The next piece to Tommy Lloyd's first staff at Arizona is close to being officially part of the program. Stadium's Jeff Goodman reported Sunday what has been an ongoing understanding since Lloyd was hired earlier this year that Phoenix Suns player development coach Ricky Fois is set to join the UA staff as an assistant coach.

Fois has been in the plans for Lloyd since the outset of his tenure as Arizona's head coach, but with the Phoenix Suns make a deep run through the NBA playoffs and ultimately reaching the NBA Finals it prevented Fois from joining the program any earlier.

A native of Italy with ties to that country's national team as an assistant coach, Fois played at Pepperdine before joining the coaching staff there as a graduate assistant until 2014.

After his stint with the Waves, the 34-year-old coach then moved on to begin the next phase of his career at Gonzaga where he was able to serve on Mark Few's staff alongside Lloyd. While in Spokane, Fois worked as the coordinator of analytics and video operations for the Zags ultimately leading to his role in the NBA.

Fois spent two seasons in Phoenix leading player development for the Suns en route to a spot in the NBA Finals this year.

His role with the Wildcats is expected to be similar with a big part of his focus as an assistant centered around player development for Lloyd's team.

Though it will be his first stint as a college assistant coach, Fois has extensive ties overseas that will continue to help build a connection to recruiting in Europe for the Wildcats.

He is the latest hire at Arizona since Lloyd arrived to have connections to Gonzaga. Special assistant and recruiting coordinator TJ Benson, director of advanced scouting Ken Nakagawa and director of player development Rem Bakamus all spent time in the program either on staff or as a player in the case of Bakamus.

Fois' hiring, when made official, will still leave the program with a remaining open spot on the coaching staff after the recent departure of Jason Terry. The UA alum recently decided to leave the program after just one season on the bench for a head coaching position in the NBA G League with the Grand Rapids Gold.

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