Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd shouts out Craig Smith’s sons for showing up after father’s firing

Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd praised former Utah coach Craig Smith and his sons for being class acts after their father’s firing on Monday.

The Utes fired Smith after Sunday’s 76-72 loss at UCF.

Craig’s two sons are both part of the Utah Men’s basketball team — one a player and the other a director of operations. The Wildcats then played the Utes at home on Wednesday night.

After No. 22 Arizona coasted easily over Utah 83-66, in the first game since Smith’s firing, Lloyd started his presser speaking on Craig’s two sons.

“Brady and Landon Smith are Craig’s kids,” Lloyd said. “And one’s the director of operations and the other’s a walk-on. Both those kids showed up today, which is pretty amazing. I know this is a business, and it’s a hard business, and I get all those things, but we all have families. We all have kids.”

Brady is a sophomore walk-on and transferred from Salt Lake Community College.

Landon has been the director of administration and operations with the Utah men’s basketball team since September 2024.

Lloyd spoke to Smith over the phone after the firing, as the two have battled it out in the Pac-12 for years.

“Craig, I talked to him today,” Lloyd said. “He didn’t have one bad word to say. Straight class. For his boys to show up today with their teammates, it says something. This stuff’s hard.

“What we go through, even when it’s going good, it’s hard. And I know you guys have opinions … this isn’t against the media, this is just society in general … and as guys that decided to coach, there’s a lot of really cool things that come with it, but there’s a lot of tough stuff. There’s a lot of tough days, and you know what? There’s a lot of times your family gets neglected. Because what we’re doing to try to prove our worth as a coach, to prove our value, to prove that we belong at this level and so I’ve got a lot of respect for those two young men.”

Smith and Lloyd began coaching at their respective schools in 2021.

“He and I are colleagues, Lloyd said. “We got to know each other coaching in the Pac-12 and we kind of came into the league together … Do Craig and I talk on the phone a lot together? No. Do we completely understand what everybody goes through all the time? Yes. So you develop a brotherhood.

“There’s not too many people that know what your life is really like and the stress you feel … and the pressure that’s on you and trying to figure out your team and everything that comes with it. It was just one guy calling another guy because he respects him and I just wanted him to know that ‘hey, he’s a great dude and I’m sorry that happened and I hope he and his family are OK.'”

Lloyd was 5-2 versus Smith’s Utah squad since 2021, not including the most recent win on Wednesday night in McKale Center.

Smith finished with a 65-62 coaching record in Utah (30-46 conference record). The Utes never reached an NCAA Tournament appearance under Smith but made the NIT semifinals in 2023-24.

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