New Arizona basketball coach Tommy Lloyd has made his first significant move for the upcoming season as the program announced Monday that previous associate head coach Jack Murphy will be retained to work under Lloyd as part of the new staff in Tucson.

Murphy, the former head coach at Northern Arizona, has been part of the staff at his alma mater since the 2019-20 season when he was hired away from the Lumberjacks by previous head coach Sean Miller.

He has served in the associate head coach role since that time and helped build the Wildcats' last two recruiting classes. Murphy's ability to expand his recruiting reach on the international side helped Arizona land several key players from outside the United States including standout freshmen Azuolas Tubelis and Bennedict Mathurin in addition to guard Kerr Kriisa.

Murphy was one of two coaches on Miller's final staff at UA with ties back to the program. He was a member of Lute Olson's staff in various roles before eventually becoming a full-time assistant in the NBA with the Denver Nuggets.

He eventually found himself alongside another UA alum, Josh Pastner, at Memphis where Murphy was able to build his profile as a strong recruiter before ultimately landing at NAU in his first head coaching role where he stayed for seven seasons.

Having a connection to the past is something Lloyd has already made a priority after having a virtual meeting with a group of alumni on his first day. When asked last week if Arizona alums would have representation on his coaching staff, the new UA coach alluded to that being likely.

"I think it's really important to have Arizona ties within my staff," Lloyd said last week when being introduced as the new head coach at a press conference. "So, I wanna take my time, meet some people and make the right decisions moving forward. But, I think you're definitely gonna see some Arizona flavor on it for sure."

Keeping Murphy as his top assistant will also provide a first-time head coach like Lloyd with an opportunity to have an experienced coach by his side on the bench. Murphy helped lead the Lumberjacks to a pair of top-three finishes in the Big Sky during his time with the program.

The 41-year-old Arizona assistant had served as the interim head coach in the time between the decision by the program to move on from Miller before hiring Lloyd last week.

"The great part about Arizona Basketball is that you never leave the family," Murphy previously said in a statement back in June 2019 when he was hired by Miller as associate head coach. "You're just returning home after a long vacation."

Jason Terry is the other UA alum who was part of Miller's staff this season, but there has been no indication whether or not he will return to the program under Lloyd.

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