Timberwolves Interested In Lorenzo Romar For Coaching Job

With Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski reporting that the Minnesota Timberwolves have decided to fire head coach Kurt Rambis, one of the early replacement candidates looks to be University of Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar.

(Timberwolves general manager David) Kahn isn’t expected to announce the decision until after Thursday’s NBA draft, but he’s already begun collecting information on prospective replacements for Rambis, including University of Washington coach Lorenzo Romar, sources said. The Timberwolves have gathered background on Romar for several weeks, and are expected to make him a candidate to replace Rambis.

Romar spent five season as a point guard in the NBA, but has never coached in The Association. He has been a college head coach since being hired by Pepperdine in 1996. Since 2002, Romar has been the head man at Washington, his alma mater and has led the Huskies to the most successful period in school history – including three Sweet Sixteen appearances. In 2010, Washington signed Romar to a 10-year contract extension that will pay him a base salary of $1.7 million per year. While the T-Wolves are reportedly interested in Romar, according to the Seattle Times, the feeling may not be mutual.

“Even though it was eons ago, I still played and saw a little bit of what it was like up there,” said Romar, who played five years (1981-85) with three NBA teams. “I’m still fairly close to it because you have your own players on NBA teams.

“There’s guys that I played with that are coaching or in management, so I still have an idea of what’s going on. So I don’t have that itch to go do that.”

Even if Romar rebuffs their offers, Wojnarowski added that Minnesota could go after former NBA head coach Bernie Bickerstaff. Bickerstaff’s son, J.B., is on Rambis’ staff and could be set up as a coach-in-waiting behind his father.

by Marcas Grant

Marcas Grant graduated from the University of Southern California in 1998 with a Bachelor of Arts in broadcast journalism. For the past decade, Marcas's love of sports and media has taken him up and down the Golden State. He has worked from Los Angeles to Stockton and nearly everywhere in between - doing everything from freelance reporting to play-by-play announcing.