Tommy Lloyd isn’t going anywhere.
On Friday, Arizona’s head coach announced he had turned down an offer to become the next head coach at North Carolina and has instead agreed to a new deal to remain in Tucson.
During a press conference ahead of this weekend’s Final Four in Indianapolis, Lloyd made his intentions clear. “I'm happy to announce I'm staying at Arizona,” he said. “We've been able to get some things done the past couple days. Arizona basketball, you guys know what it means to me, and when I say it's a special place, that always comes from the bottom of my heart.”
According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Lloyd’s new deal with the Wildcats is for five years. It will start next season and pay him $7.2 million, then average $7.5 million over the life of the contract. It includes bonuses and an increase to the program’s staff salary pool.
CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander is reporting that North Carolina offered to make Lloyd one of the two highest-paid coaches in college basketball. Instead, he accepted less to remain at Arizona, where he has had a ton of early success.
Lloyd didn’t fully shut down questions about the Tar Heels on Thursday, sparking speculation that he was considering a move to Chapel Hill. That’s definitively over now.
After Sean Miller’s departure following the 2020-21 season, Lloyd was hired as Arizona’s new head coach. The 51-year-old had spent the previous 20 years as an assistant at Gonzaga under Mark Few.
Since taking the job, Lloyd has been wildly successful. In his first season, the Wildcats went 33-4, won the Pac-12 regular-season and tournament titles, and reached the Sweet 16. They also reached the Sweet 16 in 2024 and last year, before putting together one of the best campaigns in school history this season.
Arizona is currently 36-2 and went 16-2 in the Big 12, winning the conference regular-season and tournament titles. The Wildcats are in their first Final Four since 2001 and have a real shot at winning their first championship since 1997.
In his five seasons in Tucson, Lloyd boasts a record of 148–35 (.809), and 77–21 (.786) in conference games. He has secured three conference titles and three conference tournament championships in that time. He was named AP and Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2022, and earned Big 12 Coach of the Year honors this season.
Lloyd and the Wildcats are set for a blockbuster matchup with Michigan in the Final Four at 8:40 p.m. ET on Saturday.
With Lloyd locked in at Arizona, it’s back to the drawing board for North Carolina. The school fired Hubert Davis last week after five seasons. The Tar Heels were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tour for the second year in a row. Davis was hired to replace the retiring Roy Williams in 2021 and led the team to the national title game in his first season. They lost to Kansas 72-69 despite holding a 15-point halftime lead. In all, Davis went 125–54 (.698) overall and 68–30 (.694) in the ACC during his five-year tenure. He won the ACC regular season title in 2024 and reached the Sweet 16, but the rest of his tenure fell short of expectations.
There is a lengthy list of capable candidates for the job, but Lloyd was certainly at the top of the heap.
More College Basketball from Sports Illustrated
- How Silas Demary Jr. Won Over Dan Hurley and UConn in One Night
- Women’s Final Four Preview, Live Updates: UConn vs. South Carolina, UCLA vs. Texas
- Cameron Boozer Becomes Just the Fifth Freshman Named AP Player of the Year
- How International Big Men Are Shaping the Men’s Final Four
- What’s Next for North Carolina After Tommy Lloyd Agreed to Arizona Contract Extension
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Tommy Lloyd Turns Down North Carolina, Lands New Deal at Arizona.
