Five-year maximum contract may run longer than it seems for next UA basketball coach

Considering the potential NCAA sanctions that could hamper Arizona for years to come, the five-year maximum contract allowed by the Board of Regents might give some coaching candidates cause for concern.

But there’s a workaround. Sean Miller found that out when he took over the Wildcats in April 2009, agreeing to a five-year contract that included a clause all but guaranteeing him another two years.

Miller knew, and Arizona knew, he might need some time.

Despite a Sweet 16 appearance in March 2009, the Wildcats’ foundation had significantly eroded thanks to two years of instability in the transition from Lute Olson’s health-related retirement. The legendary former coach took what became a season-long leave of absence in November 2007 and retired in October 2008, prompting the Wildcats to appoint interim head coaches for two straight seasons.

Recruiting was an afterthought — and something of an impossibility anyway — over those two years. As a result, Miller inherited only two players total from the high school classes of 2008 and 2009, guards Kyle Fogg and Brendon Lavender, at the moment of his April 2009 hiring.

Miller needed multiple years of strong recruiting classes to get things going, something that was still evident even after star forward Derrick Williams powered the Wildcats to the 2011 Elite Eight. With a roster remaining light on talent, UA was bounced out of the first round of the NIT in 2011-12, and the Wildcats didn’t begin to make a sustainable upswing until 2012-13, when they reached the Sweet 16.

Miller then put together national contenders in 2013-14 and 2014-15, reaching the Elite Eight in what were his fifth and sixth seasons.

He didn’t need seven years to get there, but he never had to worry about whether or not he would.

That’s because the five-year contract Miller agreed to in 2009 paid him $1.6 million annually from UA plus another $200,000 each from Nike and IMG ... and included the following paragraph:

“At the end of the second Contract Year, if circumstances do not exist that would justify termination for cause, the University’s President and (AD) shall request to the Arizona Board of Regents that the Term be extended for another two Contract Years.”

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Done. A five-year contract that effectively was a seven-year contract, except that the final two years were technically subject to the Regents’ “sole legal discretion.”

Miller said at the time that the extra two years did not seal his decision, but then-UA athletic director Jim Livengood made it a point of action.

“That part has been addressed for the most part,” Livengood said. “It was added in terms of discussion. But everything has to be approved by the Board of Regents. All these kinds of things in a sense are a handshake.”

The way it turned out, there was no need for a handshake.

Two years after that deal was agreed to, Miller’s team had just beaten Duke in the Sweet 16 to reach the 2011 Elite Eight. Miller’s leverage grew even stronger when NC State and Maryland both tried to hire him away after that season, too.

But Miller stayed and, instead of just coming through on that two-year extension, then-AD Greg Byrne offered Miller a revised five-year deal with $100,000 escalators every season, starting at $2.0 million in 2011-12 plus the Nike/IMG payments and incentives.

While that was actually a modest increase considering Miller’s leverage, the deal also included items Miller had strongly sought, such as increases to his assistants’ salaries and more charter flights.

Miller kept being paid $100,000 escalators all the way through last season, when he was paid $2.6 million from UA before the school fired him last week.

Miller was comfortable in 2011, and Arizona was comfortable with Miller, too.

“Believe me when I tell you, our administration has done everything to keep me here and ensure that this will be among the elite programs in the nation,” Miller said after signing the 2011 agreement, also alluding to strength gained from the Pac-12’s new media rights agreement.

“I fully expect Arizona to be a leader for many years to come, and, with the help of our administration, continue to rise to the challenge in meeting the needs of our elite-level program.”