Mar 8, 2025; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Arizona Wildcats coach Tommy Lloyd watches game play during the second half against the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images William Purnell-Imagn Images

Arizona Basketball Makes Changes to its Coaching Staff

Originally posted on Arizona Wildcats on SI
By Troy Hutchison | Last updated Sep 7, 2025 8:00 AM ET

Since taking over Arizona, head coach Tommy Lloyd has been one of the most successful up-and-coming coaches in college basketball going 112-33 over the course of the last four seasons making the NCAA Tournament each season and leading the program to three Sweet Sixteen appearances.

This past season, Lloyd and his program entered a new era of Arizona basketball with the Wildcats leaving the Pac-12 and joining the Big 12 Conference. In UA’s first season in a new conference, the team went 24-13 while finishing third in the conference standings.

In the Big 12 Tournament, the Wildcats made it to the conference title game and fell 72-64 to Houston, which would go on to play for the National Title.

Following the end to the season, Arizona lost star guard Caleb Love to graduation and forward Carter Bryant to the NBA Draft where he went No. 14 overall to the San Antonio Spurs.

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Plus, Arizona saw two key players in KJ Lewis and Henri Veesaar leave the program and transfer to Power 4 programs.

Despite that, Arizona will be fully loaded again with four key returners in Jaden Badley, Tobe Awaka, Anthony Dell’Orso and Motiejus Krivas. Plus, Lloyd and his staff signed the No. 2 recruiting class according to 24/7 Sports.

Among the changes on the roster, Arizona has seen several coaching changes as well with longtime NCAA assistant Steve Robinson retiring after 42 years of being a high-level assistant coach at the college level. Plus, Lloyd lost another assistant in Rem Bakamus, who left for a job with Texas Tech.

To replace Robinson, Lloyd hired former Texas assistant coach Brandon Chappell, who has established himself as one of the young and talented assistants across college basketball that has a vast knowledge of recruiting in the state of Texas and in Big 12 country.

Staff updates heading into the season ⬇️

https://t.co/yuIDxEhpXn pic.twitter.com/KxKFoi5xq9
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) September 4, 2025

With Bakamus going to Texas Tech, Lloyd needed to make another addition to the staff. However, this time he went in-house and promoted Evan Manning to the assistant coaching job.

Before being promoted to assistant coach, Manning served as the program’s director of basketball operations.

To replace Manning with his promotion, Arizona announced that they have hired Austin Torres as the new director of operations for the program.

This is the second year in-a-row where Lloyd has had to replace coaches on his staff with guys moving on to new opportunities, or retiring.

This article first appeared on Arizona Wildcats on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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