Bruce Pearl calls for Arizona's Tommy Lloyd to get more attention in National Coach of the Year race

When it comes to the National Coach of the Year race, names such as Nebraska’s Fred Hoiberg and Michigan’s Dusty May come up in the conversation. But former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, who shared the honor last year, threw another name into the picture: Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd.

Arizona heads into Saturday’s rivalry matchup against Arizona State with a perfect 21-0 record, including a thrilling 86-83 victory over No. 13 BYU last time out. The Wildcats have three players averaging 14 or more points per game, led by 15.2 from guard Brayden Burries. As a group, Arizona ranks No. 2 in KenPom and No. 1 in the NET rankings.

Given that success as the calendar prepares to flip to February, Pearl argued Lloyd isn’t getting enough attention in the National Coach of the Year race. He also went so far as to predict Arizona would, at long last, make a run in the NCAA Tournament under Lloyd’s watch.

“I think Tommy Lloyd – I’ll make the statement right now. And you can look at Michigan, you can look at a few other programs. I think Tommy Lloyd, right now, is the best coach in America that gets the least amount of talk,” Pearl said on TNT’s pregame show Saturday ahead of Georgetown vs. Butler.” Who’s talking about Tommy Lloyd as National Coach of the Year? The last four years at Arizona, 24 wins or more.

“The only thing he really hasn’t done yet is make that run in the tournament. He will this year, and when he does, we’re going to start talking about Tommy Lloyd like we do all the other Hall-of-Fame coaches.”

Inside Tommy Lloyd’s tenure at Arizona

Tommy Lloyd took over at Arizona in 2021 following a 20-year run as an assistant at Gonzaga, and the Wildcats have been a force during that time. He has a 133-33 overall record at the helm, including a 69-19 record in conference play between the Pac-12 and Big 12. Arizona also won two Pac-12 regular-season titles under Lloyd’s watch, as well as the 2022 conference tournament championship.

At 24-13, the 2024-25 season was Arizona’s worst of the Tommy Loyd era, but the Wildcats still reached the Sweet Sixteen for the third time in his four seasons. Year 5 has been especially impressive with 21 straight wins to start the year. That includes victories over reigning national champion Florida, UConn, Alabama and BYU.

Entering the rematch with Arizona State – Arizona won the last game 89-82 – the Wildcats also sit as the No. 1 overall seed in On3’s James Fletcher III’s latest Bracketology this week. Additionally, The Field of 68’s Jeff Goodman ranked Lloyd No. 2 in his second National Coach of the Year rankings behind only Fred Hoiberg.