Arizona parts ways with Sean Miller 4 years after allegations stemming from FBI probe
Yahoo Sports College reporter Pete Thamel explains Arizona’s move to part ways with longtime head coach Sean Miller, who had been under fire amid allegations stemming from the federal investigation into college basketball. Pete also gives you some of the hot names that could be in the running to replace Miller with the Wildcats.
Video Transcript
PETE THAMEL: After 12 years and more than 300 wins, the Sean Miller era is officially over in Tucson. Miller and the Arizona administration parted ways on Wednesday afternoon more than four seasons after the first allegations arose against the Arizona basketball program in the federal basketball investigation. In some ways, it's a surprise Miller lasted this long.
Arizona has five level one violations levied against it against the NCAA, including one against Miller for failure to monitor his assistant coaches. With all of that looming and a contract ending in a year, a decision was going to have to come from Arizona soon. Either extend Miller, or finally, part ways with him after the dark cloud of the NCAA allegations had hung over the program for so long.
In reality, both Miller and Arizona ended up big losers from sticking around for a while. Miller could have left, gone to the NBA, rehabilitated himself, and really, remade his career. Instead, Arizona has missed the last three NCAA tournaments, in part, because of the allegations hanging over the program.
The school self imposed a tournament ban this year. The only NCAA appearance since the allegations arose came against Buffalo, four years ago, when Arizona got run off the court in a 13-4 game. In reality, the Arizona program has been stuck in purgatory for a while and will be for a lot longer.
The Wildcats are, eventually, when the NCAA, finally, gets around to making some sort of ruling, going to be saddled with significant NCAA sanctions. When they come and how significant are really the only variables. So in the future, it would make sense if Arizona looked inside the family for a replacement.
That could either be Damon Stoudamire, who's, obviously, thrived in a tough rehab job at Pacific. It could be Josh Pastner, who's done a good job at Georgia Tech and is an Arizona graduate. It could be Miles Simon, the former MOP of the 1997 NCAA tournament, who's an NBA assistant coach.
The other name that's gained traction in recent weeks is Tommy Lloyd. He's the top assistant at Gonzaga, who's long said, he'd wait for Mark [? P ?] to retire and then take over there. Lloyd is, simply put, the best assistant coach in the country. He's got strong international ties, strong West Coast ties, and would be in a position to help Arizona ride out the difficult period they're about to head into.
For Miller, his next logical stop would probably be the NBA. He has strong relationships with coaches, like Billy Donovan and Stan Van Gundy. Perhaps he starts behind the bench, and works his way up, and learns that the same way Kelvin Sampson had to rehabilitate his career when he left Indiana. But for now, Arizona becomes the focus of college basketball once again. Without NCAA sanctions hovering, it's the top 10 job in the sport. How Arizona will move on after parting ways with Sean Miller will be one of the most prominent storylines this offseason.
