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Who is Tommy Lloyd?: Things to know about Arizona's new head coach

Arizona's next head coach will be a lifetime assistant stepping into his first experience leading a program. Tommy Lloyd has spent his entire coaching career at Gonzaga where he helped head coach Mark Few build the Bulldogs from a Cinderella team in the NCAA Tournament to one of the top programs in college basketball.

Gonzaga made it to the championship game this year and pulled up one win short of a perfect season. Lloyd played a big part in building the roster in Spokane having carved out a niche over the last 20 years as a top evaluator of international talent.

His skills will be put to use as Arizona featured several players from outside America this season including standout freshmen Azuolas Tubelis (Lithuania) and Benndict Mathurin (Canada).

Lloyd will have no time to waste in building his first roster in the desert. Freshman guard Kerr Kriisa plans to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal on Thursday while freshman power forward Daniel Batcho has already done so. Junior starting point guard and Pac-12 all-conference selection James Akinjo recently announced his decision to enter the 2021 NBA Draft, though he could ultimately return to UA.

Lloyd is set to be introduced as Arizona's next head coach in a Thursday afternoon press conference at McKale Center. His new home.

Before Lloyd can reach that point we thought it would be a good idea to offer up some background on Arizona's new basketball leader ahead of his official introduction.

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The Lloyd File

Hometown: Kelso, Washington

Age: 46

College: Walla Walla Community College; Whitman College (1998)

Professional playing experience: Australia, Germany

Prior coaching experience: Gonzaga (assistant coach, 2001-2021)

Family: Chanelle (wife), Liam (son), Sophia Marie (daughter), Maria Alexis (daughter)

Lloyd is a Washington native whose only coaching experience has been under Mark Few in Spokane

A native of Kelso, Washington the new Arizona head coach attended Kelso High School before moving on begin his career at Walla Walla Community College. It was there that he struck up a relationship with the staff at Gonzaga eventually landing a job as an administrative assistant in 2000. A year later he was hired as a full-time assistant coach under Few as he embarked on what would be a 20-year run with the Bulldogs.

The move to Arizona will allow Lloyd to be closer to his son

Lloyd's oldest child, Liam, is currently a freshman at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix. The 6-foot-5 guard just wrapped up his first season with the Lopes having averaged 2.5 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists. He scored 15 points in a matchup against Bethesda back in January.

Lloyd was largely responsible for recruiting the international players to Gonzaga

While he has become a noted recruiter for his work with recruits from all over the country with the Bulldogs, Lloyd's calling card has been bringing talent from Europe, Canada and overseas to the West Coast Conference. The list of standout international players that Lloyd has recruited to play at Gonzaga is lengthy and includes names such as Rui Hachimura (Japan), Przemek Karnowski (Poland), Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania), Kelly Olynyk (Canada), Robert Sacre (Canada), Elias Harris (Germany), Ronny Turiaf (France) and Filip Petrusev (Serbia) to name a few.

DISCUSSION: How did Arizona's pursuit of new head coach Tommy Lloyd play out?

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