He has been part of Arizona's pregame introduction video for years and now UA alum Jason Terry will be closer to the action beginning next season. The 42-year-old longtime NBA guard will return to the world of college sports as an assistant on Sean Miller's bench and Terry is now expected to be introduced by the program later this week.

It has already been known that Terry is the man Arizona wanted and he unofficially accepted the position weeks ago, but a hiring freeze at the university has prevented it from being an official move that the Wildcats could make.

The hiring freeze remains in place but the position was officially posted last week clearing the way for Terry to be formally introduced by the program.

Terry, who has not been apart from the game since retiring from the NBA after 19 seasons, as he has coached a girls travel basketball team in the Dallas area while also serving as an assistant general manager for the Dallas Mavericks' G-League affiliate Texas Legends.

The Seattle, Washington native was a key player in the sixth-man role for the Wildcats during its run to the National Championship in 1997 before eventually ending his career as an All-American.

Terry will replace departed assistant coach Justin Gainey who left to return to Marquette as the team's associate head coach after spending two seasons on Arizona's bench. Unlike Gainey, who came to UA with plenty of coaching experience, Terry has not yet coached at the college level but his ties to the Seattle area are already impacting the program.

Seattle University graduate transfer guard Terrell Brown is Terry's godson and UA has become involved with several recruits in the Pacific Northwest, such as five-star power forward Paolo Banchero, that the new assistant coach will have a hand in recruiting once he is officially announced as part of the staff.

Terry will have some time to get his feet wet as a college assistant as the NCAA cleared the way for voluntary on-campus workouts to begin next month. He will not get an opportunity to hit the road and recruit for the Wildcats until after July 31, however, as the NCAA extended its current recruiting dead period on Wednesday.

Terry previously hinted at his decision with a tweet back in April.

He was honored in 2015 as one of the members of Arizona's program to have his jersey lifted into the rafters of McKale Center to commemorate his career with the Wildcats. He graduated from UA in 2014.