INDIANAPOLIS — It might look a bit odd on TV, but everybody will have to forgive interim Arizona coach Russ Pennell if he pinches himself just before tipoff of today’s Midwest Regional matchup with top-seeded Louisville.
Last March, Pennell was finishing up his gig with archrival Arizona State — as a radio analyst — when fate turned in his favor.
“Just the opportunity to walk through this journey this year is incredible,” Pennell, 48, said Thursday afternoon following a 50-minute practice at Lucas Oil Stadium.
After being out of coaching for a year — and apparently deciding that his future wasn’t in radio — Pennell joined Lute Olson’s Arizona staff in May 2008. He fell into the head coaching position Oct. 24, a day after Olson’s sudden retirement.
Another Arizona assistant, Mike Dunlap, had first dibs, but the former Metro State coach and Nuggets assistant turned down the opportunity, saying he was uncomfortable with the “interim” tag and what a lost year of recruiting would mean to the program.
A native of Pittsburg, Kan., Pennell wasn’t just a radio voice. He played for Eddie Sutton at Arkansas and later coached under Sutton at Oklahoma State. He also served 14 seasons as an assistant under Rob Evans, at Mississippi and ASU.
“This opportunity has helped me not only as a coach, but as a person,” Pennell said. “It stretched me. It’s forced me to think outside the box. It’s very unconventional, what we’ve gone through. Yet somehow we’ve made it work.”
