Gonzaga basketball great Kevin Pangos set for new chapter under Tommy Lloyd at Arizona

Longtime Gonzaga Bulldogs assistant coach Tommy Lloyd has built an extraordinary program over the last half decade at Arizona, leading the Wildcats to their first Final Four appearance in 25 years this past season.

Lloyd's success has come with a lot of help from former Gonzaga players and staffers, and it looks like he will once again be dipping into that well to fill out a vacancy on his coaching staff.

Kevin Pangos, an All-American who starred at Gonzaga from 2011-2015, is reportedly going to join Lloyd's staff as an assistant coach this upcoming season. Pangos is expected to replace another former Zag, Ken Nakagawa, who spent the past four years with Lloyd before leaving this summer to take an assistant coaching job with the Salt Lake Stars in the NBA G League.

Neither Pangos nor Arizona have confirmed the hire as of this writing.

Newly retired Gonzaga standout Kevin Pangos is set to join Tommy Lloyd’s Arizona basketball staff, beginning his coaching career after 10 professional seasons. ➡️ Find link to story in bio pic.twitter.com/VA0JkfO5dI
— Arizona Daily Star (@TucsonStar) October 5, 2026

A new chapter

Pangos announced his retirement from playing last week, polishing off a prolific, decade-long professional career that included stops in Lithuania (Zalgiris), Russia (Zenit Saint Petersburg), Spain (Gran Canaria, Barcelona, and Valencia), Italy (Milano and Napoli) and most recently Turkey with Erokspor, where he averaged 5.5 points and 4.3 assists in 25 games this past season.

The Ontario native went undrafted after an excellent senior season at Gonzaga, but kept grinding overseas until he eventually secured a guaranteed NBA contract at age 28, appearing in 24 games with Cleveland Cavaliers in 2020-21 and averaging 1.6 points and 1.3 assists in 7.0 minutes per game.

Dec 30, 2021; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kevin Pangos (6) dribbles as Washington Wizards forward Corey Kispert (24) defends during the first half at Capital One Arena. | USA TODAY Sports

"It takes a village to reach the highest levels and I'm incredibly thankful for mine!" Pangos wrote in his retirement post on Instagram. "Thank you Gonzaga, Coach Few, Tommy Lloyd and my teammates for believing in a kid from a small town in Canada...We left it all out there and accomplished everything you always dreamed of. Now it's time to do the same for the next chapter. Thank you, Basketball!"

Another Zag heads to Tucson

Lloyd has employed many former Zags in his five year tenure in Tucson, in addition to Nakagawa. Not only did he bring over center Oumar Ballo and walk-on guard Matthew Lang to play for him at Arizona, but he hired former Zag walk-on Rem Bakamus away from Baylor to serve as Director of Player Personnel, who eventually got promoted to assistant coach and then left to take the same role at Texas Tech last season.

Apr 3, 2017; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Gonzaga Bulldogs center Przemek Karnowski (24) | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Former Gonzaga center Przemek Karnowski - still the NCAA's all-time wins leader - spent two years on Arizona's staff as a graduate assistant as well.

Nakagawa isn't the only staffer to work for both coaches either, with current Arizona recruiting coordinator TJ Benson and former assistant coach Riccardo Fois both working at Gonzaga prior to joining Lloyd in Tucson.

Add us as a preferred source on Google