After Final Four, Arizona 'immediately' had Tommy Lloyd directly reporting to Garimella

The letter, signed by Reed-Francois and UA CFO John Arnold, also assured Lloyd won't have to pay a contract buyout if he leaves for an NBA head coaching job. His buyout starts at $10 million through March 2027 and decreases annually, to just $3 million in 2030-31.

Now under a nuanced reporting structure that is unusual in college athletics, Lloyd was told in the letter that UA would "change your reporting structure immediately." 

Lloyd's new five-year, $35.7 million contract, which was later approved in April by the Arizona Board of Regents, spelled out much of the reporting change. Garimella was said to have "exclusive authority" in evaluating Lloyd's job performance, compensation, operating budget and NIL (roster) budget — and that he would collaborate with Reed-Francois and Arnold.

Lloyd's previous contract, agreed to in April 2025, said Lloyd "will report directly" to the UA's athletic director, "with additional oversight by the president of the university." 

UA said in an April statement that Lloyd still reported to Reed-Francois but that Garimella "has authority over evaluation, compensation and budget, working in close collaboration with (Reed-Francois and Arnold), consistent with the university’s financial framework.”

In addition, UA wrote in the side letter that it agreed to implement a bonus plan for his staff and offered a pool of at least $350,000 extra to increase the salaries of three non-coaching men's basketball staffers: Equipment manager Brian Brigger, communications director Nate Weichers and trainer Justin Kokoskie.

Lloyd's new five-year contract was approved by the Arizona Board of Regents on April 16, but the side letter was not submitted in the public documents before the meeting, nor discussed during the public portions of the meeting.

However, UA spokesman Mitch Zak said side letters are "supplemental documents used in contract negotiations to memorialize specific understandings reached by the parties." He said they are intended to be read together with the underlying agreement and don't replace the governing employment contract.

"In this case, the side letter memorializes several negotiated items, including an NBA exception to the contractual buyout provision, commitments related to assistant coach compensation and staff incentives, and provisions related to governance and administration," Zak said.

Section 1.1 of Lloyd's new contract says Garimella will oversee "the budget for compensation for the university or university's approved 3rd party entity(ies) to student-athletes related to their Name, Image and Likeness." 

That NIL language indicates Garimella will oversee both the university-paid "revenue-sharing" money it will give to players, but also the outside-paid NIL money that UA can now raise funds for. Together, the money represents a roster budget, which was reportedly about $10 million for UA men's basketball in 2025-26.

While Lloyd has declined to comment about the new reporting structure, issues over resources devoted to men's basketball were believed to be central to negotiations for a new contract during the NCAA Tournament, when Lloyd held the leverage of a Final Four appearance and interest from North Carolina over its head coaching vacancy.

Because of the House settlement in June 2025, schools can pay their athletes a maximum of $20.5 million across all sports. UA will not release the amount it gave men's basketball.

In addition, schools are now allowed to raise NIL funds from outside sources for additional athlete compensation, something the new contract indicates Lloyd and Garimella will be working on together. 

The contract does indicate Reed-Francois will be involved in the process of reaching the budgetary goals of UA men's basketball. In a clause entitled "NIL/Revenue-Sharing and Budget Commitment," UA said all parties agreed that UA men's basketball would be supported so it is competitive nationally.

"Specifically, university and coach acknowledge that university intends to remain competitive within the upper end of the Big 12 conference and with other similarly situated A4 (Big 12, Big Ten, SEC and ACC) public institutions," the contract states. "Each contract year, university agrees to work together with coach to establish a budget for university NIL, which will be subject to university approval no later than February 15 of the immediately preceding contract year (i.e., February 15, 2027, for contract Year Two and so on).

"Each university NIL budget shall include amounts regarding revenue-share and other related monetary amounts not counting toward the university’s revenue-share cap. Each contract year, the chief financial officer and athletic director will also work together with coach and other program personnel to establish an operational budget (that includes a list capital projects, if applicable), which will be included in the university’s All Funds budget process and subject to university approval no later than May 15 of the immediately preceding fiscal year (i.e., May 15, 2027, for fiscal year 2028, and so on)." 

The contract also said that no later than May 1 every year, its CFO, special advisor for operations and AD will consult with Lloyd on "recommendations for facilities improvements, including the launch of a facility improvement fundraising plan."