The 1990s were the last golden age for college basketball programs west of the Rocky Mountains, with three winning national championships that decade.
Josh Pastner, 47, was a freshman on the 1997 University of Arizona men’s basketball team – the most recent team west of the Rockies to win a national title. Pastner, a proud Jewish man from the Houston area, was hired in March to lead another program that won a national title in the 1990s – the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV).
Pastner takes over a Rebels team that has advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament just twice since they won the National Championship in 1990 and reached the Final Four in 1991. The Rebels competed in the Big West Conference in their heyday, but they’re now part of the Mountain West Conference.
The UA Wildcats and UNLV Rebels have met just 20 times (all between 1972 and 2017), with Arizona winning the most recent meeting, 91-88, in 2017 in Las Vegas. UNLV leads the all-time series, 12 to 8.
Pastner, who played for UA from 1996-2000 and coached there from 2000-2008 as an assistant, is open to a regular Arizona-UNLV series.
“I’m fully in favor of it, but we need to discuss it with the Arizona administration to see if they are interested in making it happen,” Pastner said.
During his time in Tucson nearly three decades ago, Pastner grew both spiritually and from a basketball standpoint.
“I was heavily involved with Hillel on campus and actively participated in the Jewish community in Tucson,” Pastner said. “Tucson has a vibrant and strong Jewish community, and I truly enjoyed being a part of it. Many of my close friends were made through my involvement with Hillel and the Jewish community there.”
Pastner spent most of his time in Tucson either studying toward his bachelor’s and master’s degrees or practicing in the McKale Center. He also enjoyed hiking in the mountains in and around Tucson.
Pastner is the son of Hal Pastner, a prominent AAU Basketball Coach in the Houston area. Sensing that his future was more likely to feature coaching than playing, Pastner sent hundreds of letters to college coaches detailing his basketball IQ and scouting abilities.
The late Lute Olson, who coached the Wildcats from 1983-2007, decided to offer Pastner an opportunity to join the UA program, getting a 2-for-1 deal with the skills of a reserve basketball player and budding coach.
“One significant influence during my time in Tucson was Coach Olson, one of the greatest practice coaches in the history of the game,” Pastner said. “Every time he stepped onto the floor, it felt like a clinic. He had a direct correlation to John Wooden [the head coach at UCLA for 27 years, who won 10 NCAA championships in a 12-year span] and had learned many valuable lessons from him, which contributed greatly to the quality of his practices. Coach Olson was an incredible person who had a profound impact on me.”
Among Pastner’s teammates on the storied 1997 UA National Championship Team were future NBA players Mike Bibby, Michael Dickerson, Miles Simon, and Jason Terry. Bibby was recently hired as head men’s basketball coach at Sacramento State.
The Wildcats were the last team to defeat three #1 seeds en route to a national championship.
“I believe that a 30 for 30 documentary should be made about that team,” Pastner said, referring to ESPN’s series. “Furthermore, it was the first time a freshman starting point guard led a team to win a national championship. Achieving such a feat is incredibly rare, and the experience was truly special. Our entire team remains very close to this day; we have an ongoing group chat where we stay in touch and share updates.”
After serving on the UA staffs of Olson and Kevin O’Neill, Pastner accepted an opportunity to join John Calipari’s Memphis staff – just a season removed from the Tigers’ national runner-up season.
The following year, Pastner took over the Memphis program when Calipari went to Kentucky. He coached the Tigers from 2009-2016 and Georgia Tech 2016-2023, earning two conference coach of the year honors along the way.
Pastner is 276-187 with five NCAA Tournament appearances as a head coach. He will have a solid chance of reaching 300 career victories this season with UNLV.
