Lorenzo Romar’s time as head coach of the Pepperdine men’s basketball team will end at the close of this season. The university announced on Tuesday that Romar, 65, will no longer be the Waves’ coach after six seasons.
Pepperdine Senior Vice President for Strategic Implementation Tim Perrin said the school benefited from Romar’s leadership on and off the court and owed him gratitude for the way he cared for Pepperdine overall.
“The university thanks Coach Romar for his dedication to the men’s basketball team, and wishes him the very best in his future endeavor,” he said.
Pepperdine plays Pacific on Thursday in the first round of the West Coast Conference Tournament. The team concluded the regular season on Feb. 29 with a loss to Saint Mary’s. The squad has a 12-19 record, its third consecutive losing season.
Romar was hired as the Waves head coach to much fanfare in March 2018. He came to Pepperdine two years after a successful 15-year tenure as the University of Washington’s men’s basketball coach. Romar guided Washington to six NCAA Tournament appearances and three Sweet 16 runs. He also coached several future NBA players. Romar spent a year as the Arizona men’s basketball team’s associate head coach before taking the reins of the program in Malibu.
This was Romar’s second stint as the leader on the Waves’ sideline. He coached the Waves from 1996 to 1999 — his first head coaching gig — before moving on to be Saint Louis head coach and then Washington’s. The high point of Romar’s second tenure as Pepperdine’s coach was perhaps leading the team to the College Basketball Invitational title in 2021. He also coached two players — Kessler Edwards and Maxwell Lewis — who were selected in the NBA Draft. However, the losses on the court outnumbered the wins. Pepperdine finished last season with a 9-22 record. The Waves went 7-25 in 2021-22 and 15-12 the season before.