Arizona announced on Wednesday that it has appointed former Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd as its next men’s basketball coach.
For the past few weeks, Lloyd has been the favorite to replace Sean Miller in Tucson. Arizona looked for coaches with connections to the Wildcats, namely the Damon Stoudamire of the Pacific, the Josh Pastner of Georgia Tech and Miles Simon, the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, but the program chose to go outside the family.
Lloyd, 46, was interviewed over the weekend, sources told ESPN.
The school said in a statement that Lloyd would get a five-year contract.
“While there are certainly possible obstacles ahead for our program, I accept the challenge as we will build on the foundation to compete for Pac-12 and national championships,” Lloyd said in a statement.
Lloyd has been with Gonzaga since 2000 and has served as assistant coach under Mark Few for the past 20 seasons. The Bulldogs have reached the NCAA Tournament in every season since Lloyd joined the program. They reached the national championship game twice, in 2017 and last season, when their unbeaten record was ended by Baylor.
Lloyd has established itself as the best international recruiter in university basketball, bringing the overseas players to the Zags over the past two decades. International prospects played at Gonzaga and drawn up since Lloyd joined Few’s staff include Ronny Turiaf, Robert Sacre, Kelly Olynyk, Domantas Sabonis and Rui Hachimura.
This could be important as he takes over at Arizona, which has had seven international players on its roster this past season, including Lithuania, Azuolas Tubelis, and Bennedict Mathurin, Canada.
“There was never a master plan,” Lloyd told ESPN last year about his international prowess. “It was just one day at a time. One call, one relationship, one site. And once you start succeeding, more opportunities present themselves.”
He also played a key role in helping Gonzaga get five-star prospects. Brandon Clarke and Kyle Wiltjer.
The coach who waits at Gonzaga, Lloyd, has turned down several opportunities over the past few years to interview others. But Arizona, despite the question marks that prevail over the program, is considered one of the outstanding positions in college basketball.
“I’m fulfilled,” Lloyd told ESPN a year ago. “I like being in a place that’s bigger than one of us on the coaching staff. We’re all part of something bigger than ourselves. And I think that’s something special.”
Lloyd replaces Sean Miller, who was sacked earlier this month after 12 seasons at Tucson. He led the Wildcats to seven NCAA tournaments and three Elite Eight tournaments, but has reached the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament just once since 2016. The Wildcats have won at least a portion of five Pac-12 championships in the regular season under Miller.
Arizona was entangled in the 2017 federal investigation into corruption in university basketball. Former assistant coach Emanuel “Book” Richardson has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery after being accused of accepting $ 20,000 to send players from Arizona to prospective sports agent Christian Dawkins. During Dawkins’ trial, prosecutors played a call intercepted by the FBI in which Richardson told Dawkins that Miller was paying $ 10,000 a month to former player Deandre Ayton.
Miller has consistently denied paying players to attend Arizona.
The NCAA has charged the men’s basketball program with four Level I offenses, according to a notice of allegations released last month. The program was hit with two suspected cases of academic misconduct, while Miller was charged with failing to foster an atmosphere of compliance and monitoring his staff.
Arizona itself imposed a ban on a post-season for last season itself.