Who is Lorenzo Romar? All we know about the Pepperdine head coach

Lorenzo Romar, Pepperdine Waves head coach, took over in 2018 and managed to revive the team immediately. Romar's coaching career began in 1992 at UCLA as an assistant coach.

Later, in 1996, he took over as the head coach at Pepperdine, for the first time, until 1999. Romar then moved to St. Louis, where he helped the team reach the NCAA Tournament, a first for him.

His next team, the Washington Huskies, where he played collegiately, was Romar's longest stint as a coach from 2002 to 2017. It was also his most successful run as the Huskies won two regular-season conference titles and three Pac-12 Conference Tournament championships along with six NCAA Tournament appearances. Romar was named Conference Coach of the Year thrice (2005, 2009, 2012).

Then, the 65-year-old worked as an associate head coach at Arizona. During Romar's second stint at Pepperdine since 2018, he helped the Waves win the program’s first-ever postseason tournament, the College Basketball Invitational, in 2021. In his 27 years as a head coach at Washington, St. Louis and Pepperdine, the coach has a 466-396 record.

Lorenzo Romar is also known as one of the top basketball recruiters in the country, having worked with 27 future NBA Draft picks. He coached Colbey Ross, who was the first to accumulate 2,200 points, 800 assists and 400 rebounds.

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Did Lorenzo Romar play in the NBA?

After his graduation from Washington in 1980, Lorenzo Romar was drafted by the Golden State Warriors as the 141st pick. His best season with Golden State was 1982-83 when he averaged 7.6 points with 5.5 assists per game. After four seasons with the Warriors, Romar moved to Milwaukee and later Detroit.

From 1985 to 92, Romar played and coached for the Athletes in Action, where he had his career high in assists (1,689).

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Will Lorenzo Romar return to Pepperdine for next season?

On Tuesday, it was reported that Romar will end his time at Pepperdine following the 2023-24 season. Tim Perrin, Senior Vice President for Strategic Implementation said:

"Pepperdine benefited tremendously from Lorenzo Romar's leadership, both on and off the court, and we owe a debt of gratitude to him for the way he loved his players, our basketball program, and the university. The University thanks Coach Romar for his dedication to the men’s basketball team, and wishes him the very best in his future endeavors."

The university also announced that the search for Romar's replacement is underway. Pepperdine (13-19) will next face San Diego Toreros (17-14) on Friday.