You saw it, I saw it, we all saw it: Tommy Lloyd got a little, um, a lot emotional in attempting to get his team riled up in the second half of the Houston game.
What was that all about? It’s not like the Tommy Lloyd we’ve seen the last four years guiding the Wildcats. Maybe once, maybe twice he’s lit into a player.
Maybe.
This was different – he was animated. It was different.
Again, what was all that about? Of course, there’s a back story.
“ESPN was really on me about doing it,” Lloyd said, when I asked him about that moment. “I’m gonna be honest with you, I had a friend who’s high up at ESPN reach out to me, and kind of made me feel guilty for not doing the in-game stuff.”
So, Lloyd agreed and created a moment that will live in Lloyd lore.
“Here’s the deal – I’m not a psycho,” he said. “Obviously, I was trying to get my team’s attention in a big game, that’s coaching. And I don’t do that stuff because I’m not trying to look smart. I’m not trying to look crazy. I’m just a normal guy. I want to be a normal guy in Tucson.
“I don’t want people to come in and look at me like a crazy guy and with pictures of my face on their T-shirt yelling at somebody. I mean, that’s kind of embarrassing for me. I said yes because it was for a friend. It probably didn’t turn out the way I like.”
But it sure stirred the juices of those who follow him and the Wildcats. Heck, how many times have you heard, he’s not competitive enough. Or that he’s concerned enough because he’s not ranting and raving on the sidelines.
“You don’t do this job if you’re not competitive,” he said. “You don’t do this job if you’re not wired a little different. But that doesn’t mean, when you step away from it you can’t be a normal person.”
And he is. His very good friend and pickleball-playing competitor Paul Volpe knows all about Lloyd’s competitiveness. He’s seen it before – and some emotion from it, too.
But, he hadn’t seen the Lloyd huddle moment until after the game.
“I was at the game and started getting texts from people back home asking if Tommy was ok,” Volpe said. “My mother-in-law thought he would have a heart attack. I saw the clip after and then it all made sense why I was getting those messages.
“I loved it and shows his intensity that I think a lot of people never saw before. It clearly shows his competitiveness and what he expects from his team. It’s no different than on the pickleball court. Mind you, he’s never gotten that fired up before, but he plays to win. And he’s always working on something when he’s playing, no different than when he’s on the court coaching. He’s a great competitor and those few moments caught on camera confirm that.”
How did the player’s take it? Like their coach was getting on them – no more, no less.
“It just shows the passion he has and how much he wants to win,” Trey Townsend said. “… I don’t look at it as a bad thing, just shows how determined he is to win.”
