Arizona Board of Regents approves new 5-year deal for basketball coach Lloyd

The Regents did not discuss the contract or its stipulations publicly before voting on it, and no questions were raised, but they had scheduled a closed-door agenda item earlier Thursday for “legal advice, discussion and direction to designated representatives” over Lloyd’s deal.

The only public comment before the vote came from UA athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois, who joined the Flagstaff meeting via Zoom and spoke of the Wildcats’ achievements under Lloyd. She noted that UA finished in the Top 20, has a No. 4 recruiting class in 2025 and posted a team GPA of 3.193.

“Quite simply, coach Lloyd has us in the right direction,” Reed-Francois said.

The deal does not give Lloyd a raise for the next four seasons over the five-year contract he was given a year ago, just an extra season in 2029-30 with a 4.5% pay increase from the 2028-29 season.

But it does give him the ability to offer three-year contracts for up to three assistant coaches, to review facilities in conjunction with UA officials and to establish an athlete payment budget with UA officials. That budget is expected to include at least $4 million in revenue sharing funds plus potential NIL or other money.

Overall, in combined revenue sharing and NIL funds distributed, Arizona is expected to be among the top third of Big 12 men’s basketball programs, as the school had indicated to the Regents.

Arizona said in its proposal for Lloyd that the school intends to keep the men’s basketball program budget “competitive within the upper end” of the Big 12 and other power-conference public schools.

Before Thursday’s meeting, Reed-Francois told the Star that the school would pay all its sports collectively the $20.5 million maximum, but declined to detail what each program would receive.

“We’re going to be competitive, fair and fiscally responsible but we’re not going to give specific percentages,” she said.

Officials at one Big 12 school, Texas Tech, said its men’s basketball players would receive about $3.6 million while Opendorse estimated Big 12 men’s basketball teams have an average budget of $4.3 million.

A budget of $3.6 million represents about 17.5% of the maximum of $20.5 million that is proposed under the landmark House settlement, while $4.3 million represents 21%.

The proposal Arizona presented to the Regents said UA and Lloyd would establish a budget each year that will be set by Feb. 15 for the following season, with outside NIL funds possibly also factored in. As of now, athletes do not receive revenue-sharing money from schools but can receive them from booster-funded collectives and outside NIL endorsements.

“U of A agrees to support the program so that it remains competitive nationally,” the proposal said. “Each budget shall include amounts regarding revenue share and other related monetary amounts not counting toward the revenue share cap.”

Lloyd’s new contract does not change the trajectory of his own compensation package, which totaled $5.25 million this season.

Lloyd is being paid $4.85 million in university funds for 2024-25, including $700,000 for additional promotional duties. He also is receiving $200,000 each from Nike and Arizona Sports Enterprises (radio).

Lloyd’s guaranteed compensation package is scheduled to jump to $5.5 million next season and in 2026-27, while Lloyd will receive $5.75 million in 2027-28, and $6.0 million in 2028-29, counting the school-paid additional duties money and the Nike/radio deals.

The new contract also says a previously promised $2 million retention bonus for Lloyd if he remains until April 1, 2028, will be owed to Lloyd even if UA fires him before then — but says that the payment in that case would be subject to mitigation if Lloyd took another job in basketball.

The new contract approved Thursday is the fourth that Lloyd has been given since he was hired four years ago.

Lloyd was initially given a five-year deal through 2026-27, starting with school-paid compensation of $2.5 million in 2021-22 with $100,000 annual salary escalators.

But in June 2022, after guiding the Wildcats to a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed in 2021-22, Lloyd was given $1 million extra for every year on his contract while a fifth season was added for 2026-27.

Last spring, Lloyd was given a contract to carry him through 2028-29 that bumped his university-paid package from $3.8 million to $4.85 million this season. That deal was scheduled to pay him a total of $5.8 million extra in compensation over what he would have been paid under his previous contract.

The latest contract, formally called the “third amended multiple-year employment contract for men’s basketball coach (U of A),” also allows Lloyd to offer up to three assistant coaches guaranteed three-year contracts, while currently they are only for one or two years.

In addition, the proposal says UA will consult with Lloyd and basketball staffers “on their recommendations for basketball facilities improvements” while assessing them. Reed-Francois said athletic department officials would review facilities with him and react accordingly.

All academic and performance incentives remain unchanged from the contract Lloyd signed last year, though terms of Lloyd’s buyout were slightly reduced. While he was liable for a $12 million buyout if he chose to leave UA this season, the first in his current contract, he will only have to pay $11 million if he leaves next season, the first of the new contract.

In addition, Lloyd’s buyout in the second season remains $9 million but drops from $6.25 million to $6 million in Year 3, and from $3.25 million to $3 million in Year 4. The fifth and final year of both contracts have no coach buyout amount.