Arizona Sees Spot Open on Coaching Staff

We are a long way out from the start of the 2025-26 college basketball season, which will yet again have high expectations for Arizona basketball and head coach Tommy Lloyd with a team that will more than likely be ranked inside the preseason AP Poll top 15.

Despite losing in the Sweet Sixteen 100-93 against No. 1 seed Duke, Arizona will welcome back four key players from last year’s team and the nation’s No. 5 recruiting class that features two 5-star recruits in a class of seven prospects.

The seven player class is headlined by Koa Peat, Brayden Burries and Dwayne Aristode with all three ranking in the top 100 of 24/7 Sports’ recruiting database.

So far during the offseason, Arizona has already seen changes on its coaching staff with legendary assistant coach SteveRobinson retiring after 40-plus years of coaching. Lloyd filled his spot with Brandon Chappell, who was on the Texas staff last season.

Now, Lloyd will need to fill another spot on his coaching staff as longtime assistant Rem Bakamus has left the program to be an assistant coach at Texas Tech under head coach Grant McCasland.

Before leaving for his new job, Bakamus was a walk-on at Gonzaga where he played for Mark Few and Lloyd from 2012-17 and was a part of the 2016-17 team that reached the National Title game.

In his first three seasons at Arizona, Bakamus served as the Director of Player Development before being promoted to an assistant job last season.

As the Wildcats are now in the Big 12 and searching for a new rival in the basketball powerhouse conference, there is a budding rivalry growing between Arizona and Texas Tech. Now, the addition of Bakamus will help grow that game.

Lloyd and McCasland have made it clear that the two are very close and have a good friendship. However, the two teams have played in close heated battles and now share a common assistant coach with the hiring of Bakamus.

I’m sure Lloyd will be happy for Bakamus as he grows in the coaching world and there are zero hard feelings. Still, it adds to the interest of this growing rivalry and is something for fans to watch as they get used to the Big 12 conference. 

Please be sure to let us know your thoughts on Texas Tech snagging former Arizona assistant Rem Bakamus and what it means for the growing rivalry. To do so, give us a follow on our X account by clicking on the link.