Texas taps motivated Sean Miller to lead the team to a championship

Sean Miller defeated Texas in the NCAA Tournament just a week ago, eliminating the Longhorns early and ensuring they would make a coaching change.

By Tuesday, Miller was standing next to the large BEVO Longhorn mascot and raising his right hand in the air with the “Hook’Em Horns” gesture as the new Texas men’s basketball coach.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been more excited in my life,” Miller said during his introduction on campus.

Miller also mentioned it was tough to leave Xavier, a program where he had coached twice, most recently when he returned in 2022 after being fired at Arizona.

“I love that place. It’s a place that trusted me, and believed in me,” he said.

However, the opportunity to join a big conference program with strong resources in the top league in the country was too tempting to resist.

Miller, 56, took 13 teams to the NCAA Tournament in 20 seasons at Xavier and Arizona. Now, he is taking over a Texas program looking for consistent tournament success and eager to make its mark in the competitive Southeastern Conference, which has seven teams still playing in the Sweet 16 of March Madness.

Miller replaces Rodney Terry, who was fired on Sunday, a few days after Xavier defeated Texas in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament. Terry still had three years remaining on a contract that paid him more than $3 million a year.

Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said that Miller’s contract details would be shared only after being approved by the school’s board of regents.

Terry led Texas to the Elite Eight in 2023, but pressure grew as he struggled to maintain that success. Texas suffered early exits from the tournament in the past two seasons and went 6-12 in league play in its first season in the SEC.

With Miller, Texas gains a coach with a track record of success at both mid-major and major conference programs, who was involved in and later cleared of an NCAA investigation into Arizona.

Miller’s teams at Xavier and Arizona reached the Sweet 16 eight times and the Elite Eight four times, but never made it to the Final Four. Texas has not reached the Final Four since 2003.

“I know this place is hungry to get back there and compete for a national championship,” Miller said.

Miller went 120-47 in his first stint at Xavier from 2004-2009, leading the Musketeers to the NCAA Tournament in his last four seasons before being hired at Arizona. He won 302 games and five Pac-12 regular-season titles in 12 years with the Wildcats. However, the program got caught up in the 2017 FBI investigation into corruption in college basketball.

Miller was fired after that season but was cleared of any wrongdoing in 2022 by the Independent Accountability Resolution Process, which deals with complex cases. Two of his former assistants faced penalties.

Del Conte said the school did a “thorough background check” and found nothing to stop Miller from being hired.

“There is nothing that said this guy’s background is not prepared for this institution,” Del Conte said.

“I found a hungry dog, a dog who wants to win at the highest level,” Del Conte added.

Miller chose not to go into details about which players from his Texas roster might stay or which Xavier players could transfer to join him in Austin.

Texas’ Tre Johnson, who led the SEC in scoring and was the league’s freshman of the year, is expected to go pro. Miller encouraged him to do so and noted Johnson was not part of a meeting with returning players.

“What I would say to him is he needs to go. That’s the best decision for him and his family,” Miller said.