Arizona's Tommy Lloyd promotes TJ Benson to fulltime assistant coach, adds Matt King as president of operations

Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd has promoted special assistant TJ Benson to full-time assistant coach while adding basketball executive Matt King as the program’s new president of basketball operations.

The school also announced that staffers Ken Nakagawa and Rem Bakamus have also been promoted to assistant coaches, now that the NCAA now allows two extra assistant coaches who can work with players but not recruit off campus. Both have served on Lloyd’s three previous UA staffs, Nakagawa as director of advanced scouting and Bakamus as director of student-athlete development.

“TJ, Rem and Ken have all played instrumental roles in the success we have had in our three years at Arizona,” Lloyd said in a UA statement. “And the addition of Matt to our staff will enhance every aspect of our program, both internally and externally. Each of them are outstanding people to begin with and are excellent at what they do, so we’re thrilled they are here to help us continue the excellence that is expected with Arizona basketball.”

Benson fills the assistant coach role vacated by Riccardo Fois, who left Arizona to become an assistant coach of the Sacramento Kings. While Benson occasionally recruited in the absence of Fois, who spent much of the past two summers coaching within the Italian national team program, his new role will allow him to coach on the floor and recruit off campus fully. Benson joins associate head coach Jack Murphy and veteran assistant coach Steve Robinson as the three UA assistant coaches who are allowed to recruit off campus.

As special assistant, Benson was something of a utility person involved in all areas. While Benson said he will still be involved in many aspects of the program, the promotion will allow him to focus on coaching, recruiting, player development and scouting.

“I’m thankful for Tommy and all he has done for me,” Benson said Tuesday via text message from Europe, where he is recruiting for the Wildcats. “He’s a 10/10 human and couldn’t be more blessed to work for the best coach in college basketball. Also, I’m grateful to be at Arizona and working with the best staff in America.”

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A native of Tempe who played for Weber State and Grand Canyon, Benson also worked with Lloyd during the 2020-21 season at Gonzaga, where Benson was the Zags’ coordinator of basketball administration and Lloyd was an assistant coach. Before that, Benson served as an assistant coach at GCU.

King assumes a new position that will oversee all non-coaching staffers. A Phoenix-area businessman who served as executive director of the Arizona Basketball Coaches Association, King was known for running the Section 7 recruiting showcase in Glendale every June and has previously coached high school basketball.

With UA, King will now act as something of a general manager, serving as Arizona’s NIL liaison while overseeing operations and other non-coaching functions. He will share scheduling and other operations duties with UA basketball operations director Evan Manning.

A graduate of New Mexico, where he was a walk-on player for coach Fran Fraschilla, King spent 13 years as a high school coach before rebuilding the ABCA. He is also on the board of the National High School Basketball Coaches Association.