Pennell bids farewell to interim tag

For the first time in six months, Russ Pennell looked relaxed.

The rollercoaster ride known as Arizona basketball came to a temporary, albeit abrupt stop on Friday after Louisville’s 103-64 win in the Sweet 16.

That’s when it all hit home for Pennell. His tenure as Arizona head coach had ended.

No more interim tag. No more appearances on “Pardon the Interruption.” Just a couple of hours on Monday to clean out his office.

Dressed in plaid shorts and a casual brown polo shirt, Pennell addressed the media as Arizona’s head basketball coach for the last time yesterday afternoon.

“You never realize how tired you actually are until the end of a season,” Pennell said. “It’s still hard to get to sleep and hard to wake up in the morning. In about a week, I think my body will adjust.”

Prior to his Tuesday press conference, Pennell met with athletic director Jim Livengood as an informal, de facto exit interview. Pennell said Livengood had nothing but praise for how the Wildcats performed under such unique and taxing circumstances.

But like the rest of us, Pennell was curious as to who might be Lute Olson’s permanent replacement.

“I asked Jim and he told me he didn’t know,” Pennell said.

Yes, Pennell knew that this was a one-and-done situation from the day he took the job as interim head coach. He mentioned that there have been a few preliminary offers in the past couple days, but that he’ll be heading to the Final Four (also known as college basketball’s largest job fair) on Thursday to further evaluate his career options.

He reiterated his desire to coach again next season, but that the situation needed to be right for him and his family in order for him to pull their newly established Tucson roots.

“That’s probably the only drawback,” Pennell said of his chosen profession. “Coaching is probably a notch just above the circus or carnival; you’re going to move a lot.”

While the next stop on the Pennell Express is still up in the air, he gathered the players on Monday for a brief team meeting, where they reflected on what they accomplished this season and what the future might hold for Arizona basketball.

First order of business, Pennell said, was for his players to get caught up on their academics. After all, a surprise Sweet 16 run can wreak havoc on one’s class schedule.

He closed the meeting by telling his team that he thought they did the best job they could, considering the circumstances.

“From start to finish, we got better,” Pennell said.

With a game plan that featured associate head coach Mike Dunlap’s complex zone looks and a reliance on juniors Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill and Nic Wise to score the points and provide vocal/emotional leadership, Pennell led the Wildcats to a 21-14 overall record. There were low points (the UAB loss, the USC loss, the 0-3 record against Arizona State, the 1-5 finish to the season, the Louisville onslaught) high points (wins over Kansas and Gonzaga, the seven-game winning streak, Wise’s heroics after the Budinger face-stomping against Houston, David Bagga’s three in the McKale Center finale against Stanford, Selection Sunday, the Sweet 16), and everything in between.

“Right after that Louisville game, I realized that was probably the last time we’d all be together,” Pennell said. “We knew it was coming, but the emotions still hit. I‘ll miss the day-to-day routine with the guys. When you coach a team, you end up spending more time with them than your family.”

Pennell went on to say he wasn’t surprised that Michigan State took down Louisville in the Elite Eight, given the way the Cardinals showboated throughout their win against Arizona.

“I thought Louisville was very arrogant during that game,” Pennell said. “They were ripe for what happened against Michigan State. Louisville spent a lot of our game mugging for the camera and acting like they won the title, when all they did was just move one more step.”

With the 2008-09 season now wrapped up, the focus now shifts to Livengood’s much-publicized coaching search. The Kentucky Wildcats made the first big splash, wooing Memphis head coach John Calipari.

Pennell said he feels a sense of excitement and anticipation from the players regarding the coaching search, but acknowledged that whomever takes the head job will have a bit of an uphill battle, considering Arizona’s recruiting situation.

“Next year could be lean,” Pennell said. “Essentially, Arizona has missed about three years of recruiting. They’ve signed some good players, but they all ended up elsewhere. Repairs need to be made in the recruiting world.”

It will also be interesting to see what happens to Arizona’s “Big Three.” Budinger and Hill are certain first-round picks if they declare for the 2009 NBA draft, and Wise recently announced that he will test the draft waters without hiring an agent.

The future of Arizona basketball won’t be known anytime soon, but Pennell said he will always look back on his one year as the Wildcats’ head coach with fondness.

“The people in town have just been fantastic,” Pennell said. “They tell me things like ‘You’ll always be a Wildcat.’”

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