Arizona basketball coach Tommy Lloyd agrees to contract extension
Good news for Arizona basketball fans. Tommy Lloyd is staying in Tucson as the Wildcats' head coach, taking him out of the running for the UNC job.
INDIANAPOLIS — Rest easy, University of Arizona men's basketball faithful. Tommy Lloyd isn't going anywhere. Lloyd, 51, has been given a contract extension which will keep him in Tucson through 2030-31.
The news came on the eve of Arizona's NCAA Tournament Final Four game against Michigan at Lucas Oil Stadium. It effectively takes him out of the running for the vacancy at North Carolina for which he was considered a leading contender. Lloyd, rounding out his fifth year, has been asked about his interest in that vacancy several times in the last two weeks.
Each time he deflected, saying that he was focused on his team's performance this week. Lloyd has led the team to an impressive 148-35 (. 809) record in his five years.
This season, Arizona won the Big 12 regular season championship, as well as the Big 12 Tournament, no small feat given that the Big 12 is the standard in men's basketball. Lloyd served as an assistant to Mark Few at Gonzaga from 2001 until getting his first head coaching position at Arizona in 2021. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Men's basketball coach Tommy Lloyd is staying at Arizona