Declaring it “one of the happiest and most exciting days of my life,” former UA coach Sean Miller was reintroduced Friday as the head coach at Xavier.
Xavier hired Miller last Saturday, giving another chance to a coach who was fired by Arizona nearly a year ago after a lengthy NCAA investigation led to a notice of allegations and a still-unresolved infractions case.
Miller, 53, was also reportedly a candidate for the vacancy at South Carolina.
“This will be the best version of myself that I’ve ever been,” Miller said during Friday’s news conference. “I am so anxious to lead, to teach, to uphold the values of Xavier on and off the court. I’ve never been more determined, but I’ve never been more determined to do it with balance than I ever had.”
The process came together quickly, Miller and Xavier officials said. President Colleen Hanycz and athletic director Greg Christopher interviewed Miller in Atlanta last week, after the school fired Travis Steele; Christopher said he talked to Miller’s former president and athletic directors at Arizona before offering him the job.
Noting broadly the NCAA issues facing Arizona and Miller, Christopher said he has “ultimate confidence in Sean Miller running our program going forward.”
Miller coached at Arizona from 2009-21. On the court, he won five Pac-12 championships and took the Wildcats to three NCAA Tournament Elite Eights over his tenure, the last in 2015. The Wildcats also would have likely made the 2020 and 2021 NCAA Tournaments, but the 2020 event was canceled, and the school self-imposed a postseason ban for ’21 because of its ongoing NCAA infractions case.
The NCAA has hit the UA with five Level I infractions, one of which says Miller failed to monitor two assistant coaches accused of academic misconduct and improper recruiting inducements. The Notices of Allegations filed by the NCAA and the Complex Case Unit of the Independent Accountability Resolution Process did not recommend a show-cause penalty for Miller; any show-cause would have prohibited Miller from coaching in college. One expert told the Star last week that Miller would face a suspension of somewhere between nine and 15 games for his role, should the infraction stick.
Miller alluded to the issues facing him only broadly during the news conference, saying that he “learned a lot of lessons” at Arizona, emerging with a new perspective.
Miller spent the last year in Tucson, where he worked on a podcast alongside his brother, Archie. Miller said the year away from basketball was “one of the most important gifts of my lifetime,” noting that he was able to reconnect with his wife and three sons and, among other things, enjoy Christmas morning without worrying about a game.
“Maybe my greatest gift is I can be one-track-minded, and that can be a curse,” he said. “You have to have balance in life. A one-track mind only works so long.”
Miller said he had to coach again, joking that it’s the one thing he knows how to do well.
“I can’t put a lightbulb in. I don’t know how the remote in our house works. I can’t turn the hot tub on,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m very limited.”
Miller praised new UA coach Tommy Lloyd and his Wildcats, who advanced to the Sweet 16 before losing Thursday night to Houston. Miller noted that he and his staff — he mentioned former assistant Danny Peters by name — recruited many of the UA’s top players.
“That roster was built as far back as three years ago,” he said. “I look forward to building a roster just like that right here at Xavier.”
And, the way Miller explained it on Friday, he already has one player in the pipeline. Former UA standout Deandre Ayton called Miller on Thursday to congratulate him on the job. While on the call, Ayton told Miller that he can’t wait for his 1-year-old son to play for the coach.
“If I can hang on about 17 more years,” Miller said, “I’m very confident about our frontcourt.”
