While defiantly denouncing an ESPN report that he discussed paying a player, Sean Miller said he is turning his attention back to being Arizona’s basketball coach following five days away from the team.
Miller said he has done nothing wrong and was "sickened that we are in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons." ESPN reported last Friday that Miller allegedly discussed paying Deandre Ayton $100,000 with agent Christian Dawkins, but Miller said the conversation never happened.
"I have never knowingly violated NCAA rules while serving as head coach of this great program," Miller said. "I have never paid a recruit or prospect or their family or representative to come to Arizona. I never have and I never will. I have never arranged or directed payment or any improper benefits to a recruit or prospect or their family or representative and I never will."
Miller said he was once approached about paying a player to attend UA and that he did not agree to it, but he declined to provide further details.
The Arizona Board of Regents plan to meet at 2 p.m. to take legal counsel on Miller's contract, which runs through the 2021-22 season.
No questions were allowed after Miller made his five-minute statement, but Miller specifically denied speaking with Dawkins and said ESPN's correction of the timeline over the call — from 2017 to 2016 — still left an incorrect story.
"I also understand that there is an ongoing federal investigation and because of this I cannot do anything that might compromise the integrity of this investigation," Miller said. "However on this point I cannot remain silent in light of media reports that have impugned the reputation of me, the university and sullied the reputation of a tremendous young man, Deandre Ayton, let me be very, very clear.
"I have never discussed with Christian Dawkins paying Deandre Ayton to attend the University of Arizona. In fact, I never even met or spoke to Christian Dawkins until after Deandre publicly announced that he was coming to our school. Any reporting to the contrary is inaccurate, false and defamatory.
"I’m outraged by the media statements that have been made and the acceptance by many that these statements were true. There was no such conversation. These statements have damaged me, my family, the university, Deandre Ayton and his incredible family. The only attempted corrections by the original source of the media statements are still inaccurate and completely false."
Miller said he looks forward to coaching the team as it seeks a Pac-12 championship though he did not specifically say if he would coach the 19th-ranked Wildcats when they host Stanford tonight. Associate head coach Lorenzo Romar led the Wildcats at Oregon on Saturday and during three practices this week.
"We do our very best to run a clean program at the University of Arizona," he said. "I have done that since the first day I stepped on this campus."
