Tommy Lloyd agrees to 5-year deal at Arizona as he chases national title, per report
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Tommy Lloyd isn’t just turning down the vacant North Carolina job.
He’s also apparently in it for the long haul at Arizona. According to a report on Friday afternoon by ESPN insider Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello, the 51-year-old Lloyd announced that he has agreed to a new 5-year deal with Arizona that will make him 1 of the 5 highest-paid coaches in college basketball.
Earlier on Friday during his press conference at the Final Four, Lloyd announced to reporters that he was staying put in the desert and not interested in pursuing the illustrious opening that current exists in Chapel Hill after North Carolina parted ways with Hubert Davis.
Lloyd’s loyalty to Arizona and the Big 12 is now being rewarded with this reported new 5-year deal.
“I’m happy to announce I’m staying at Arizona,” Lloyd told reporters on Friday. “North Carolina is an amazing place … It’s an honor to even be considered for that job.”
Right now, Lloyd has a lot on his plate at Arizona. He’s at the Final Four in Indianapolis trying to lead the Wildcats to their first national title since 1997. Lloyd coached Arizona to its first Final Four appearance since 2001, and the top-seeded Wildcats will face another top-seeded behemoth, Michigan, in Saturday night’s highly anticipated clash of college basketball titans.
With Arizona on the precipice of getting to the sport’s mountaintop, its fans can now apparently breathe easy that Lloyd will be sticking around Tucson for a long while after this special season is over. Lloyd has been the head coach at Arizona since 2021, rolling up a 148-35 record heading into Saturday night’s mega matchup.
With Lloyd’s Wildcats closing in on possible glory in Indianapolis, here is what the current Kalshi market is saying about Arizona and the other 3 Final Four teams’ chances to be the last one standing on Monday night:
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
