Tommy Lloyd’s contract gives Arizona president, not AD, ‘exclusive authority’ on evaluation

Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd’s decision to pass on North Carolina and remain with the Wildcats brought him a raise, more money for his staff and a new chain of command, as the school’s president will make more high-level determinations for the program, rather than the athletic director.

The Athletic obtained Lloyd’s new deal in a public records request. The new contract runs through March 2031 (a one-year extension) and increases his starting salary from around $5.1 million to $6.85 million for this upcoming season, which should put him in the top five nationally. In all, Lloyd’s new deal will pay him $37.5 million over five years, not including greater academic and championship bonuses, an average of $7.5 million per year. It also includes the ability for Lloyd to hire a special assistant/general manager and guarantees his staff salary pool will be no less than $2.9 million.

Lloyd’s buyout for him to leave for another job starts at $10 million in Year 1 and drops to $8 million in Year 2, numbers similar to the $9 million buyout if he’d left for UNC last month. The new contract also allows Lloyd to leave for another Big 12 job, which was not permitted in the previous deal, and the buyout for him to take a Big 12 job starts at $12 million.

The buyout for Arizona to fire Lloyd without cause remains 100 percent of the remaining deal, subject to offset from another job.

But there is a notable change at the very top of the contract, where Arizona president Suresh Garimella now has “exclusive authority” over evaluating Lloyd’s job performance, his compensation, the men’s basketball operating budget and player compensation, with collaboration from other officials. Previously, those roles fell to athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois, with additional oversight by the president. Most coaches report to their ADs, but Lloyd will be able to appeal to a higher authority to get what he wants moving forward.

“What did it is, it’s where I wanted to be,” Lloyd said before Arizona faced Michigan in the Final Four. “And (Arizona) wanted me to stay. That’s the driving force behind everything. To me, it’s just a holistic approach. There’s not one thing anymore. Arizona basketball needs to become a locomotive. Where everything surrounding it is pushing it forward. That’s not because of me. That’s because of what was built before I came here.”