Who’s who on the Arizona men’s basketball sideline? | Greg Hansen

If you took a glance at the Wildcat bench, you recognized all 12 players. You knew the three assistant coaches by their first names. Trainer Steve Condon often sat next to Lute Olson. Team doctor Don Porter was always nearby.

That was it. About 18 people, all recognizable in one straight line.

Now when you watch the Wildcats you see a roster of 16 players, five assistant coaches, two men from the basketball operations department, another from the scouting staff, plus trainer Justin Kokoskie, an equipment manager, a strength coach and, until Jason Gardner left the staff, a director of player relations. That's almost 30 people crowded into two or three rows.

It used to be so simple. UA fans were on a first-name basis with assistant coaches Jim Rosborough and Jerry Holmes. And even when assistant coaches such as Ricky Byrdsong, Jay John and Kevin O'Neill left to become head coaches, it wouldn't take long to recognize their replacements, such as Jessie Evans, Josh Pastner or Scott Thompson.

The one familiar face on Tommy Lloyd's staff is assistant coach Jack Murphy, who has been a mainstay since 2019, and a decade before that, part of Olson's organization.

Besides Murphy, the mostly unfamiliar assistant coaches are TJ Benson, Brandon Chappell, Evan Manning and now, Kevin Pangos. Putting names and faces together is going to take all season, if not longer, but that's the changing landscape of college athletics. By comparison, Brent Brennan's UA football staff has 34 full-time employees, and that doesn't include strength coaches, doctors, trainers or equipment managers. Welcome to 2026.