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As new Texas basketball coach Sean Miller scanned the room during his introductory press conference Tuesday at the University of Texas Athletics Hall of Fame, he noticed football coach Steve Sarkisian standing in the back. He also spotted women’s basketball coach Vic Shaefer and women’s soccer coach Ange Kelly.
All three won an SEC conference championship this school year while forcing their way into the national-championship conversation, and Miller didn’t take long to cite that widespread athletic success as a reason for leaving Xavier and taking over the Texas program.
“There's no doubt in my mind that when you're the flagship school in the state of Texas, your power is limitless," Miller said. "I'm looking forward to uniting with the resources and this amazing institution, and breaking through, not once, but multiple times, competing for SEC championships and being a perennial great program, like so many other great programs at this university are right now."
But Miller knows turning the men’s basketball program into a national contender won’t come easy. Unlike almost every other sport in the Texas athletic department, the men’s basketball team has never played for a championship in the modern era. It went 19-16 this past season under Rodney Terry, its worst record since an 11-22 campaign in the 2016-17 season.
The challenges for Miller started when he signed the coaching contract with Texas on Monday. The transfer portal opened the same day, and Miller knows he needs to somehow replace five players who have used up their eligibility as well as move on without freshman All-American Tre Johnson, who’s likely to declare for the NBA Draft.
He needs to complete a coaching staff and likely find a new general manager, since the current general manager, Chris Ogden, has a cloudy future following the ouster of Terry. Oh, and Miller also needs to tap into the NIL funding pipeline that flows throughout the Texas athletic department, but can sometimes run dry when it comes to men’s basketball.
More: Texas basketball's hire of Sean Miller is necessary to compete in the rough SEC | Golden
All those decisions will be made in the coming days and weeks, Miller said.
“I'm just anxious to, well, not take my time, because we don't have time, but to certainly not rush into any decision,” he said. "I need to make sure that as I learn what's best here, that I make the right choices.”
Miller, 57, becomes the 27th head basketball coach at Texas and the fourth head coach since Rick Barnes left the program after 17 seasons following the 2014-15 season. He replaces Terry, who was fired after tallying a 62-37 record and four NCAA Tournament wins since taking over the program on an interim basis for Chris Beard in December 2022.
In eight total seasons with Xavier and 12 with Arizona, Miller has posted a 487-196 record with eight regular-season conference titles and four conference tournament championships. That record includes 50 games vacated after the NCAA determined that Arizona paid players in violation of its rules.
Miller has guided teams to 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, including four trips to the Elite Eight and eight to the Sweet Sixteen. Overall, Miller has a 22-13 record in NCAA Tournament contests. This past season, Miller led Xavier to a 22-12 record, a fourth-place finish in the Big East, a win over Texas in a NCAA Tournament First Four and a spot in the round of 64, in which Xavier lost to Illinois on Friday.
That prolonged success proved Miller’s most appealing characteristic, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte told the Statesman Tuesday.
“I studied everything,” Del Conte said. “It’s the length of time that you look at any coach, every hire. It's not just an instantaneous success you want; you look at whether they've done it over a long period of time. That's the most important thing, whether they've had success a long period of time and whether they have a roadmap of what it looks like. That's part of the qualities I look for.”
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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas basketball: New coach Sean Miller expectations for Texas
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All three won an SEC conference championship this school year while forcing their way into the national-championship conversation, and Miller didn’t take long to cite that widespread athletic success as a reason for leaving Xavier and taking over the Texas program.
“There's no doubt in my mind that when you're the flagship school in the state of Texas, your power is limitless," Miller said. "I'm looking forward to uniting with the resources and this amazing institution, and breaking through, not once, but multiple times, competing for SEC championships and being a perennial great program, like so many other great programs at this university are right now."
But Miller knows turning the men’s basketball program into a national contender won’t come easy. Unlike almost every other sport in the Texas athletic department, the men’s basketball team has never played for a championship in the modern era. It went 19-16 this past season under Rodney Terry, its worst record since an 11-22 campaign in the 2016-17 season.
The challenges for Miller started when he signed the coaching contract with Texas on Monday. The transfer portal opened the same day, and Miller knows he needs to somehow replace five players who have used up their eligibility as well as move on without freshman All-American Tre Johnson, who’s likely to declare for the NBA Draft.
He needs to complete a coaching staff and likely find a new general manager, since the current general manager, Chris Ogden, has a cloudy future following the ouster of Terry. Oh, and Miller also needs to tap into the NIL funding pipeline that flows throughout the Texas athletic department, but can sometimes run dry when it comes to men’s basketball.
More: Texas basketball's hire of Sean Miller is necessary to compete in the rough SEC | Golden
All those decisions will be made in the coming days and weeks, Miller said.
“I'm just anxious to, well, not take my time, because we don't have time, but to certainly not rush into any decision,” he said. "I need to make sure that as I learn what's best here, that I make the right choices.”
Miller, 57, becomes the 27th head basketball coach at Texas and the fourth head coach since Rick Barnes left the program after 17 seasons following the 2014-15 season. He replaces Terry, who was fired after tallying a 62-37 record and four NCAA Tournament wins since taking over the program on an interim basis for Chris Beard in December 2022.
In eight total seasons with Xavier and 12 with Arizona, Miller has posted a 487-196 record with eight regular-season conference titles and four conference tournament championships. That record includes 50 games vacated after the NCAA determined that Arizona paid players in violation of its rules.
Miller has guided teams to 13 NCAA Tournament appearances, including four trips to the Elite Eight and eight to the Sweet Sixteen. Overall, Miller has a 22-13 record in NCAA Tournament contests. This past season, Miller led Xavier to a 22-12 record, a fourth-place finish in the Big East, a win over Texas in a NCAA Tournament First Four and a spot in the round of 64, in which Xavier lost to Illinois on Friday.
That prolonged success proved Miller’s most appealing characteristic, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte told the Statesman Tuesday.
“I studied everything,” Del Conte said. “It’s the length of time that you look at any coach, every hire. It's not just an instantaneous success you want; you look at whether they've done it over a long period of time. That's the most important thing, whether they've had success a long period of time and whether they have a roadmap of what it looks like. That's part of the qualities I look for.”
Follow the American-Statesman on Facebook and X for more. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Get access to all of our best content with this tremendous offer.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas basketball: New coach Sean Miller expectations for Texas
Continue reading...
