Sean Miller: 5 things to know about potential South Carolina basketball coach
Former Arizona head coach Sean Miller has become a hot name on this year’s men’s basketball coaching carousel.
Multiple reports — including The Athletic and The Big Spur — have linked Miller’s name to the South Carolina job in recent days. So what would the former Arizona head coach bring to Columbia if hired?
Here’s a look at Miller’s background and coaching history:
Miller has ties to the Carolinas
Sean and his brother, former Indiana and Dayton head coach Archie Miller, worked at N.C. State for former Wolfpack head coach Herb Sendek.
The elder Miller was an assistant for Sendek between 1996 and 2001 before joining Thad Matta’s staff at Xavier. N.C. State went to four NITs in his five years in Raleigh.
Miller has recruited nationally during his time as a head coach, but his ties to the Carolinas would help in connecting with local high school coaches and give him a familiarity with the territory previous head coach Frank Martin, at least on paper, didn’t have when hired in 2012.
Miller had major success at Xavier
The former Pittsburgh guard made his name as the head coach at Xavier between 2004 and 2009. The Musketeers won 120 of the 167 games he coached over that five-year span.
Miller also owns two of Xavier’s eight Sweet 16 appearances and guided the program to just its second Elite Eight during a 2007-08 season it finished with a 30-7 record.
The Musketeers fired head coach Travis Steele earlier this week and have an opening of their own. It’s conceivable Miller could return to Xavier, the place that springboarded him to the high-major level.
His Arizona tenure was great on the court
Miller parlayed his work at Xavier into a shot at Arizona, one of college basketball’s true national powers.
The Wildcats won 73.5% of their games over his 12 seasons as head coach, including runs to the Elite Eight in 2011, 2014 and 2015. He also won 30 or more games on four separate occasions.
Arizona only missed the NCAA tournament due to on-court play twice during Miller’s tenure — his first season as head coach and after a 17-15 2019 campaign.
The tournament was canceled in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and the school imposed a postseason ban in the wake of an NCAA investigation in 2021. (More on that below.)
The Wildcats recruited elite talent during Miller’s tenure
Sean Miller may not have reached a Final Four during his time in Tucson, but he reeled in elite talent throughout his tenure.
Arizona has received commitments from 22 prospects rated as five-stars by 247Sports since 2003. Sixteen of those five-stars committed to Miller. Eight of those 22 prospects were also ranked top 10 recruits nationally. Six chose the Wildcats under Miller’s watch.
Programs like Arizona have national reach given their brand strength and history. Miller leveraged that dynamic in recruiting. Former five-star prospect Rawle Alkins chose Arizona out of Raleigh. Kaleb Tarczewski picked the Wildcats after a standout high school career in Massachusetts.
Miller also landed top-flight talents Alonzo Trier (Maryland), Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (Pennsylvania), Kobi Simmons (Georgia) and Josh Green (Florida via Australia) from places far beyond Arizona’s natural footprint.
Miller would bring NCAA baggage from Tucson
South Carolina fans ought to remember the FBI investigation that rocked college basketball in recent years, as former Gamecocks assistant Lamont Evans allegedly took bribes in the case.
Miller, too, was named in the inquiry due to alleged transgressions during his time at Arizona. An FBI wiretap from 2017 caught former Wildcats assistant Emanuel “Book” Evans saying Miller was paying eventual No. 1 NBA draft pick Deandre Ayton $10,000 per month, according to an ESPN report.
A February 2018 report from ESPN also revealed a conversation between Miller and Adidas consultant Christian Dawkins in which the pair discussed Miller paying Ayton $100,000 to ensure he signed with Arizona.
Miller was dinged by the NCAA in 2021 with a Level I violation for not fostering a culture of compliance within the Arizona men’s basketball program. He was not directly linked to the other four Level I charges levied against the school.
It’s not altogether clear whether Miller would face ramifications for the findings if hired again, but it could be a concern.
South Carolina athletic director Ray Tanner has long been lauded for running a tight ship in regards to cheating within the programs he oversees. That’s not to mention senior deputy athletic director Chance Miller — who had a major hand in the hiring of Shane Beamer in 2020 and is functionally Tanner’s No. 2 — also spent four years in a handful of investigative roles for the NCAA.
If South Carolina’s athletics department leaders are comfortable with the former Arizona head coach’s NCAA baggage, USC fans should take that as a fairly significant stamp of approval.
