[Papa John]

One other thing that is notable is that Tommy Lloyd, UA's coach since spring 2021, is a first-time head coach. He was a loooong-time assistant under Mark Few at Gonzaga. That's a route that a school like Stanford might take, as we did with Johnny Dawkins, but I wouldn't expect it from a blue-blood like Arizona. I don't really follow UA basketball but maybe the threat of impending sanctions scared off a few suitors? In any case, it seems like it has worked out extremely well (so far).

Not that unusual although first time head coaches at big programs are usually internal hires or alums, such as the recent hires at the bluest of blue bloods: Hubert Davis and Jon Scheyer. But it seemed like Tommy Lloyd was Arizona's first choice from the beginning and they moved pretty fast to hire him, it didn't appear that he was a fallback after being turned down by more obvious candidates.

Good point about recent head coaching decisions by UNC and Duke. But Tommy Lloyd, as far as I know, had no prior connection to Arizona, which is why I asked the question about his hiring with hopes that someone in-the-know might offer more insight.

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We awaiting your excellent posts, Papa John although no pizza from them for me.

BobK, you can take comfort in knowing that the origins of my CardBoard moniker have nothing to do with Papa John's Pizza ;-)

[Papa John]

One other thing that is notable is that Tommy Lloyd, UA's coach since spring 2021, is a first-time head coach. He was a loooong-time assistant under Mark Few at Gonzaga. That's a route that a school like Stanford might take, as we did with Johnny Dawkins, but I wouldn't expect it from a blue-blood like Arizona. I don't really follow UA basketball but maybe the threat of impending sanctions scared off a few suitors? In any case, it seems like it has worked out extremely well (so far).

Not that unusual although first time head coaches at big programs are usually internal hires or alums, such as the recent hires at the bluest of blue bloods: Hubert Davis and Jon Scheyer. But it seemed like Tommy Lloyd was Arizona's first choice from the beginning and they moved pretty fast to hire him, it didn't appear that he was a fallback after being turned down by more obvious candidates.

Good point about recent head coaching decisions by UNC and Duke. But Tommy Lloyd, as far as I know, had no prior connection to Arizona, which is why I asked the question about his hiring with hopes that someone in-the-know might offer more insight.

---

We awaiting your excellent posts, Papa John although no pizza from them for me.

BobK, you can take comfort in knowing that the origins of my CardBoard moniker have nothing to do with Papa John's Pizza ;-)