Josh Pastner as MU assistant?

[ChicosBailBonds]

Ahh, gotcha.  Thanks Chicos. 

So I mean...if that meant text messaging guys on their Sidekicks and e-mailing/Facebooking/MySpacing...dude...a middle school kid could do that!

But naw, this guy sounds like a real go getter.  It'd be a nice pick-up...guess Buzz doesn't just recruit players!

They were one of the first schools to really take advantage of that type of recruiting where many schools were in the dark ages.  Bo Ryan, Boeheim, etc even last year never used text messaging and lobbied to kill it in the NCAA.  Kids use text messaging and Pastner and others were at the forefront of that type of recruiting right from the start. 

[Chili]

Josh is part of hoops royalty in Houston and Texas. He is a rising star in the basketball world. I couldn't stand the kid when I went to college with him, but he would be a hell of an addition to the staff.

[77ncaachamps]

I say, Hire Pastner, and we've got our next assistant to head coach move if Buzz doesn't work out:

"It became evident to me when he was 16 that he would succeed as a college coach as I turned over our Houston Hoops AAU program to him. He had the respect of every player - many who ended up in the NBA and most of them were the same age or older than him. He handled travel arrangements, hotels, practices, the problems with players, etc. All that was necessary in running a successful program, he did it. His years of being a head coach for the Houston Hoops at the level we played were a valuable experience. When he was very young we would travel into the remote communities in Texas hearing about a player and meeting their Moms and Dads in their homes to recruit them talking about the positives of playing with the Houston Hoops. In 1999, he coached a team comprised of Emeka Okafor, TJ Ford, Lawrence Roberts, Marcus Spears (1st round pick of the Cowboys who could have been an NBA player too) and Carlos Hurt (who I still believe was one of the greatest high school players I've seen). Josh won the Global Championships in Oregon with this squad on a buzzer shot and I was so happy for him and the kids since I knew how much they wanted to win."

http://arizona.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=974&CID=528337

[warthogdriver]

Pastner sounds great for his switched on perspective on the generation playing the game. Uh...of course JG disagrees so we must be missing something.

As for the alleged "jacket with a red A" thing that's a bit of a stretch. 

[MUSF]

Can't disagree with anything that's being said here about Pastner. Frankly surprised U of A wouldn't do everything in their power to keep him, as there has been talk for 10 years about him eventually being the head man there, but if not, this would be an absolutely fantastic hire for MU.

I wonder if the, "Kevin O'Neill next head coach at U of A," announcement left a sour taste in Pastner's mouth.

[warthogdriver]

77ncaachamps wrote:  I say, Hire Pastner, and we've got our next assistant to head coach move if Buzz doesn't work out

You are way off base with this! Don't you know your Andy Katz? Hiring assistants is a huge gamble!

[mr.MUskie]

I saw Coach and another guy in the union yesterday.  All I saw of the other guy was that he was wearing a blue jacket with a red and white "A" on it.  Hopefully this isn't just a coincidence.

just checked out the u of a bookstore online -  the do have blue jackets with red and white a's on them. hmmmmmmmmmmm...

[Eye]

Murff, we will have to disagree on this one to an extent....yes UA has some great things going for it.  But Pastner, if we hired him, was on the cutting edge of internet recruiting when it first started.    He played as a walk on at UA if I recall and then really went to town on recruiting in a different way.  Very creative guy and he's young and hungry.

He also started his own AAU team for awhile so he knows how all that "fun" stuff works, too.  Out here in the west, he has a very strong reputation.  I could see him making this move because it's hard for him to move up at UA.

If Buzz gets this guy, that would be a terrific hire in my opinion.

You're correct Chicos, JP was a walk-on at U of A, including on the championship team. Has been involved in the program in some fashion, as a player, behind-the-scenes guy or coach for about a dozen years now. I'd guess he's about 30 years old. He was U of A's top assistant this year after Lute stepped aside and KO moved up. Miles Simon was their other assistant. Give him another five years, and I think he'll make a pretty darned good D1 coach. As I said earlier, surprised U of A would let him go, but he'd be a fantastic hire for MU.

[dennycrane]

Pastner's father runs a Houston aau team and tourney. Josh started out coaching aau.

[77ncaachamps]

77ncaachamps wrote:  I say, Hire Pastner, and we've got our next assistant to head coach move if Buzz doesn't work out

You are way off base with this! Don't you know your Andy Katz? Hiring assistants is a huge gamble!

Did you forget your teal?

No worries, I fixed ^^^that! 

[jce]

I wonder if the, "Kevin O'Neill next head coach at U of A," announcement left a sour taste in Pastner's mouth.

O'Neill is now out, but I do wonder if that entire episode, but Olson coming back the way he did, is now put the entire program in chaos.

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

77ncaachamps wrote:  I say, Hire Pastner, and we've got our next assistant to head coach move if Buzz doesn't work out

You are way off base with this! Don't you know your Andy Katz? Hiring assistants is a huge gamble!

Hiring assistants who have been with the program for 9 months is a huge gamble.

[4everwarriors]

Pastner's hiring would result in a whole new list of 2009 recruits. I'm certain he has established very solid relationships with these athletes that Marquette would be the beneficiary of.

[StillWarriors]

See below from a friend who closely follows the AZ program on Pastner:

Pastner "played" on the 97 championship team.  He was the human victory cigar.  His father Hal Pastner is the Dean of AAU hoops and started the Houston Hoops program.  He also runs the Kingwood Classic which is the biggest AAU tourney in the country.  After he finished playing, Pastner stayed on as a student assistant and then a full time assistant.  He is known as one of the top recruiters because of his non-stop schedule…he never sleeps…and all that.  He has secured a lot of big commitments from high ranked Houston players-Jawaan McClellan, Fendi Onubon and Nic Wise.  They were all pretty highly ranked and have turned out to be overrated. The vaunted Houston pipeline has been a disappointment at Arizona.  He also recruited Endi Ebi out of Houston who was the #1 ranked player in the country, promised he would not go pro, and then entered the draft on the very last day without ever calling Lute to inform him of his decision.  This set the program back a ton and Ebi is already out of the NBA and washing cars for a living.   

Pastner is certainly a good recruiter, although it has never been too difficult to recruit for Lute Olson-see Kevin O'Neil.   He was the lead recruiter on Bayless and Budinger, but again-they came to play for Lute.  He is fiercely loyal to Lute and UofA and actually turned down the Kentucky head assistant job last year .  The word is that he is good friends with Buzz Williams, however he informed Buzz that he will be staying at Arizona.

He sending a link that supposedly indicates Pastner is staying with Lute. I'll post when I get it. Hopefully he's wrong. Would be a great hire for BW.

[oldwarrior81]

I like the line "human victory cigar". 
Reading his bio on the Arizona page I see he played in 42 games over his 4 seasons.  Arizona's record in those games was 42-0.

[spiral97]

Maybe it's the other way around.. Maybe Pastner is going to be the new UofA coach and is checking Buzz out to be an assistant (ergo, start the Buzz to Arizona rumor) 

[mwbauer7]

This would be the first time in history that a university made a bigger splash in hiring an assistant than they did in replacing a head coach.

And a incredible "get" for Buzz. I would think about joining the Buzz Bandwagon if this happens....

[Niv Berkowitz]

77...you took the thought out of my mouth. Get him, and you now potentially have a successor program in place.

Arizona is a mess now with the O'Neal debacle as for who will be replacing Lute. But it obviously must not be him as he's not seasoned enough. If we can get him, we now would have two very proven recruiters and we'd still have to hope the coaching can somewhat match the talent of the players.

I would love this hire if it happens.

Everyone realize that MU is becoming Texas North? Who'd a thunk it a few years or even weeks ago.

[augoman]

Everyone realize that MU is becoming Texas North? Who'd a thunk it a few years or even weeks ago.
[/quote]

not sure if this is a good thing, but will welcome the cheerleaders!!!

[BrewCity83]

will welcome the cheerleaders!!!

+2 !

[77ncaachamps]

+2 !

+ =)

[TVDirector]

+ =)

yeehaaaa

(actually replied with quote just to keep this pic up on the board more!)

[mwbauer7]

+ =)

yeehaaaa

(actually replied with quote just to keep this pic up on the board more!)

+1

[Tums Festival]

Anything new on this?

[ChicosBailBonds]

Arizona board says he isn't coming, but who knows how credible that is.


http://forum.goazcats.com/showthread.php?t=78271