Joe Pasternack
UPDATE: The University of Arizona announced the hiring Thursday afternoon, including this quote from Sean Miller:
“We are excited to have Joe and his family join our program. He has a wealth of experience in many areas that will serve us well moving forward.
“As a head coach at New Orleans, he did an excellent job under very difficult circumstances. Additionally, he was an assistant at California for eight years under Ben Braun where he spearheaded many key recruiting efforts, including players like Leon Powe and Jerome Randle.
“To be able to get someone on our staff with head coaching experience and who has recruited extensively in the west is a tremendous benefit to us.”
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University of New Orleans head coach Joe Pasternack is leaving to become as assistant coach at Arizona, UNO announced Thursday morning.
“Joining one of the elite basketball programs in the country and working for one of the top coaches in college basketball — Sean Miller — was not an opportunity that I could pass up,” Pasternack said in a news release.
New Orleans is dropping down from being a Division I independent to Division II status.
Pasternack posted a record of 54-60 in four seasons as the head coach. The Privateers were 16-6 last season.
At Arizona, he replaces Archie Miller, who left to become the head coach at Dayton.
Pasternack gives Sean Miller an energetic young coach who was has ample Pac-10 experience. Pasternack served eight years under Ben Braun at Cal, first as a video coordinator starting at age 22 and six seasons as an assistant from 2001 to 2007.
Pasternack was a student manager for Bobby Knight at Indiana.
Additional reading:
Here is a Q&A with Pasternack that Scout.com did in 2003.
Sports Illustrated featured the challenges of Pasternack’s job at New Orleans in August, 2010.