Tommy Lloyd staying at Arizona: Wildcats coach turns down massive offer from North Carolina

INDIANAPOLIS — Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd definitively put an finish to all of the North Carolina hypothesis on Friday.

The 51-year-old coach of the Wildcats introduced at his early afternoon press convention that he won’t be going to UNC and has as a substitute agreed to phrases of a brand new contract with the University of Arizona. Lloyd had performed coy and was noncommittal a number of occasions earlier this week when requested concerning the vacant UNC job and his public connection to the opening, stirring comprehensible anxiousness for the U of A fan base. 

“I’m happy to announce I’m staying at Arizona,” Lloyd stated Friday at Lucas Oil Stadium throughout the press convention earlier than the Wildcats’ recreation on Saturday vs. Michigan within the Final Four. “We’ve been able to get some things done the past couple (of) 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.”

The college later introduced Lloyd’s new contract.

Sources instructed CBS Sports that Lloyd was North Carolina’s No. 1 goal upon Hubert Davis’ formal firing on March 24, and that UNC’s aggressive push mixed with some main particulars to be labored out at Arizona led to greater than per week’s price of negotiating between Lloyd’s camps and the varsity. Outgoing UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham made a number of makes an attempt to reel in Lloyd, who’s received extra video games by means of his first 5 seasons (148) than any males’s school basketball coach in historical past. The Tar Heels job is taken into account one of many highest in school basketball, and as such, UNC was ready to offer Lloyd one of many richest contracts within the sport. Lloyd will probably be taking much less cash to stay at Arizona, although sources say his new wage will probably be $7.2 million yearly, which would be No. 4 among public school coaches (personal faculties equivalent to Duke don’t disclose wage numbers). Lloyd’s pay for the 2025-26 season was $4.85 million. 

“It’s an honor to even be considered for that job,” Lloyd stated. “The young kid, for me the college basketball junkie watching those games at home, never would have thought something like that could have happened to somebody like me. North Carolina is a first-class organization, and I appreciate them for the way they’ve handled this.”

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Lloyd is in for the lengthy haul at Arizona because of a serious situation of his new deal: Lloyd will now not report back to his athletic director, Desireé Reed-Francois and can as a substitute report back to Arizona president Suresh Garimella. Lloyd’s working relationship with Reed-Francois has confronted severe friction lately resulting from battles of NIL and employees advantages.

Lloyd’s new deal is predicted to be for 5 years with a lift in wage pool for assistants and incentive construction for his teaching employees as properly.

With Lloyd working from a place of utmost leverage, he was capable of do what he wished the entire thing: keep in Tucson. He’s introduced Arizona to its first Final Four in 25 years and is 2 wins away from the varsity’s second nationwide championship. 

With Lloyd now out of the operating at Carolina, the search will now shift to Michigan coach Dusty May, who coincidentally sufficient will match wits in opposition to on Saturday evening within the second semifinal right here at the Final Four. Chicago Bulls coach Billy Donovan is the opposite high candidate that North Carolina has on its board, sources stated, although Donovan won’t significantly have interaction with the varsity till the tip of the Bulls’ season April 12.

Tommy Lloyd’s profession document