All right Tommy Lloyd, you're not fooling anyone at this point. You are probably North Carolina's top choice and, my guess is, North Carolina is your top choice too.Â
The Arizona coach, for at least for another week or two, is continuing to field questions about his potential jump to Chapel Hill and if he's trying to calm the talk down, it's not going well. It's actually getting a little awkward.
Tommy Lloyd on his name continuing to come up for North Carolina:
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 31, 2026
"Guys, this team has my full focus. Nothing, nothing, I promise you NOTHING, is knocking me off that path. You might call them 'distractions,' but it's cause you're distracted. That doesn't mean I'm distracted." pic.twitter.com/aT3x4JoPrf
"It's absolutely true, there's going to be another coach...I didn't say when," Lloyd said as he was trying to be cheeky.
We can assume that "when" is in about 8–10 days when he takes the Tar Heels job. As for distractions, he added this:
"You know what's pretty cool, once you get some experience in this deal, and you're a player or a coach that's been at it for a while, you get pretty good at eliminating the distractions. I think I'm pretty good at that."
Tommy Lloyd is barely hiding his desire to coach UNC
He sounds a little flustered with these comments, but I'd rather him sound like this than flat out lie about things. So many times, coaches will just lie and say, "I'm not interested. They haven't contacted me. yadda yadda..." And we know they are lying. If nothing else, we can tell Lloyd isn't comfortable lying and that's a positive. He isn't like other coaches.
Also, it's tough to leave a great job. Roy Williams turned down the Tar Heels once before he eventually took the job. Arizona is a great job and a great program. Lloyd might win a national championship there soon enough. Leaving a championship program is never easy. However, there's a difference between a championship program and one that offers legendary status.Â
But let's hope the part about handling the distractions is true. Even if interest from the fanbase is a little low because the Tar Heels aren't involved, this Arizona-Michigan game should be a classic. And regardless of how it turns out, I don't want anyone to have any excuses when it's over.
And then next week, Lloyd can finally tell everyone how he really feels.Â