INDIANAPOLIS – Tommy Lloyd is returning as Arizona’s basketball coach. It was announced on Friday afternoon here at the Final Four. He’s been extended to the 2030-31 season, ending a couple of weeks of speculation whether he’d stay or leave for North Carolina.
Friday afternoon all the speculation ended.
“I’m happy to announce I’m staying at Arizona,” Lloyd said Friday during his press conference at Lucas Oil Stadium ahead of the Final Four. “We’ve been able to get some things done the past couple days. Arizona basketball, you guys know what it means to me, and when I say it’s a special place, that always comes from the bottom of my heart.”
According to reports, Tommy Lloyd agreed to a new five-year contract extension. And will reportedly make nearly $7.2 million annually and averaging $7.5 million over its term. The deal includes significant bonuses, staff salary commitments, and positions him among the five highest-paid coaches in college basketball.
For the last couple of weeks, there had been a flurry of discussions of what it would take to keep Lloyd, who is finishing up his fifth season here at the Final Four, Arizona’s first in 25 years.
There had been numerous sources nationally and with AllSportsTucson.com that the rift between Lloyd and UA athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois was real. According to CBS’s Matt Norlander Lloyd no longer has to report to Reed-Francois.
Sources all along have said Lloyd wanted to stay.
“North Carolina is an amazing place it’s an honor to be even considered for that job,” Lloyd said. “NC is a first-class organization and I appreciate them for the way they handled this.”
Lloyd also said the rumored call between Michael Jordan and himself never happened.
“The phone call with Michael Jordan never did happen, I’ll put that to rest,” he said. “We all idolized MJ… With that being said though… my Michael Jordan is Steve Kerr. And I’m proud to be an Arizona Wildcat.”
The last few days negotiations heated up with upper administration getting involved – or more involved- and a deal was struck in the last 24 hours.
“Honestly, I’ve been full focused on our deal,” LLoyd said. “There’s obviously people behind the scenes that were helping me and working with the administration. This wasn’t like meant to be like a leverage deal. I appreciate our administration, and I think we’ve made huge progress on what the vision for Arizona basketball can be. I appreciate them getting behind it and kind of rallying behind it, investing in it.
“It’s not about me; it’s about everyone that identifies with that block A. To me, that’s the driving force, and I’ve always told you that for me it’s to be able to deliver for them and kind of be an entity that our community can rally around and feel good about.
I love being in the middle of that, so I’m thankful.”
