Tommy Lloyd

Lloyd was born in Kelso, Washington and attended Kelso High School where he graduated in 1993. His senior year he led the Hilanders to a 21-4 record and to the WIAA state 4A tournament for the first time in 15 years.[2] He began his collegiate career at Walla Walla Community College in Walla Walla, Washington where he plays two years. His 52 points against Treasure Valley Community College still stands as the record for the most points scored in a single game.[3] During his sophomore season, he averaged over 20 points-per-game and was selected to the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (now the Northwest Athletic Conference) Eastern All-Star team. After graduating from WWCC, he transferred to Colorado State University–Pueblo. After one season, he returned to Walla Walla to play his senior season at Whitman College.[4][5] He graduated from Whitman College in 1998.

Lloyd played professionally in Australia and Germany.

According to a 2020 story by ESPN journalist Jeff Borzello, Lloyd's journey to his current position at Gonzaga actually began while he was playing in junior college. At the time, Gonzaga was still recruiting in Walla Walla's conference. After watching Lloyd, Gonzaga coach Dan Monson told him that he would not be offered a scholarship, but that if he ever wanted to go into coaching, he should give Monson a call. He made the call to Monson after his Whitman career, but had to back out once receiving an opportunity to play overseas. After his playing career, he and his wife Chanelle spent several months backpacking on several continents before he decided to begin a coaching career. By that time, Monson had left for Minnesota immediately after Gonzaga's 1999 Elite Eight run, and his top assistant Mark Few had replaced him as the Zags' head coach. Few honored the tacit agreement Monson had made with Lloyd, and Lloyd joined the men's basketball staff as a volunteer administrative assistant in 2000, becoming a full-time assistant the next year.[1][6]

Lloyd has become Gonzaga's key international recruiter. He began to develop a niche as an international recruiter early in his tenure on Few's staff. In Borzello's story, Few recalled that one area where he wanted Lloyd to develop was recruiting, telling him that in order to become an assistant at a top program, he needed a niche. Few told Borzello,

He loved traveling over in Europe. And I told him, hey, if you want to make it in this business, you gotta develop a niche, you gotta have something different than somebody else. There's so many guys in this business, you have to separate yourself. So he kind of figured out like, "Hey, I can figure out how to do this European thing and see if I can establish a network and trust, you know, some real expertise over there." And he's done that.[6]

Among the international players that Lloyd has played a role in recruiting are former Bulldogs Mario Kasun (Croatia), Ronny Turiaf (France), J.P. Batista (Brazil), Abdullahi Kuso (Nigeria), Robert Sacre (Canada), Kelly Olynyk (Canada), Elias Harris (Germany), Kevin Pangos (Canada), Przemek Karnowski (Poland), Domantas Sabonis (Lithuania), Rui Hachimura (Japan), Killian Tillie (France), and Filip Petrušev (Serbia), as well as current Gonzaga players Joël Ayayi (France), Martynas Arlauskas (Lithuania), Pavel Zakharov (Russia), and Oumar Ballo (Mali).[7][8][9][10] Lloyd has also been integral in developing NBA players for Gonzaga like Turiaf, Adam Morrison, Jeremy Pargo, Austin Daye, Sacre, Olynyk, Kyle Wiltjer, Sabonis, Zach Collins, Hachimura, and Brandon Clarke.

Lloyd has turned down numerous interview requests for head coaching positions during his Gonzaga tenure. He is contractually guaranteed of becoming the Bulldogs' next head coach upon Few's departure. In the aforementioned ESPN story, Gonzaga athletic director Mike Roth told Borzello: "Tommy has it in writing from me and the [university] president that says, as long as he's here, when Mark retires, it's your job. He's got a document. I've got a document. The president's got a document. Our general counsel has a document. It's his job."[6]