Tommy Lloyd’s first season as head coach of the Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball team has been filled with success, and the school honored him on Monday by giving him a contract extension.
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello reports that Lloyd and the school reached an agreement on an extension that will pay him $5.25 million in the first year and keep him employed until 2029. By the fifth and last year of the agreement, that payout will have increased to $6 million.
“To have finally completed a long-term extension here at the University of Arizona makes me feel humbled and thankful. In the program announcement, Lloyd stated, “I am energized by the support of our donors, President Robbins, our players, our fans, and our alumni.”
“We all share the same goal of preserving a nationally renowned, fiercely competitive basketball program that offers the student athletes an outstanding experience. We’ll keep up the tradition of Wildcat basketball and give it our all to inspire folks to cheer “Bear Down!”
In April 2021, Arizona hired Lloyd to take over as head coach of the program from Sean Miller, who was sacked for his involvement in the federal probe into college basketball corruption.
Before joining the Wildcat coaching staff, Lloyd spent twenty seasons as Mark Few’s assistant coach at Gonzaga. He contributed to the Bulldogs’ two trips to the national championship game and helped make the program a national force.
2021–2022 wasdebut as a head coach, and he quickly made an impression, winning the Associated Press and Pac-12 Coach of the Year titles. Arizona finished 33-4 and took home the regular-season and conference tournament titles from the Pac-12.
It was seeded first in the NCAA tournament, but in the Sweet 16, it fell to Houston, which was ranked fifth. his season.
In his second season, the Wildcats finished 28-7 and won the Pac-12 tournament once more before being taken aback as the No. 2 seed in the Big Dance’s opening round. Although Lloyd’s squad is 20-5 and ranked No. 4 in the nation, the defeat to 15th-seeded Princeton cast doubt on the start of the current campaign.
In the competition for the Pac-12 regular-season championship, Arizona sits one game ahead of Washington State in terms of losses, and they will once more have high hopes come March.
With this new deal, Lloyd will face more challenges than just winning the NCAA tournament. In an effort to keep up its reputation as a basketball powerhouse, Arizona is also moving to the Big 12 beginning with the upcoming season.
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