Is Josh Pastner The Next Great Coaching Prodigy?
April 9, 2009 – 9:15 am by Jimmy Shapiro
He’s been training for this since he was Bar Mitzvahed. It was inevitable that Josh Pastner would be a college basketball head coach. Truthfully, I’m kind of surprised it took him to the age of 31 to accomplish this, but Memphis is a pretty good place to get your coaching start.
Pastner’s dad Hal ran the Houston Hoops AAU program and Josh was writing scouting reports on the players on his team and that they faced. Colleges from all over the country would use this 13 year old’s scouting reports. He eventually took over the AAU program from his dad by the age of 16 and has coached NBA players like Emeka Okafor and TJ Ford. Pastner was a walk-on at the University of Arizona and basically was an assistant coach as a student. He graduated in 2 1/2 years and was ready for his coaching pilgrimage to start.
After being an assistant at Arizona since 2001 and a great recruiter that landed Chase Budinger, Jerryd Bayless, and Jordan Hill, Pastner left for Memphis to become John Calipari’s assistant and lead recruiter. When Coach Cal took the job at Kentucky, Pastner thought for sure he would be heading to Wildcat country with him. After flirting with Bruce Pearl and a few others, Memphis offered Pastner the head coaching job at Memphis. They got him on the cheap at less than a million a year, but I’m pretty sure he’ll prove his worth quickly.
Pastner joined his hometown station KILT in Houston to talk about his new gig.
On landing the job
“What other words can you put than “wow”?..I think the setup here is so great. For any kid that wants to come here and see the facilities, the support, the University, the entire community lives and breathes this program. There’s no difference from this to Carolina to Duke, in my view. You can say the conference. Hey, the University of Memphis is [as much of] an elite school as any school in America.”
On the whirlwind surrounding his hiring
“It’s probably just a tad bit over 48 hours since all of this has happened so it’s been unbelievable but I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. It’s a little bit stressful at times but I’ve enjoyed every moment of it. Part of the problem I’ll be honest with you is Coach Cal, and bless his heart because the opportunity here for everyone else is amazing, but his whole staff went with him to Kentucky. So I’m here by myself right now without any assistants or director of basketball or anything…I’ve got scheduling, you’ve got 55 million different things to worry about, but once I get my staff in here, I’ll feel a little more set and a little more comfortable.”
Pastner on where the Memphis program goes from here, Coach Cal, and the full interview after the jump.
On where the Tigers go from here
“If we can keep the nucleus intact, get a recruit or two in, have a heck of a year next year, then you’re good to go… We’ve got to keep this nucleus together. I told them all, I said, “Guys, I am not John Calipari, I’m Josh Pastner. No one came here to play for Josh Pastner, you came here to play for John Calipari…But here we are, life threw us a little curveball…we’re going to do this together. I’ve got your back, you’ve got to have my back.”
On Coach Calipari
“Coach Calipari has been unbelievable. He’s calling me, checking in, I mean the guy is the best. I really believe he is the best coach in the game today; pro, college or high school, he’s the absolute best.”
Listen to Josh Pastner on KILT in Houston with the Drivetime Players
Tags: Josh Pastner, Memphis hoops, Memphis Tigers
