Arizona firing Sean Miller is hardly a shocking development given the scandal the staff he employed put the program through in recent years. Academic fraud. Impermissible benefits. Bribery. You name it, it probably happened on Miller’s watch. So, again, it’s unsurprising that Arizona decided to remove Sean Miller.
But why did it take so long?
And why now?
The sensible thing for Arizona to do would’ve been to fire Miller years ago — after former assistant Book Richardson was arrested, charged with federal crimes and caught on a wiretap telling ex-agent Christian Dawkins that Miller “bought” five-star prospect DeAndre Ayton. Even if you think Richardson was lying for some weird reason, there was never any denying that major NCAA rules were broken by multiple Arizona assistants Miller hired. A notice of allegations was guaranteed to arrive someday — meaning Miller would be running a program under a cloud for years and without the cheating assistants who helped him build it.
It appeared recruiting would fall off.
And, wouldn’t you know it, recruiting fell off — presumably because it’s hard to consistently get the same level of prospects when you no longer have assistants who totally disregard the rulebook. So Arizona missed the NCAA Tournament in 2019, would’ve been no better than a No. 7 seed in 2020, and missed it again this season because of a self-imposed postseason ban designed to minimize future NCAA sanctions.
Firing Miller years ago would’ve provided Arizona with a fresh start, ridded the school of a tainted coach, and sent a message to the world that it won’t tolerate a person who either condoned cheating or didn’t do enough to prevent it. Instead, Arizona stood by Miller year after year in a way some deemed shameful.
And then it fired him five weeks after this season concluded.
Again, why now?
Why stand by Miller for years only to dismiss him now when A) the notice of allegations that finally arrived was kinder to him than most anticipated it would be, and B) he had a preseason top 25 team set to return?
To be clear, I’m not fighting on behalf of Miller; I would’ve likely fired him years ago for reasons already stated. So I understand the decision to move on. I’m just less understanding of embarrassingly standing by him through the really tough times only to move on when the worst is probably at least mostly in the rearview mirror. At best, it’s a confusing way to go about things. At worst, it’s just plain dumb.
Either way, Sean Miller is out.
Either way, another big-boy job is open. The obvious candidates are Gonzaga associate head coach Tommy Lloyd, Arkansas coach Eric Musselman, and at least four coaches who double as former Arizona players — namely Georgia Tech coach Josh Pastner, Pacific coach Damon Stoudamire, Sacramento Kings coach Luke Walton and Los Angeles Lakers assistant Miles Simon.
Needless to say, it’ll be an interesting search for Arizona AD Dave Heeke. The only questions I have are why did he not try to find Sean Miller’s successor years ago? And if he wasn’t willing to do it then, why now?
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