Josh Pastner is not a McDonald’s All-American recruit along the lines of John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, but his decision to come to Kentucky as an assistant to John Calipari might end up being just as important as any commitment UK gets.
Josh Pastner played for Arizona back in the Mike Bibby and Miles Simon days (yeah, he was on that 1997 team, ugh). He barely played throughout his career, appearing in only 42 games, averaging .9 points. However, he was a kid who distinguished himself off of the court.
He was basically an assistant coach as a player, doing tasks from breaking down game tapes, scouting opponents, and serving as the shot specialist for many of his teammates. It was clear that he had found his calling. Also, Pastner was hell-bent on graduating as quickly as possible, and when he got his undergraduate degree in Family Studies in only 2 1/2 years. The kid took as many as 33 hours in a semester. He still made the Academic All-Pac 10 team while carrying this load.
After playing his last college game in 2000, Pastner moved on to a role as recruiting coordinator, fluorishing in that capacity and eventually moving up to assistant coach in 2003. He was on the Arizona staff for six years until 2008. During his time at Arizona, he showed himself to be arguably the best young recruiter in college basketball. He also has demonstrated a unique ability to work with post players and help them improve drastically. Players like Luke Walton, Channing Frye, and most recently Jordan Hill have become NBA-level players with his help.
With the coaching situation in flux at Arizona, Pastner accepted a position under John Calipari at Memphis in 2008, after nearly joining Billy Gillispie’s staff when he became head coach in 2007.
Pastner is on the fast track to becoming a head coach somewhere, and it is a coup for any school to retain him as an assistant at this point. Anybody who knows recruiting knows his name, and even if he is around for a year at UK, he’s going to make a big impact. Even though he’s just over 30 years old, many former Arizona players are supporting him as a candidate for the open position in Tucson. With Sean Miller reportedly being the latest to reject Arizona for the job, there is certainly still a chance Pastner heads west if he is called. The only other names I’m hearing in connection with the Arizona job are Utah coach Jim Boylen and Reggie Theus.
Even if Pastner doesn’t get the Arizona job, he will feel blessed to be at Kentucky: “I’m just very fortunate, very blessed. (Calipari) is the boss man and I’m following him there. It’s exciting because that is probably the most storied program in college basketball.” UK will be on borrowed time with Pastner if they get him, so cross your fingers that Arizona doesn’t have the good sense to give him a call.
**UPDATE**Sean Miller is apparently trying to become the bizarro Dana Altman, because after rejecting an offer from Arizona to become coach last night, he has changed his mind, and has accepted a revised offer. I think this is a great move by Arizona, because Sean Miller would have been one of the first guys I wanted after Coach Cal, but the real reason I like this is that it means Josh Pastner is almost certainly going to be in Lexington this season!!!
13 Responses to “Meet your newest Kentucky assistant coach (hopefully): Josh Pastner”
Josh Pastner is the next head coach of the University of Memphis
Pastner was just announced as the new Memphis coach.
Kiss my nuts UK! You suck! Have fun with dirty boy!
[...] Like I said, UK would be on borrowed time every moment they had Josh Pastner as an assistant coach. In a move that, frankly, I did not anticipate, Josh Pastner will stay in Memphis after all, but as head coach of the Tigers. [...]
[...] will as happy as they were . Oh , I hope CBP beats cantucky 3 times next year .Good Hire imo. Meet your newest Kentucky assistant coach (hopefully): Josh Pastner __________________ TIGER [...]
Haha, suckers! Pastner stays in Memphis, and is hiring Carl Henry as his Director of Basketball Operations. Have fun rebuilding with Fredo (our old coach).
Looks like UK won’t be able to turn into “The University of Memphis at Kentucky” after all since Pastner and our boys staying, but you still get to have The Sneaky One for $35 million!!!
Have fun with him, and tell Mitch that I hope its money well spent!!! (you dumb rednecks still don’t know he’s playing you for everything you’ve got!)
I see some pent-up hostility toward UK is being let out here…I’m glad the Pinkie proved to be therapeutic for you guys!
Wow, that Snake Oil sure must be expensive for what you guys pay for it in Lexington! Stick to farming and sleeping with your sisters, and let the big boys show you farm kids how we play basketball.
What it boils down to is this: our wins were the program’s, not the man’s. Have fun trying to replicate it without our staff and our players!!!!
UK fans, I’m not mad at you for pursuing Calipari and hiring him. He did great things for Memphis while here and took Memphis to new levels, nationally-speaking. Since you are not Louisville and are not a natural Memphis rival, such as Tennessee, I wish you the best with Cal. I have always thought Kentucky ran a very dignified program. Cal is, without a doubt, one of the nation’s best recruiters. To be honest, however, he is not the best gametime coach and refuses to believe that making free throws is important. Hopefully, he will improve in this area and get UK back on the national scene.
Keeping Pastner as head coach is a gamble for Memphis, since he is unproven. However, reading his bio, he is tenacious and lives for basketball. While not having him at UK as Cal’s assistant may be a negative for you guys, perhaps we can both be winning programs down the road and hopefully meet up in the final four!
Good luck to both UK and UM!
[...] Meet your newest Kentucky assistant coach (hopefully): Josh Pastner (straitpinkie.com) – April 06, 2009Josh Pastner is not a McDonald’s All-American recruit along the lines of John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, but his decision to come to Kentucky as an assistant to John Calipari might end up being just a… more Josh Pastner blog posts … [...]
[...] of Kentucky…well, you shouldn’t. UK hired John Calipari, not Josh Pastner, and while it would have been nice to have Pastner on the staff for a year or two, that’s the longest he would have been [...]
To all you ticked off memphis fans, whos laughing now and who is 20-1 and number 1 in the nation?? I rest my case
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