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's1999 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. 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, Among the international players that Lloyd has played a role in recruiting are former Bulldogs Mario Kasun, Ronny Turiaf, J.P. Batista, Abdullahi Kuso, Robert Sacre, Kelly Olynyk, Elias Harris, Kevin Pangos, Przemek Karnowski, Domantas Sabonis, Rui Hachimura, Killian Tillie, and Filip Petrušev, as well as current Gonzaga players Joël Ayayi, Martynas Arlauskas, Pavel Zakharov, and Oumar Ballo. 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 directorMike Roth told Borzello: "Tommy has it in writing from me and the 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."
Personal life
According to Borzello, Lloyd "loves Gonzaga and he loves Spokane." He and his wife Chanelle built a new house in Spokane in 2018, with a "video game system covered in Gonzaga paraphernalia in the basement." They have two daughters and a son; the son Liam has signed to play basketball at Grand Canyon University in 2020–21. During the construction of their current home, the family lived in the childhood home of Bulldogs legend and Hall of FamerJohn Stockton.
