Friends Tommy Lloyd, Steve Lutz share a common background

Strip away the five-figure McKale Center crowds and tradition of Arizona basketball surrounding Tommy Lloyd for a second, and you might see a lot of the same guy in Steve Lutz.

The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi coach, who will bring the Islanders to McKale Center on Tuesday night, was one of only two first-time head coaches to lead their teams to the NCAA Tournament last season after changing schools.

The other guy, of course, was Lloyd, who left his job as Gonzaga assistant to take over the Wildcats.

As a result of their successes, Lutz and Lloyd were finalists for the Joe B Hall Coach of the Year award given to the nation’s top-first year coach. While Jacksonville’s Jordan Mincy won that award, Lloyd went on to win several other national coach of the year awards while Lutz’s reputation also grew.

But even though Lutz said he and Lloyd have been longtime friends, they never talked about the awards, about arriving on the same stage at the same time.

“I would like to say that Tommy and I are similar in the fact that neither one of us probably takes ourselves too seriously, and worries about those accolades,” Lutz says. “But it is neat.”

After their rookie seasons, the similarities continued in one respect, too.

Despite the transfer portal reaching yet another level of frenzied activity last spring, Lutz retained his entire starting lineup.

After the Wildcats’ season, Lloyd lost to the portal only little-used Shane Nowell (UNLV) and the indefinitely suspended Kim Aiken (New Mexico State) — and managed to retain what are now four of his top five scorers.

The parallels go back well beyond their head coaching careers, too.

Lutz played small-college basketball in the 1990s at Texas Lutheran before becoming a longtime assistant coach. Lloyd played small-college ball at Whitman College in the 1990s, before becoming a Gonzaga assistant for two decades.

Not surprisingly, while running into each other on the international recruiting circuit and at Nike networking events for assistant coaches, Lloyd and Lutz struck a friendship.

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“Nike had these things called Villa 7, where assistant coaches meet with ADs and administrators, and you’re thinking if you meet them, you’re gonna have a chance to get a job with them at some point,” Lutz said. “So it’s a networking tool, but it’s also something where you try to grow as a coach and there’s a lot of professional development.

“Long story short, Tommy and were in those a lot together … I’ve known him for a long, long time and we’re good friends,”

Once they were hired as head coaches in the spring of 2021, Lutz and Lloyd were off. But they were sent to different worlds, with Lloyd to take over for a high-profile program saddled with five years of FBI and NCAA allegations while Lutz took over a program that went 5-19 in 2020-21.

Then, after their respective breakout rookie seasons, they came together again. Last summer, Lloyd and the Wildcats were still trying to find another nonconference home game, where UA typically pays opponents about $90,000 to show up for a one-time agreement.

The Islanders needed the money and, after establishing itself as a tournament contender, a chance to test themselves against another high-major program.

“I begged him to play us,” Lutz said. “As soon as I found out they needed a game and we obviously still need a game … I’m like, `Hey, how much guarantee (money) are you offering? We need a game, man. We’ll be there.’ ”

The contract went out. Both parties signed and, as it turned out, the Islanders received a little bonus in the process: They get to play Arizona just three days after the Wildcats beat Indiana in Las Vegas … and four days before No. 6 Tennessee comes to McKale Center for a Top-10 showdown.

It’s what sports bettors call the “sandwich” game, potentially scarier for the Wildcats this time because the Islanders returned all five starters from their NCAA Tournament team — and have an aggressive defense with the 14th best defensive turnover percentage (25.3) in Division I.

Except, in much the same manner as Lloyd might dismiss a theory or hypothetical, Lutz dismisses that sort of description.

“I don’t know about that,” Lutz said, chuckling. “Tommy and those guys are gonna have their team ready to play. When you look at the NBA Draft board, you don’t see anyone listed from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. I see a couple of guys from from the Wildcat squad.

“I mean, is it human nature and could that happen? Absolutely. Do I hope it happens? Absolutely. But, he’s gonna have his team ready to play. There’s no question about that.”