Sean Miller

Sean Miller

Miller at press conference in McKale Center
Sport(s)	Basketball
Current position
Title	Head coach
Team	Arizona
Conference	Pac-12
Record	194–62 (.758)
Biographical details
Born	(1968-11-17) November 17, 1968 Ellwood City, Pennsylvania
Playing career
1987–1992	Pittsburgh
Position(s)	Point guard
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1992–1993	Wisconsin (GA)
1993–1995	Miami (OH) (asst.)
1995–1996	Pittsburgh (asst.)
1996–2001	NC State (asst.)
2001–2004	Xavier (asst.)
2004–2009	Xavier
2009–present	Arizona
2015–present	USA Men's U19 National Team
Head coaching record
Overall	314–109 (.742)
Tournaments	17–9 (.654) (NCAA) 0–1 (.000) (NIT)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
A-10 Tournament championship (2006) 3× A-10 regular season championships (2007–2009) 3× Pac-12 regular season championships (2011, 2014, 2015) Pac-12 Tournament championship (2015)
Awards
A-10 Coach of the Year (2008) 2× Pac-12 Coach of the Year (2011, 2014) Accomplishments 4× Elite Eight (2008, 2011, 2014, 2015) 6× Sweet Sixteen (2008, 2009, 2011, 2013–2015) 9× NCAA Tournament bids (2006–2009, 2011, 2013–2016)

Sean Edward Miller (born November 17, 1968) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the head men's basketball coach for the University of Arizona Wildcats.

Playing career

Early years

Miller was born in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania.^[1] The son of John Miller, a Pennsylvania high school basketball coach, Miller was a point guard under his father at Blackhawk High School in Chippewa Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania. He had developed considerable ballhandling skills before that time^[2] and appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson when he was fourteen years old. His ball handling skills were such that he was featured in the 1979 movie, "The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh," starring basketball star Julius Erving.^[3] In his junior year, he led Blackhawk to the 1986 Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) title. In his senior year, he averaged 27 points and 11 assists per game and helped lead his Blackhawk Cougars to the 1987 WPIAL championship game. After graduation, he chose to play basketball for Pittsburgh.^[1]

University of Pittsburgh

Miller played at Pitt from 1987–1992. Despite being a natural freshman, he was the starting point guard. Some of his more famous teammates at the time include Charles Smith and Jerome Lane. Many of his teammates recall his knowledge of the game and his leadership qualities. His knowledge of the game allowed him to compete at this level, although he did not have the speed or athleticism of his peers. Jason Matthews, the shooting guard next to Miller, recalls he was the leader of the team, even as a freshman, and that the upperclassmen welcomed him as a leader. Because of his knowledge and leadership abilities, none of his teammates were surprised once he became a top coach in NCAA men's basketball. Miller's collegiate statistics are: 128 games played, 1,282 points, 10.0 points per game, 744 assists, 5.8 assists per game, 261 rebounds, 2.0 rebounds per game, and 102 steals. ^[4]

Sean was on the all-Rookie team for the Big East. As of the 2009–2010 season, he was the No. 17 all-time scorer for Pitt, all-time best three-point shooter for Pitt, and had the third most Big East career assists. Furthermore, he ranked 10th among career Division I free throw shooters at .885.^[5]

Coaching career

Early Years

After graduating from Pitt with a degree in communications in 1992, Miller took a graduate assistant position at Wisconsin. He then spent two seasons (1993–95) at Miami (Ohio) under Herb Sendek, during which the team made two postseason appearances.^[6] He then returned to his alma mater of Pittsburgh for a season as an assistant under Ralph Willard.

In 1996, Miller joined North Carolina State. In Miller's five years in Raleigh, the Wolfpack made four postseason appearances, including a run into the 2000 NIT semifinals.

Miller's next move was a return to southwestern Ohio in 2001. This time he would join Thad Matta's staff at Xavier as the first associate head coach in the school's history.^[1] The Musketeers won 26 games in each of Miller's three seasons under Matta, making the NCAA tournament each season. The 2004 season was especially notable. First, the Musketeers won the Atlantic 10 postseason tournament despite having to play four games to do so. Xavier then made a deep run in the subsequent NCAA tournament, finishing with the school's first-ever appearance in the Elite Eight.^[1]

Xavier

Taking over as head coach at Xavier after Matta moved on to Ohio State, Miller took the Musketeers to four NCAA tournaments, in addition to winning three A-10 regular season championships and one conference tournament championship. In the 2008 NCAA tournament, the 3rd seeded Musketeers were eliminated in the Elite Eight by #1 seed UCLA, while in 2009, they were eliminated in the Sweet 16 by another #1 seed, Pittsburgh.

Arizona

After the tournament, Miller was announced to be a possible candidate for the vacant head coaching position at Arizona, which had spent two years under interim head coaches in the wake of the illness and retirement of Hall of Fame coach Lute Olson. He initially turned the job down before changing his mind and accepting the job on April 6, 2009 despite having never visited the Arizona campus.^[7] He was succeeded at Xavier by former assistant Chris Mack. Within three months of joining the program, Miller had already assembled a recruiting class ranked #12 in the nation by Scout.com.^[8] Miller led Arizona to a 16–15 record (10–8 in the Pacific-10 Conference) in his debut season, and the Wildcats missed postseason play for the first time in 25 years.

In the 2010–2011 season, Miller guided Arizona back to college basketball relevance. He led Arizona to its first top 10 ranking in the AP poll since January 8, 2007, and led the Wildcats to their first outright Pac-10 Regular Season Title (its 12th overall), 4th 30+ win season (1st overall), 2nd Elite Eight appearance (9th overall) and its highest coaches poll finish (9th) since the 2004–2005 season. Miller compiled a recruiting class that included 4 ESPNU top 100 recruits (#4 by Scout.com), which was widely regarded as a top ten recruiting class. In addition, Miller led the Wildcats to their first unbeaten home record (17–0) in 14 years and was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year. This was the first time an Arizona coach received this honor since Lute Olson did in 2003. The 17 consecutive home win streak tied for the second most in school history.^[9] and is part of a 19-game home streak beginning in the 2009–2010 season. Miller's recruiting has improved. From not being ranked in the top-25 recruiting classes by ESPN in 2010,^[10] Miller would add to the season's success by guiding the Cats to their first Elite Eight appearance since the 2004–2005 Season as a 5-seed. In the second round, Arizona secured a 2-point victory over 12th seeded Memphis (coached by former Wildcat (and member of the 1997 national title team) Josh Pastner) with a blocked shot in the final seconds by Derrick Williams. Arizona would follow with another close game—a controversial one-point win against 4-seed Texas. In the Sweet-16 match-up, Arizona found itself pitted against top-seeded Duke, the first time since the 2001 title game that the two schools had met. Duke would extend an early lead, but 25 points from Derrick Williams kept the Cats in the game and down by 6 points at the half. In the second half, Williams' teammates picked up the slack, dominating the Blue Devils by scoring 55 second-half points and routing the defending champs 93–77. Arizona's run at the Final Four would fall 2 points short, losing to 3-seed (and eventual national champion) Connecticut 65–63.

For 2011–12's third season, Arizona's 2011 recruiting class was ranked 7th, notably signing Nick Johnson and Josiah Turner. Arizona secured three players in the top nine of the ESPNU 100, with all four newly signed players in the top 36. This cemented Arizona as the No. 1 signing class nationally, surpassing Kentucky who held the No. 1 spot 2010 and 2011.^[11][12][13] The Wildcats missed the postseason for the second time, reached to the NIT Tournament before falling to Bucknell to finish the season 23–12 overall, 12–6 in Pac-12.

In his fourth season, Miller guided the Wildcats to their second top-5 ranking in the AP poll (the first coming in weeks 7–10 of the 2012–2013 season^[14]). Arizona reached the Sweet 16 in the 2013 NCAA tournament before falling to Ohio State and finished the season with an overall record of 27–8 and 12–6 in Pac-12.

On December 9, 2013, in Miller's fifth season as head coach of the Wildcats, Arizona became the #1 ranked team in the country for the 6th time in school history following a 9–0 start with wins over traditional national powerhouses Duke and UNLV. The Wildcats followed this up by securing a key come-from-behind victory on the road at Michigan on December 14 and led the Wildcats to their second outright Pac-12 regular season title (its 13th overall, 26th regular season overall). Arizona also secured its second unbeaten home record (18–0) and Coach Miller was again named the Pac-10/12 coach of the year. The Wildcats completed their fifth ever 30+ win season (2nd overall). In the NCAA tournament, Arizona made its second Elite Eight appearance (9th overall) of the Miller era, but fell to Wisconsin in overtime to finish the season with an overall record of 33–5, including 15–3 in Pac-12.

After Gonzaga's home loss to BYU on February 28, 2015, Arizona claimed the longest active home winning streak in D-I men's college basketball. Arizona defeated #13 Utah in Salt Lake City the same day, winning its share of the Pac-12 regular season title. After three losses to Pac-12 arch-rival Arizona State, Oregon State, and UNLV, Arizona won their third outright Pac-12 regular season championship title under Miller's leadership (Arizona's 14th Pac-12 regular season title, and 27th conference title overall). The Wildcats completes their sixth ever 30+ win season (3rd under Miller) and won their first Pac-12 Tournament title (5th overall) since 2002. In the 2015 NCAA tournament, the Wildcats would fall to Wisconsin for the second consecutive year in the Elite Eight, 85–78, finishing the season with a 34–4 record overall, 16–2 in Pac-12.

USA Basketball

Miller served as the head coach of the men's U19 team which competed at the 2015 FIBA U19 world championships. The USA team ended up with a perfect 7–0 record and a gold medal. As a result of this performance, Miller was named the co-national coach of the year by USA basketball.^[15][16]

Personal life

Miller and his wife, Amy, have three sons.^[17] His brother, Archie Miller, is the men's basketball head coach at the University of Dayton.^[18]

Head coaching record

Notable players coached

Arizona

Lamont Jones (2009-2011)

Derrick Williams (2009–2011)

Kyle Fogg (2009-2012)

Solomon Hill (2009–2013)

Mark Lyons (2012-2013)

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (2013–15)

Grant Jerrett (2012–2013)

Aaron Gordon (2013–2014)

Nick Johnson (2011–2014)

Brandon Ashley (2012-2015)

Stanley Johnson (2014–2015)

T. J. McConnell (2013–2015)

Kaleb Tarczewski (2012–2016)

Xavier

Derrick Brown (2005–2009)

Jordan Crawford (2008–2009)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sean Miller.

• Arizona profile