right now who knows who I am.”

Well, for starters, maybe any UA student who has looked at the walls at McKale Center, where Elliott’s jersey has hung for 27 years.

Although today’s UA students mostly weren’t even alive during Elliott’s 11-year NBA career, when he picked up two NBA All-Star invites and helped lead the Spurs to the 1999 NBA title, maybe some have seen him doing a Spurs broadcast or know that his jersey is also retired in San Antonio, where the Tucson native still lives today.

Despite all that success, Elliott said there was always something “that ate away at me” since leaving UA. A local star from Cholla High School who went on to become the national college player of the year and a No. 3 NBA Draft pick in 1989, Elliott said he promised his mom as an NBA rookie that he “would go back, and go back and finish.”

Over three decades later, while visiting Lute Olson as the legendary former UA coach battled illness that led to his death in August 2020, Elliott said the same thing. In fact, by then, Elliott had already re-enrolled.

“I said `Coach, I’m gonna go back and do it,’ “ Elliott said. “He wasn’t in the best of health, but he was just like, `I’m so proud. You’re going to do it.’ That really inspired me.”

Elliott cited those two people — the coach who “would jump on you” if he heard about you missing class or an assignment, and the mom who told him even an accomplished player could feel inadequate without a degree — as his primary reasons to finish up what became a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies.

It wasn’t to fill out his résumé, to get a coaching job, nor anything else. Just for those two people. And to live up to a family full of degree-holders, including his kids and a wife with bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

“I was the outlier,” Elliott said, also noting: “I joke with my kids and my friends that I was on the 38-year plan. So I finally got it done. And I’m pretty happy about it and pretty thrilled.”

In a video interview Friday with three local media members, Elliott discussed his academic journey, while also reflecting on the more fluid dynamics of today’s college basketball and current UA coach Tommy Lloyd:

Elliott said the idea of getting a degree was actually “the whole goal” when he arrived at UA as a freshman in the fall of 1985.

“I really didn’t know if I’d be an NBA player or not. That’s the truth. Coming from Tucson, I just really never imagined that my career would go the way that it has gone. So I entered school to get my degree first, and that was my mother’s main goal. She was like, `You’ve got to get your degree no matter what.’

“Over the years, I’ve procrastinated. I found every excuse in the book not to go back. I was always on a team during the summer, USA Basketball, the Olympic Trials, there was always something I had going on. So when I left school, I still had 27 units left to complete.

“Over the years it’s always been in the back of my mind that I had to complete this, but it honestly seemed like a really daunting task. I mean, I have a career. I had my kids, and I’m busy here in San Antonio. I didn’t ever figure that I’d be able to get it done.”

The COVID restrictions of 2020 meant Elliott had “downtime and no excuses,” so he called former UA player and developmental director Reggie Geary, who followed Elliott to UA and played with him for the Spurs in 1997-98. Elliott then worked with UA senior associate AD Jennifer Mewes to get enrolled via the “CATS Forever” program for former UA athletes who return to finish degrees.

“(Geary) is my little brother there in Arizona, and he pointed me in the right direction, got me all set up. (Mewes) was my advisor, and she was just awesome. So I got started, and I had a lot of work to do. But I fit it in, even in the course of the season, while traveling and doing whatever I had to do, I always took time out to watch my lectures, write my papers, do my homework, do whatever I had to do to get it done.”

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Saying he took two or three classes a semester, Elliott actually found it wasn’t all work.

“I’ll be honest, I had a lot of fun. It was great. It really was. I had a fantastic time. As a matter of fact, when I turned in my last paper I was a little bummed out that I didn’t have any more classes, as crazy as that sounds, because every class I had was interesting. I had amazing professors. I didn’t find one class that I thought was boring.

“I would tell my wife all the time after listening to a lecture, `You know, college is made for older people. I don’t think it’s made for young people.’ For me, it was just so much fun to go back and continue to learn things and relearn things that I didn’t know.”

Already established as a professional broadcaster, Elliott said the reading and writing in classes helped his communication skills. He also had the chance to branch out via electives, since he had already satisfied many upper-level requirements in his playing days.

“I could take classes that were just interesting or things that I hadn’t even thought of taking, like a detailed history of the Italian Renaissance. Something that I never thought that I would get so wrapped up in was my oceanography class. For a nerd like me, I looked forward to the two lectures a week. That was exciting.

“I had a couple upper-level sociology classes that were a little bit tough. Half the time while reading, I’d have to highlight a word and look up the definition, like `What is this guy trying to say?’ But a lot of the other things I got to take were incredibly interesting. When you take classes like that, they teach you a little bit more about the world. I say, `I know a lot and I don’t know a lot’ — and all those classes showed me exactly what I didn’t know.”

Elliott said he didn’t walk at UA’s graduation ceremonies because he didn’t want to become a center of attention and take away from others’ accomplishments. But when asked who was most proud of him, Elliott said “me,” and laughed.

“I mean, there were so many nights where I was reading, writing, working at my computer and having arguments with my wife because she would help edit some of my papers. She’s like, `What? What is this? This isn’t a sentence. You’re not supposed to put a comma there! What are you trying to say?’

“And all those nights where I just kind of powered through, even if I was on an airplane, on the way from one city to another, where I’m reading or I’m trying to finish an assignment and get it turned in. I’m just proud that I was able to stick with it and fulfill that promise.”

While Elliott said he has no desire to be a coach or scout, saying he can’t imagine doing anything else but broadcasting, he did take a break from his work and UA studies to rejoin the Wildcats for a film session under Lloyd before their Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament loss to Houston in San Antonio in March 2022.

“I really appreciated the way he handled them. I appreciated his honesty with the players, the way he motivated them. If I had a son who was playing college basketball, I’d be very, very comfortable with sending him to Coach Lloyd, honestly. I think he’s done a phenomenal job. It’s just the last couple of years in the (NCAA) Tournament, it’s how the chips fall sometimes.

“We were the best team in ‘88, and we didn’t win it. I thought we were were the best team in ‘89, and we lost on a last-second shot. That’s the beauty of the tournament. Things like that happen.

“But I love him as a coach. I’ve watched a lot of basketball over the years, and when you watch his style and what he’s done with his players, I just appreciate it so much.”

But, in yet just one example of how much more fluid college basketball rosters are now than during Elliott’s playing days, Lloyd is still recruiting to fill four or five roster spots for next season — in the middle of May. So when today’s high-major college basketball players graduate, it is often at their second, third or even fourth college.

“At the risk of sounding like a curmudgeon, which I am, I hate it. We built teams, and we built something together. (Players leaving) don’t really leave any legacy. The transfer portal, I don’t know that much about (it), but what I can say is that I think it undermines the coaches as well.

“My sophomore year at Arizona, Steve (Kerr, fellow UA standout) was hurt and coach Olson was on my ass every day. Every day. I went home from practice three or four times that year in tears. And I called my mom one day and said, `Mom, I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to leave.’ My mom said, `Boy, you aren’t going anywhere.’ I was like `OK, you’re right.’ I got to stick this out. I got to go through the fire that he’s putting me through right now. And that made me into the player that I became my junior and senior year.

“Now, if a coach hurts a player’s feelings, the kid’s transferring that year. Even kids that are successful have gone to another place. And I saw a comment the other day where this kid said something about he wasn’t making six figures in NIL money, so he’s leaving. That whole thought process is completely corroded. It’s unfortunate for college basketball.

“Obviously, I want players to have rights and have freedom. But at the same time, when you commit to a school, why can’t you honor that commitment?”

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