When the NBA regular season begins later this month, Arizona will be represented by eight assistant coaches, which has got to be some sort of record, right? The ex-Wildcat players and coaches who are NBA assistants this season are: Luke Walton, Detroit; Matt Brase, Philadelphia; Bruce Fraser, Golden State; Jesse Mermuys, Phoenix; Bret Brielmaier, Orlando; Riccardo Fois, New York Knicks; Jason Terry, Utah; and Joseph Blair, Houston. And that doesn’t include Nick Kerr, Steve Kerr’s son, now on the Warriors staff.
Detroit Pistons assistant coach Luke Walton during a game against the Golden State Warriors in San Francisco, March 8, 2025.
– Marana High School grad Wes Ball, who helped lead Pima College to a 35-1 men’s basketball record last winter, has enrolled at Colorado Mesa University and joins his PCC teammate, All-American point guard Cohenj Gonzales, the ACCAC Player of the Year. They will play for CMU coach Mike Dunlap, an assistant coach on Arizona’s 2009 Sweet 16 team. Dunlap has since coached for Oregon, St. John’s, LMU and has been the head coach of the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets. Ball initially was recruited by Kansas last spring but chose not to sit on the KU bench.
– Frank Busch, who coached Arizona to the 2008 men’s and women’s NCAA swimming championships, will be honored as the 2025 Dick Tomey Strong Award at the Arizona Bowl’s Oct. 30 luncheon at the Tucson Convention Center. Busch, who was USA Swimming’s director of the national teams, helping the USA win 64 medals at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, has recently been part of USA Swimming’s board of directors, and chairman of the USA Swimming National Team Steering Committee.
Salpointe’s head coach Pat Ryden gets watered down as the Lancers celebrate holding on for 20-18 win to open their season against Marana, Aug. 29, 2025, in Tucson.
– The Arizona Interscholastic Association last week released a list of the Arizona high schools with the most victories in state football history. Why now? Mesa High School won its 700th game last week, a state record. It beat Salpointe Catholic 23-14. The AIA lists Tucson High second with 614 victories, and Amphitheater sixth with 509 wins, amongst big schools. What it failed to mention was that Salpointe has now won 506 career games, creeping up to pass Amphi, perhaps this season. Amphi opened in 1939, and Salpointe began playing football in 1952. How did the Lancers catch up to the Panthers? From 2001-19, Salpointe coach Dennis Bene won 183 games, the most in a two-decade period by any Tucson school. Mesa began playing football in 1920.
