βIf those issues werenβt hanging over the program, we wouldnβt be sitting here talking right now. I mean, Sean (Miller) would be the head coach and he would be killing it,β said Tommy Lloyd.
President Robert Robbins, left, and athletic director Dave Heeke, center, listen as new basketball coach Tommy Lloyd speaks last week.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star
βIf those issues werenβt hanging over the program, we wouldnβt be sitting here talking right now. I mean, Sean (Miller) would be the head coach and he would be killing it,β said Tommy Lloyd.
When Arizona put on a celebratory introduction for its new menβs basketball coach last Thursday at McKale Center, talk focused on Tommy Lloydβs championship pedigree at Gonzaga, his character, his recruiting ability and his player development.
But nothing about his clean NCAA record. Even though it could potentially help shoo away the elephant thatβs been living McKale Center for 3 1/2 years now.
βIβm not going to comment on anything from an NCAA perspective,β UA athletic director Dave Heeke said, when asked about Lloydβs NCAA record. βIβm celebrating the fact that we have an outstanding individual leading our program.β
Stu Brown, an Atlanta-based attorney who works with schools on NCAA infractions cases, said the hiring of Lloyd is likely βto move the needle only marginallyβ in UAβs favor with regard to the findings and penalties imposed by the Independent Accountability Resolution Process. In December 2020, the IARP agreed to take on UAβs case, which stemmed from the 2017 federal investigation into college basketball and now involves additional allegations.
But Brown said Lloydβs hiring would still benefit Arizona in two ways.
First, thereβs Lloydβs presence itself. After firing head coach Sean Miller on April 7, UA now employs none of the basketball coaches named in the formal Notice of Allegations the NCAA delivered in October 2020, though Heeke and UA president Robert Robbins were listed as aggravating factors for allegedly compromising the investigation.
βOften, a corrective measure cited by schools is the replacement of the coach under whose regime alleged violations occurred,β Brown said, βwith a new coach who has a long-term, clean NCAA compliance record.β
Then thereβs the fact that it will be Lloyd, not Miller, who ultimately sits down with the IARP to answer questions.
Brown said it is customary on the standard NCAA resolution track to have the current head coach speak at a final hearing, and that he expected the same would be the case within the IARP, a newly created process that involves attorneys and investigators who are mostly outside NCAA sports.
Having Lloyd present βwill preclude the IARP from being able to ask questions about why UA hired a coach without a clean compliance record,β Brown said. Also βit will allow coach Lloyd to credibly answer questions from the IARP in a way that emphasizes his, and UAβs, commitment to compliance.β
Whether all thatβs enough for Arizona to avoid more postseason bans on top of the one Arizona self-imposed last season may not be likely β if the IARP was going to go in that direction anyway.
βHowever, it could help influence the IARP to impose somewhat less severe recruiting restrictions or scholarship cuts,β Brown said, βor perhaps impose one year less probation if the IARP is otherwise undecided on how many years of probation are appropriate.β
The IARPβs ruling will ultimately depend on how it judges the facts of allegations, which were all based on alleged events before 2020. The NCAAβs Notice of Allegations β which the IARP can accept, throw out or re-investigate β listed five Level I charges and more aggravating than mitigating factors.
Brown said those listings indicated the NCAA probably would have classified Arizonaβs case as βLevel I aggravated,β which carries a 2-5 year postseason ban under the NCAAβs penalty matrix, though it is possible it could be classified as a βLevel I standardβ case, which carries a 1-2 year ban (a Level I βmitigatedβ case does not require a postseason ban at all).
Arizonaβs one-year self-imposed ban was an indication the school believed the floor was a standard Level I case.
It is difficult to compare UAβs situation to other Level I cases, in part because the newly-formed IARP has not yet decided a single case that could set precedents.
Of the recent infractions cases involving primarily menβs basketball that were run through the NCAAβs standard resolution process, the NCAA accepted Pacificβs self-imposed ban in 2015-16 after it fired coach Ron Verlin, and it accepted Missouriβs one-year ban for 2015-16, though former coach Frank Haith left on his own for Tulsa four days after the school received its NOA in that case.
The NCAA also did not add extra years to Northern Coloradoβs one-year self-imposed postseason ban after that school fired coach B.J.Hill in 2016.
Meanwhile, of schools also named with the federal investigation into college basketball, Louisville fired coach Rick Pitino but its case is still under IARP review. USC and South Carolina did not receive postseason bans despite keeping their head coaches β but their cases were both less complex than Arizonaβs and involved the actions of a single former assistant. Oklahoma Stateβs postseason ban remains under appeal.
After Arizonaβs introductory celebration Thursday, Lloyd spoke of having to deal with βNCAA restrictions that will come eventuallyβ but also said he wouldnβt be complaining about it.
He knew that was part of the deal, even if it isnβt something everybody wants to talk about.
βI understand itβs part and parcel,β Lloyd said. βAnd letβs be honest: If those issues werenβt hanging over the program, we wouldnβt be sitting here talking right now. I mean, Sean would be the head coach and he would be killing it.
βSo I understand that and I embrace it and Iβm going to do the best job I can shepherding the program through it.β
Photos: Arizona Wildcats basketball coach Sean Miller through the years
Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller
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