For those anxious to parse words over Tommy Lloyd's future, the Arizona men's basketball coach offered a little more material Tuesday.
The subject of speculation that he might jump to North Carolina since last week, Lloyd was discussing Arizona basketball history Saturday in San Jose after the Wildcats beat Purdue in the Elite Eight when he said he promised “Arizona is going to have a good coach after me” because “the place is special.”
Even though that remark was consistent with how Lloyd has spoken of the UA program in the past, it generated more speculation that he might be about to leave for the Tar Heels.
Asked about that interpretation Tuesday, during his local news conference at McKale Center before the Final Four, Lloyd referred to his original statement.
“It is absolutely true. There’s gonna be another coach. This is a great program," Lloyd said. "I didn’t say when."
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 was scheduled to drop to $9 million on Wednesday.
But there has been considerable speculation, and continued indications to the Star, that differences have surfaced over resources devoted to men’s basketball from the athletic department.
Arizona athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois was hired in February 2024, during the height of UA’s campus-wide financial crisis, replacing Dave Heeke, who hired Lloyd in 2021.
Before the Wildcats faced Arkansas in a Sweet 16 game on March 26 in San Jose, Lloyd was asked for the first time publicly about being linked to the prestigious UNC job and said “I already have one of the best jobs in the country,” but did not rule anything out.
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd mulls over a question during a press conference on the day before his Wildcats faced Purdue in an Elite Eight game in San Jose, Calif., March 27, 2026.
A day later, Reed-Francois told the Star that UA would do "everything possible" to retain Lloyd.
On Tuesday, toward the end of his local news conference Tuesday, Lloyd went on to a similar response that he gave in San Jose, saying he was locked into basketball at the moment.
“Guys, this team has my full focus,” Lloyd said. “Nothing, nothing — I promise you, nothing — is knocking me off that path. You guys might call them distractions because you're distracted. That doesn't mean I'm distracted, or we're distracted.
“What’s pretty cool, once you get some experience in this deal, and you're a player or you're a coach who's been at it a while, you get pretty good at eliminating the distractions. I think I'm pretty good at that, and I just can't wait to get to practice.”
Asked specifically if anything had changed his initial response in San Jose, Lloyd shook his head.
“Full focus right now,” Lloyd said.
