SAN JOSEΒ β Arizona athletic director DesireΓ© Reed-Francois said she would do βeverything possibleβ to keep Tommy Lloyd as the UA menβs basketball coach, after his name was linked to the vacant North Carolina job earlier this week.
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd speaks during a press conference Wednesday, March 25, 2026, in San Jose, Calif., ahead of a Sweet 16 game against Arkansas in the NCAA Tournament.Β
Lloyd is finishing the first season of a five-year deal paying him $5.1 million in school-paid funds this season, with a buyout that drops from $11 million to $9 million on April 1.
When asked about being linked to the prestigious North Carolina job earlier this week, Lloyd said βI already have one of the top jobsβ in college basketball, but the UNC job is widely viewed as one of the industryβs top three.
In addition, The Athletic reported there is βindustry chatter that suggests discordβ between Lloyd and Reed-Francois, while all indications to the Star have been that any differences are about resources devoted to menβs basketball from the athletic department. Reed-Francois was hired in February 2024, during the height of UAβs campus-wide financial crisis, replacing Dave Heeke, who hired Lloyd in 2021.
Reached during a UA fan event in downtown San Jose on Thursday before UAβs Sweet 16 game against Arkansas, Reed-Francois called Lloyd a βphenomenal coachβ she aimed to keep.
βWeβre gonna do everything possible to retain him,β Reed-Francois said. βOur hope is that he retires a Wildcat.β
When Lloyd's contract was amended last April to continue through 2029-30, it did not give him a raise over what he was scheduled to earn in his previous contract, except for the addition of an extra year in 2029-30 with a 4.5% raise.
But it included a new clause stipulating that UA must agree with him by every Feb. 15 on a roster budget containing revenue-sharing funds from UA and outside NIL funds that will be used to pay players the following season.
"University and Coach acknowledge that University intends to remain competitive within the upper end of the Big 12 Conference and with other similarly situated (power conference) public institutions," the clause reads. "Each budget shall include amounts regarding revenue-share and other related monetary amounts not counting toward the University's revenue-share cap."
It is not clear if or what number UA has agreed to for the 2026-27 year but top power conference teams have had roster budgets starting at $10 million this season.
The Star filed a public records request in April 2025 for the athletic department's proposed 2025-26 budget and revenue-share percentages but UA has not returned any records.
This season, UA men's basketball was believed to have a player roster budget around $10 million, in the high-major ballpark but still below what some top men's basketball programs have (Kentucky's has been reported at $22 million).
UA will not release its roster budget publicly but the portion of it that is made up of school-paid revenue-sharing funds is believed to be about $3.5 million, with outside-paid NIL funds making up the balance.
Under the House settlement approved last June, schools are allowed to pay up to $20.5 million to all sports, and can determine what percentage of that pot to pay each team. NIL budgets are essentially unlimited but subject to review.
Lloyd's personal salary scale, meanwhile, did not change with the revision in April 2025. The contract that the Arizona Board of Regents approved last April guaranteed Lloyd $5.1 million this season and next season, then $5.35 million in 2027-28, $5.6 million in 2028-29 and $5.85 million in 2029-30.
Those figures count school-paid base salary and $700,000 per year for additional duties, while Lloyd is also contracted to receive at least an extra $200,000 each from Arizona Sports Enterprises and Nike, for a total guaranteed package of $5.5 million this season and next.
