Arizona Basketball head coach Tommy Lloyd to sign extension

With one successful season in the books, Arizona Basketball has rewarded head coach Tommy Lloyd by giving him an extension through 2026-27. 

The Tommy Lloyd era of Arizona Basketball started with a bang! Despite using a new collegiate head coach this year, the Wildcats far exceeded many expectations, winning 30-plus games, a regular season conference title, a conference tournament championship, and advanced to the Sweet 16.

Naturally, with a season like that, you would extend your head coach, and that is exactly what Arizona did!

Breaking the news via social media, basketball analyst Jon Rothstein of College Hoops Today announced that the Wildcats are extending coach Lloyd.

Now granted, this is all pending approval from the Arizona Board of Regents; however, I do not see any scenario where this doesn’t get approved.

Tommy’s current contract runs through 2025-26, but with this new one, Lloyd would receive $19 million over the next five seasons. Lloyd would reportedly earn an average of $3.8 million per year.

The pending contract extension would reward Tommy Lloyd as well as solidify the future of Arizona Basketball.

Year one of the Tommy Lloyd era went about as well as anyone could have imagined. He wrangled in a talented roster, he got the kids to buy in quickly, and despite a poor matchup against Houston in the Sweet 16, this was a team that could have possibly continued dancing into the third weekend of the NCAA Tournament.

It would be hard to argue against the pay increase since the Wildcats are poised to have three NBA Draft Selections in the upcoming Draft, and beyond that, Lloyd also earned AP Coach of the Year Honors after the 33-4 mark he had in 2021-22.

Big things are on the horizon in Tucson, especially as Lloyd adds highly-touted players Kylan Boswell and KJ Evans to the recruiting class of 2023, and is still in play for several key recruits for this year and next year! That is why this contract extension comes with perfecting timing!