Arizona announced Wednesday that it has hired Gonzaga’s former assistant, Tommy Lloyd, as his next men’s basketball coach.
For the past few weeks, Lloyd had been the favorite to replace Sean Miller in Tucson. Arizona looked at Wildcats-linked coaches Damon Stoudamire of the Pacific, Josh Pastner of Georgia Tech and Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Miles Simon, but the program opted to go outside the family.
Lloyd, 46, interviewed over the weekend, sources told ESPN.
The school said in a statement that Lloyd will receive a five-year contract.
“While there are certainly potential hurdles to our program, I accept the challenge because we will build on the existing foundation to compete for Pac-12 and national championships,” Lloyd said in a statement.
Lloyd has been with Gonzaga since 2000, serving as assistant coach under Mark Few for the past 20 seasons. The Bulldogs have reached the NCAA tournament every season since Lloyd joined the program. They reached the national championship twice, in 2017 and last season, when their undefeated record was ended by Baylor.
Lloyd is established as the best international basketball recruiter in college, bringing dozens of foreign players to the Zags in the last two decades. Internationals who have played for Gonzaga and have been recruited since Lloyd joined Few’s team include Ronny Turiaf, Robert Sacre, Kelly Olynyk, Domantas Sabonis and Rui Hachimura.
This could be important when he takes on Arizona, who had seven international players on his roster last season, including Lithuanian Azuolas Tubelis and Canadian Bennedict Mathurin.
“There has never been a general plan,” Lloyd told ESPN last year about his international prowess. “It’s only been one day in a row. A phone call, a relationship, a recruit. And once you start being successful, there are more opportunities.”
He also played a key role in helping Gonzaga secure five-star potential Jalen Suggs and Hunter Sallis in the last two recruiting classes, has the Zags in position to get No. 1 general recruit Chet Holmgren and He also led the way in landing impact transfers, such as Brandon Clarke and Kyle Wiltjer.
Gonzaga’s coach, Lloyd, has turned down multiple opportunities to interview other jobs in recent years. But Arizona, despite the question marks that appear in the program, is considered one of the elite jobs in college basketball.
“I’m fulfilled,” Lloyd told ESPN a year ago. “I like being in a bigger place than any of us coaching staff. We’re all part of something bigger than ourselves. And I think it’s something pretty special.”
Lloyd replaces Sean Miller, who was fired earlier this month after 12 seasons in Tucson. He led the Wildcats to seven NCAA tournaments and three Elite Eight appearances, but had reached the second weekend of the NCAA tournament only once in 2016. The Wildcats won at least a portion of five Pac-12 regular season championships under Miller.
Arizona was involved in the 2017 federal investigation into basketball corruption. Former assistant coach Emanuel “Book” Richardson has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit bribery after being accused of accepting $ 20,000 to guide Arizona players to aspiring sportsman Christian Dawkins. During Dawkins’ trial, prosecutors made an FBI interception call in which Richardson told Dawkins that Miller was paying $ 10,000 a month for former player Deandre Ayton.
Miller consistently refused to pay players to participate in Arizona.
The NCAA has charged the men’s basketball program with four Level I violations, according to an indictment released last month. The program was hit by two alleged cases of academic misconduct, while Miller was charged with failing to prove “that he promoted an atmosphere of compliance and monitored his staff.”
Arizona has imposed a one-year post-season ban on itself for last season.