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The move to hire Terry was all but done a month ago, but the hiring freeze in UA's athletic department held it up slightly. Once the school on May 19, the addition of Terry appeared close to being official.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ athletic director Dave Heeke indicated last month exceptions to UA's hiring freeze might be possible once coronavirus-related NCAA recruiting restrictions are lifted.

The restrictions have not been lifted -- in fact, the NCAA extended its recruiting dead period until July 31 on Wednesday -- but the Wildcats have already been busy virtually chasing several key 2021 recruits from Terry’s home area in Seattle, including five-star forward Paolo Banchero.

In addition, the Pac-12 has given schools the go-ahead to resume on-campus workouts as early as June 15, and ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is expected to gather basketball players by July.

A key sixth man for ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s 1997 national champions and an All-American as a senior in 1998-99, Terry went on to play 19 years in the NBA. He also coached and ran a Dallas-area girls club team and served last season as an assistant general manager for the G League’s Texas Legends.

Terry, 42, has a jersey hanging in the McKale Center rafters.

He earned that honor by being named the national player of the year in 1998-99 by Sports Illustrated, CBS and the Basketball Times, but ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ did not honor him for 15 years after an NCAA investigation found Terry accepted $11,500 from agents while playing for the Wildcats as a senior.

The NCAA’s finding prompted ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ to forfeit $45,363 in NCAA Tournament revenues while vacating its 1999 NCAA Tournament first-round loss to Oklahoma. In 2000, the school made an agreement with the then-Pac-10 Conference to ban Terry from the UA Sports Hall of Fame, with a provision that his jersey would not be retired.

But Terry eventually repaid the $45,363 in forfeited NCAA Tournament revenue and went on to graduate from UA in 2014. The school raised his framed jersey in McKale in 2015.