Lorenzo Romar ready to hit recruiting trail for Arizona

Romar, wearing a T-shirt that read "Wildcat Basketball Never Stops," spoke with reporters Thursday about why he took the job after two decades as a college head coach, the last 15 years at Washington before he was fired a month ago.

He will experience a significant drop in salary to $400,000 a year, but will be able to get along nicely thanks to a $3.2 million buyout from Washington .

[...] Romar is joining a perennial Pac-12 contender.

Washington has missed the NCAA Tournament for six straight years and Romar said he felt the upcoming freshman class would change that trajectory.

Most of them backed out of their commitment, although Jaylen Nowell, a top prospect from Seattle, announced he was sticking with the Huskies.

When you get off the bus and there are people around and you see all the red and you see just the kind of buzz that's going amongst the people that are going to the game," he said, "you know right then, the tone is set, you're about to go on the big stage here.

[...] I'm just going to go in and be natural and go out and try to help people see how great a program U of A is.

[...] he doesn't think he will have any problem reverting to an assistant's role, something he hasn't done since his long-ago days on the staff of Jim Harrick at UCLA.