Former UA coach Sean Miller opened his first "Next Play" podcastΒ with brother Archie Miller by briefly describing what the brothers are going through after both were fired last spring.
"Sometimes as a coach it's being able to move from something that happened bad, a turnover, your best player getting in foul trouble, a breakdown on defense," Sean Miller said. "Being able to go from that to the next play is so essential because there are so many plays in the game of basketball that we deal with and outside of it, what you and I are dealing with right now, it's next play for us.
"But things happen. You have to bounce back from it, learn from it, grow."
Neither brother went into any more detail about their situations. Sean Miller was fired by Arizona on April 7 after three and a half years of FBI and NCAA proceedings surrounded his program while Archie was fired by Indiana in March after going 67-58 over four seasons with the Hoosiers.Β
Archie Miller said the podcast would aim to provide behind-the-scenes type analysis of games this season to help fans and coaches alike "understand some of the things and where they're coming from."
Sean Miller then drew laughter from his brother when he mentioned another motivation.
"The other part is, Arch, it gives us something to do," Sean Miller said. "There's not a whole lot to do. You play Madden. You look outside and want to play golf. Work out. I mean, repeat, right? So it keeps us in the game. And it's a game no doubt that you and I love.
"I know if I wasn't a college coach for a period of time I probably would have been a high school coach, probably for a longer period of time. Because that's who our dad was (John Miller was a legendary coach at Blackhawk High School outside Pittsburgh) and that's how we grew up with the game of basketball."
While the Miller brothers broke down the Champions Classic, Sean Miller also said the lack of big crowds is hurting most Pac-12 programs (at about the 30-minute mark) and spoke highly of the conference's perennial talent level as seen by the number of NBA players it produces. (He later also said WSU coach Kyle Smith was "one of the best coaches in the game" and said the Cougars would be dangerous this season).
"So there's my plug for the Pac-12, a sincere plug," Miller concluded. "That's my Bill Walton for the day."
The two did the podcast together from a studio created for them, with jerseys from their playing days on the wall behind them. Sean Miller said they were "Somewhere west of the Mississippi" but that "I don't really want to give our location."
(FWIW, the Millers are believed to have been spending a lot of time in Tucson lately; Arch Miller lived in Tucson as Sean's associate head coach in 2009-10 and 2010-11 before becoming Dayton's head coach).
Their first podcast can be found here on YouTube.
