Tommy Lloyd won his 100th game as a head coach last week, through 126 games. He is 50 years old. Here’s how he stacks up with his UA men’s basketball predecessors:
Fred Enke required 136 games to win 100. He was 34 years old in 1932. He ended with 523 victories.
Fred Snowden required 165 games to win 100. He was 41 years old in 1977. He ended with 167 victories.
Lute Olson required 154 games to win 100. He was 44 years old in 1979 at Iowa. He ended with 781 victories.
Sean Miller required 139 games to win 100. He was 40 years old in 2008 at Xavier. He has 477 victories.
– When Arizona’s defense cratered in 2016 and Rich Rodriguez's Wildcats went 3-9, RichRod fired defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel, who had been his DC for 12 years, dating to their days together at West Virginia. Arizona’s defense allowed an average of 38.3 points that year, the worst total in UA history. Casteel then coached at Nevada for three seasons before becoming an analyst on West Virginia’s staff from 2000-23. Now RichRod is getting the band back together at West Virginia; Casteel will be his outside linebackers coach. The staff also includes Jake Casteel, Jeff’s son, who helped lead Salpointe Catholic High School to the 2013 state championship. Jeff is a defensive analyst at WVU, a position he occupied at NAU, Cal Poly and Jacksonville State.
– Marcus Titus is probably the top male swimmer in Tucson prep history, a Flowing Wells High school grad who went on to become a 12-time All-American at Arizona and a key figure in the UA’s 2008 NCAA team championship. He has set multiple world records at the Deaf World Swimming Championships, winning five gold medals. The Pima County Sports Hall of Famer is now a teacher at the Arizona School for the Deaf and the Blind. Titus, 44, hopes to compete in the Deaflympics in Tokyo later this year and is in the process of a fundraising campaign to support his training and travel. You can donate to his campaign at spotfund.com.
– Tucsonan Trevor Werbylo, an Arizona and Salpointe grad who was a regular on the 2023 PGA Tour, playing in 31 events, spent last year on the Korn Ferry Tour. Werbylo was 31st last week in the KFT’s Bahamas Grand Abaco Classic, at 11-under par. His next event will be the Panama Championship that starts Thursday.
– Arizona All-American receiver Tetairoa McMillan signed with the LeBron James-created Klutch Sports Agency last week, a group in Beverly Hills that will now assist McMillan in contract negotiations. The Klutch group includes ex-Wildcat athletes such as Christian Koloko and Aaron Gordon, Salpointe’s NFL star Bijan Robinson, as well as big-name athletes Draymond Green and the WNBA’s A’ja Wilson. If T-Mac is drafted in the No. 6 spot, as ESPN projected last week, his rookie contract would be for something like $30 million. Last year’s No. 6 pick, LSU receiver Malik Nabers, signed with the New York Giants for $29 million.
– This is how long Pete Carroll, newly-hired 73-year-old head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, has been in the coaching business: In Arizona’s 1975 season opener at Arizona Stadium, the Wildcats won 16-0. Carroll was the cornerbacks coach of the Pacific Tigers. Arizona’s staff that season, under Jim Young, included 28-year-old linebackers coach Mike Hankwitz, who would go on to coach in 581 games — including five as Arizona’s interim head coach in 2003 — before retiring in 2020 at Caroll’s current age of 73. The oldest head coaches in Power 4 football today are Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz, 69, and UConn’s Jim Mora, 63. Carroll seems to have the energy of a 50-year-old.
