FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — Former Gonzaga Bulldogs guard Gary Bell Jr. admitted he thought he'd still be playing basketball at this stage in his life, but he couldn't be happier passing on his hoops knowledge as he enters his second season as an assistant coach at Northern Arizona University.
"You don't know if you're ready until you're actually doing it," Bell told Andy Patton on the Locked on Zags podcast. "As the year went on, you get better [and] you find different ways to get your point across. It was a really good learning year for me."
Bell played at Gonzaga from 2011-2015, winning WCC Defensive Player of the Year as a senior before embarking on a four year professional career which took him to Poland, France, and Greece before he ended up back in Spokane for three years, two as a graduate assistant and one as Coordinator of Basketball Administration.
What led to Bell making the transition to the sidelines? A chance conversation with former Gonzaga assistant and current Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd, at the wedding of Bell's backcourt running mate at Gonzaga, Kevin Pangos.
"I saw [Lloyd] there and said I want to get into this coaching space," Bell said. "I just threw it out there. And a year goes by and I get a text from him and he said 'I'm taking you up on that offer'...he gave me the opportunity to come be a GA and the rest is history."
Bell may have been a defensive star while at Gonzaga, but he described his role with the Lumberjacks as offensive coordinator, and folks who watch Gonzaga and/or Arizona basketball will see a familiar offensive style implemented at Northern Arizona.
"I'm putting in the Gonzaga offense, as far as ducking in, high low, flow style like how Gonzaga and Arizona play," Bell explained. "Obviously I played in it, and seeing it as a grad assistant and in operations the past three years I knew it, so coming here and coaching it and teaching it was a struggle at first, but like I said I just got better every day."
NAU finished 284th in tempo and 307th in offensive efficiency at KenPom in 2021-22, but after just one year Bell helped this team jump up to 196th in tempo and 123rd in efficiency, with steady improvement throughout the season.
Now, with one year under his belt and transfers coming in who better fit the team's offensive goals, another leap is almost certainly coming for the Lumberjacks, who finished ninth in the Big Sky regular season but went on a torrid run in the conference tournament and narrowly missed punching a ticket into the NCAA Tournament.
As for Bell, his transition into coaching may have had plenty of ups and downs, much like NAU's season, but he's fired up and ready for year two after learning a lot last season.
"It's been a great year for me man," Bell said. "Just getting out of my comfort zone."
NAU will open the season on the road in Storrs, Connecticut to take on the defending champion UConn Huskies on Monday, November 6.