Tommy Lloyd

Mike Christy / Arizona Athletics

Title

Head Coach
Email

coaches@arizona.edu
Phone

621-2430

*2026 Naismith National Coach of the Year
*2026 The Sporting News National Coach of the Year
*2026 Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year
*2022 NABC National Coach of the Year*
*2022 USBWA National Coach of the Year*
*2022 Associated Press National Coach of the Year*
*2022 Pac-12 Coach of the Year*
*NCAA record for most wins by a head coach in his first five seasons (148)
*NCAA record for most wins by a head coach in his first two seasons (61)

Tommy Lloyd has established himself as one of the most successful coaches in college basketball history, building a powerhouse at the University of Arizona defined by winning, player development, and sustained national relevance. Since taking the reins of the Wildcats in 2021, Lloyd has authored the most accomplished opening stretch for a head coach in NCAA history, leading Arizona to multiple conference championships, deep NCAA Tournament runs, and a return to the Final Four—while setting multiple national records along the way.

Now in his sixth season at Arizona, Lloyd’s teams have become synonymous with unselfish play, offensive efficiency, and championship results, positioning the Wildcats among the elite programs in the country.

Tommy Lloyd — Year-by-Year Record

Season	Overall	Conference	Highlights
2021–22	33–4	18–2 1st Pac-12	- Pac-12 Regular Season & Tournament Champions - No. 1 seed in NCAA Tournament · Sweet 16 - National Coach of the Year (NABC, USBWA, AP)
2022–23	28–7	14–6 T2nd Pac-12	- Pac-12 Tournament Champions - No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament - Maui Invitational Champions
2023–24	27–9	15–5 1st Pac-12	- Pac-12 Regular Season Champions - No. 2 seed in NCAA Tournament · Sweet 16
2024–25	24–13	14–6 T3rd Big 12	- Big 12 Tournament championship game - Third Sweet 16 appearance in four seasons
2025–26	36–3	16–2 1st Big 12	- Final Four Appearance — first for Arizona since 2001 - Big 12 Regular Season & Tournament Champions - National Coach of the Year (Sporting News, Naismith)
Totals	148–36	77–21	- 2026 Final Four Appearance - NCAA record — most wins in first five seasons (148) - NCAA record — most wins in first two seasons (61) - 3 conference regular season titles - 3 conference tournament titles

AT ARIZONA

Since being named head coach on April 14, 2021, Tommy Lloyd has delivered unprecedented success in Tucson. Through his first five seasons, Lloyd compiled a 148–36 record, setting the NCAA record for most wins by a head coach in his first five seasons, while also posting a 61–11 mark across his first two years—another NCAA record.

The Wildcats enjoyed the most successful season in program history during the 2025–26 campaign, winning a school-record 36 games, capturing both the Big 12 regular season championship and Big 12 Tournament title, and advancing to the Final Four for the first time since 2001. Arizona finished the season ranked No. 3 in both the AP Poll and KenPom, boasting the No. 5 offense and No. 2 defense nationally. Lloyd earned Naismith National Coach of the Year, The Sporting News National Coach of the Year, and Big 12 Coach of the Year honors.

Across his tenure, Lloyd has guided Arizona to:

Three conference regular season championships (2022, 2024, 2026)
Three conference tournament titles (2022, 2023, 2026)
Four NCAA Sweet 16 appearances in five seasons
A Final Four appearance in 2026

Arizona is one of only eight programs nationally with 10 or more NCAA Tournament wins since the start of the 2021-22 season.

Lloyd’s teams have consistently been among the nation’s most efficient offensively. Since 2021-22, Arizona leads the country in total assists, ranks among the top teams in scoring, and leads all major-conference programs in field goal percentage, reflecting his hallmark team-first style of play.

Individually, Lloyd has coached three different conference Players of the Year—Bennedict Mathurin (2022), Caleb Love (2024), and Jaden Bradley (2026)—and has seen five players selected in the NBA Draft, including multiple first-round picks. His immediate impact was evident in 2021-22, when he became the first Arizona men’s basketball coach ever to earn Associated Press, USBWA, and NABC National Coach of the Year honors after leading the Wildcats to a 33–4 record and the Pac-12 regular season title.

Lloyd is also the first power conference coach to win his conference tournament in his first two seasons after capturing the 2022 and 2023 Pac-12 Tournament titles in Las Vegas.

The Wildcats were also champions in the classroom during Lloyd's first season, recording a then-record setting 3.04 team GPA in the Fall 2021 semester with four players posting a perfect 4.0 GPA. Then in the Spring 2022 semester, the team GPA improved to an all-time program best 3.14 with eight players posting a 3.5 or higher GPA. Arizona also earned NABC Team Academic Excellence award in 2021-22 for having a team GPA of 3.00 or higher, marking the first time that Wildcats had received the honor since the award began in 2012-13 season.

In April 2026, Lloyd signed a contract extension through the 2030–31 season, solidifying continuity for one of college basketball’s premier programs.

YEARLY CAPSULES

It was a record-setting season for Lloyd and the Wildcats in 2025-26, winning a school-record 36 games and advancing to the Final Four for the first time since 2001. Arizona won the Big 12 regular season championship by two games and then went on to win the Big 12 Tournament title as well. Senior point guard Jaden Bradley was named a Third Team All-American, Big 12 Player of the Year and garnered Big 12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player honors while freshman Brayden Burries was an Honorable Mention All-American and on the Big 12 All-Tournament team. Motiejus Krivas joined Bradley and Burries on the All-Big 12 First Team and Tobe Awaka was honorable mention while also being named Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year. Freshman Koa Peat was on the All-Big 12 Third Team and would go on to be named Most Outstanding Player of the West Region of the NCAA Tournament. As a team, Arizona finished the season ranked No. 3 in the AP poll and in the KenPom.com rankings, with the No. 5 ranked offense and No. 2 ranked defense.

The fourth year of the Tommy Lloyd era at Arizona was the first for the Wildcats as a member of the Big 12 Conference. With a 24-13 overall record and a 14-6 mark in conference play, the Wildcats earned a top four seed in the conference tournament and advanced to the title game. In the NCAA Tournament, Lloyd once again guided the team to the Sweet 16 - the third appearance in four seasons. Caleb Love earned First Team All-Big 12 honors while Henri Veesaar and Tobe Awaka were honorable mention. At 80.0 points per game, Arizona led the Big 12 and was the first Big 12 team since Baylor in 2020-21 to average 80 or more points. After starting the year 4-5 through the first nine games, the Cats won 13 of the next 14 to surge back into the national discussion. At the end of the season, Arizona ranked 13th in the final coaches poll and 15th in the final AP poll. Freshman Carter Bryant was the 9th overall pick in the NBA Draft, the fifth Wildcat to be selected in the draft under Lloyd's instruction.

The 2023-24 season saw Lloyd lead the Wildcats to a 27-9 overall record and a 15-5 mark in the Pac-12 to capture the regular season title. Senior guard Caleb Love was named Pac-12 Player of the Year, becoming the 10th Wildcat to receive the honor, after averaging 20.0 points and shooting 37.3% from the 3-point line in conference play. Player development continues to be a strength for Lloyd and his staff, as Oumar Ballo garnered first team all-conference honors for the second straight season. Pelle Larsson, who earned Second Team All Pac-12 honors, was selected 44th overall in the NBA Draft by the Miami Heat, giving Lloyd four draft picks in three seasons.

Year two for Lloyd in Tucson continued to add to the history and tradition of Arizona Basketball, as the Wildcats went 28-7 on the year and finished eighth in the final Associated Press poll of the season and No. 17 in the coaches poll. The Wildcats earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament after being pegged as a No. 1 seed the previous season, marking the first time since 2014 and 2015 that Arizona secured a top two seed in back-to-back NCAA Tournaments.

As a team, Arizona finished the 2022-23 season second in the country in assists per game (18.9) and sixth in scoring (81.9). Individually, Azuolas Tubelis was a consensus Second Team All-American and a first team all-conference honoree. He became the seventh player in Pac-12 history to lead the conference in scoring (19.8) and rebounding (9.1) in the same season.

Oumar Ballo was also a first team All Pac-12 honoree after finishing second in the conference in rebounding and third in field goal percentage and earning MVP of Maui Invitational. Courtney Ramey earned Pac-12 honorable mention and Kylan Boswell was on the Pac-12 honorable mention all-freshman team.

In his first season as a head coach in 2021-22, he was named National Coach of the Year by the NABC, USBWA and the Associated Press, becoming the first Arizona men's basketball head coach to win any of those awards. He led Arizona to a 33-4 overall record and a 18-2 mark in Pac-12 play to claim the conference's regular season title by three games over UCLA. The Kelso, Washington native set the Pac-12 record for most wins in his first season as head coach and the Wildcats became the first Pac-12 team to ever win 18 regular season conference games. The 33 wins are the second-most in NCAA history for a head coach in his first-ever season as a head coach, falling one short of UNC's Bill Guthridge mark of 34 in 1998.

Under his guidance in 2021-22, sophomore Bennedict Mathurin was named a consensus All-American as well as the Pac-12 Player of the Year and Most Outstanding Player of the Pac-12 Tournament, as he scored 655 points on the season, the ninth-most in Arizona history. Junior center Christian Koloko was named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year in addition to Pac-12 Most Improved Player of the Year and tied the Arizona single-season record for blocked shots (102) while also increasing his scoring output from 5.3 points per game as a sophomore to 12.6 as a junior and shooting 63.5% from the floor. Sophomore forward Azuolas Tubelis averaged 13.9 points per game and was named First Team All Pac-12 while Dalen Terry was honorable mention all-conference and ranked 12th nationally with a 2.84 assist-to-turnover ratio. Rounding out the award winners from the season was sophomore Pelle Larsson, who shot 47.8% from the floor and averaged 7.2 points and 3.4 rebounds to earn Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year accolades.

As a team in 2021-22, Arizona led the country and set a new Arizona single-season record with 726 assists. The Wildcats also set a new program record with 210 blocked shots, a total that ranked second nationally. The fast-paced offensive attack led to Arizona averaging 84.0 points per game - third nationally - and the most by an Arizona team since 2003-04.

USA BASKETBALL

In the summer of 2024, Lloyd led USA Basketball's U18 team to a 6-0 record on the way to the gold medal at the FIBA AmeriCup in Argentina.

He followed that up by guiding the U19 team to the top of the podium after a perfect 7-0 mark at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup in Switzerland alongside Arizona freshman Koa Peat and was named the 2025 USA Basketball Junior Coach of the Year.

PRIOR TO ARIZONA

Lloyd, who will turn 52 during the 2026-27 season, served as an administrative assistant at Gonzaga for Few during the 2000-01 season before being promoted to assistant coach prior to the 2001-02 season. In his 20 seasons in Spokane, the Zags posted a record of 578-109 (.841) and reached the NCAA Tournament every year, going as far as the title game twice, the Elite Eight twice and the Sweet 16 four times. Gonzaga was also ranked No. 1 in the country for the first time in program history in 2012-13 and then again ascended to the top spot in 2016-17, 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21.

During his tenure, Lloyd and the Zags won 19 West Coast Conference regular season titles and 15 WCC Tournament championships with the help of 87 all-WCC honorees, including nine newcomers of the year and six defenders of the year.

Coach Lloyd was instrumental in the Zags signing and developing NBA players, including two-time NBA All-Star Domantas Sabonis, Rui Hachimura, Kelly Olynyk, Zach Collins, Adam Morrison, Brandon Clarke, Kyle Wiltjer, Austin Daye, Robert Sacre, Ronny Turiaf, Jeremy Pargo and Elias Harris.

Lloyd has used his knowledge of the European game to help Gonzaga players earn professional contracts overseas while also helping to cultivate recruiting relationships that have led to the signing of international players such as Martynas Arlauskas (Lithuania), Joel Ayayi (France), Oumar Ballo (Mali) and Pavel Zakharov (Russia). Also included among his former players are Japanese National Team member Hachimura; Polish National Team member Przemek Karnowski; Lithuanian National Team member Sabonis (the son of Naismith Hall of Famer Arvydas Sabonis); Canadians Kevin Pangos, Olynyk and Sacre; Germans Harris and Mathis Mönninghoff; JP Baptista of Brazil; Frenchmen Turiaf, Killian Tillie and Mathis Keita; Filip Petrusev of Serbia; Guy Landry Edi of the Ivory Coast; and Addullahi Kuso of Nigeria.

The Zags have had one of the most potent offenses in the nation over the last 20 years, joining North Carolina and Duke as the only three schools in the country to average more than 80 points per game. Gonzaga also led the country in overall field goal percentage (49.6%) and three-point field goal percentage (37.9%) in that span.

PERSONAL

A 1993 graduate of Kelso High School in Washington, Lloyd went on to attend Walla Walla Community College for two seasons and was an All-Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges All-East Region selection in 1995. Following his graduation from WWCC, he finished his career at Whitman College, earning his degree in biology and a secondary teaching credential. He played professionally in Brisbane, Australia in 1997 and Dusseldorf, Germany in 1999.

Lloyd and his wife, Chanelle, have three children - Liam, Sofia and Maria - and two grandchildren, Luka and Londyn.

Liam played basketball two seasons at Grand Canyon University (2020-22) and two seasons at Northern Arizona University (2022-24) before transferring to play at Arizona for his fifth season. He appeared in 110 games over five seasons, making 57 starts, and scoring a total of 447 points in his college career.