Arizona announced on Wednesday that it has hired former Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd as the next men’s basketball coach.
In recent weeks, Lloyd had become the favorite to replace Sean Miller in Tucson. Arizona looked to coaches with connections to the Wildcats, namely Pacific’s Damon Stoudamire, Georgia Tech’s Josh Pastner, and Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Miles Simon, but the program chose to go outside of the family.
Lloyd, 46, was interviewed over the weekend, sources told ESPN.
The school said in a statement that Lloyd will be given a five-year contract.
“While there are certainly potential obstacles ahead for our program, I embrace the challenge as we 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 and has been an assistant coach under Mark Few for the past 20 seasons. The Bulldogs have made it to the NCAA tournament 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 is established as the top international college basketball recruiter and has brought dozens of foreign players to the Zags over the past two decades. International prospects who have played with Gonzaga and have been called up since Lloyd joined Few’s staff include Ronny Turiaf, Robert Sacre, Kelly Olynyk, Domantas Sabonis and Rui Hachimura.
That could be important when he takes over for Arizona, which last season had seven international players on its roster, including Azuolas Tubelis, born from Lithuania and Bennedict Mathurin from Canada.
“There was never a master plan,” Lloyd told ESPN last year of his international capability. ‘It was only one day at a time. One phone call, one relationship, one recruit. And once you start to be successful, more opportunities arise. ‘
He also played a key role in helping Gonzaga secure five-star prospects Jalen Suggs and Hunter Sallis in the past two recruiting classes, has the Zags in position to get No. 1 recruit Chet Holmgren, and also led the way in landing impact transfers Brandon. Clarke and Kyle Wiltjer.
Gonzaga’s waiting coach, Lloyd, had turned down multiple interviews at other jobs in recent years. But Arizona, despite the question marks looming over the program, is considered one of the elite college basketball jobs.
“I am fulfilled,” Lloyd told ESPN a year ago. “I love being in a place that is bigger than us on the coaching staff. We’re all part of something bigger than ourselves. And I think that’s something really 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 only made it to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament once since 2016. The Wildcats won at least a portion of five Pac-12 regular season championships under Miller.
Arizona had become entangled in the 2017 federal investigation into college basketball corruption. Former assistant coach Emanuel “Book” Richardson pleaded guilty to one felony of conspiracy to commit bribery after being charged with accepting $ 20,000 to lead Arizona players to aspiring sports agent Christian Dawkins. During Dawkins’s trial, prosecutors played a phone call intercepted by the FBI in which Richardson told Dawkins that Miller was paying $ 10,000 a month for former player Deandre Ayton.
Miller has consistently refused to pay players to go to Arizona.
The NCAA charged the men’s basketball program with four level I offenses, according to a statement of allegations released last month. The program was hit by two alleged cases of academic misconduct, while Miller was accused of failing to demonstrate “promoting an atmosphere of compliance and overseeing his staff.”
Arizona itself imposed a one-year postseason ban last season.