FanPost

The Heir Apparent: Tommy Lloyd

Thanks to the Slipper’s Twitter feed (seriously start following it) I learned Mark Few announced Tommy Lloyd is expected to take the head job after Mark Few. This has been suspected if not accepted as common knowledge for a while even if unspoken for people who follow the program. So what does the announcement mean? Is the AD telling Few more is expected? Is Mark Few finally accepting a job at Oregon? No, Mark Few is not going anywhere just yet. If he does leave, it will be to open a fly fishing store. What this announcement means is simply Gonzaga AD, Mike Roth, and Mark Few are making a solid succession move and making sure they keep a highly valuable staff member.

For those of you that don’t know, Tommy Lloyd has made a name for himself as one of the best recruiters in the nation, particularly in landing European recruits. One reason Lloyd is so good at what he does is he travels all the time. Forbes estimates the value of his frequent flier miles could fix the Greek solvency crisis. Lloyd’s willingness to travel XXXX miles gains major points with the recruits and has turned him into THE recruiter for Europe. As proof of his absolute recruiting power over the entire continent, I offer up the evidence that St. Mary’s is forced to recruit in Australia, and the Duke Blue Devils were nearly forgotten in Przemek’s recruitment. He is truly a man among boys. In all seriousness though, he was instrumental in bringing in players like Elias Harris, Ronny Turiaf, and Przemek Karnowski as well others to Gonzaga.

The other strength of Lloyd’s European recruiting is he is usually one of the first people in college basketball to hear about potential recruits. Lloyd was apparently in contact with Przemek for nearly two years before securing the commitment of the 7’ center. Lloyd is the first in the know because he has contacts from his time playing ball over there before landing a job at Gonzaga. I suspect Lloyd is actually a secret agent who uses recruitment as a cover to carry out top secret government missions because his information is just that good. On a side note I would like to know how Few’s involvement with USA basketball has helped Lloyd.

Because Lloyd is so good at recruiting, he has become a target for head hunters. During this off season, some colleges asked he come interview. While he did not get a new job or turned down offers, the AD and Few were put on notice that Lloyd’s stock was rising and to keep him they would have to put on the ‘franchise tag.’ Now the announcement that Lloyd is next in-line does two things: 1) Signals other colleges Gonzaga is serious about keeping Lloyd, and 2) keeps Lloyd happy for the foreseeable future.

While Few may not leave Gonzaga in the next couple of years, it is nice to see the AD and Few have found a person who has been with Gonzaga long enough to really grow up with the school, and will provide top notch recruiting.

That is the extent of my knowledge of Mr. Lloyd. Does anyone know about his coaching abilities?



This post does not reflect the views of the blog authors or SB Nation.