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Indiana hires Dayton’s Archie Miller as head coach

By Chris Stone

Mar 17, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Dayton Flyers head coach Archie Miller reacts against the Wichita State Shockers during the first half in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 17, 2017; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Dayton Flyers head coach Archie Miller reacts against the Wichita State Shockers during the first half in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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Archie Miller will look to rebuild the Hoosiers after firing Tom Crean

Indiana has hired Dayton head coach Archie Miller to fill its head coaching vacancy, according to the school. ESPN first reported the move. The Vertical‘s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the sides are close to agreeing on a seven-year deal.

The 38-year old Miller has long been a hot commodity on the coaching market because of his success with the Flyers. After missing the NCAA Tournament in his first two seasons at Dayton, the school has made the Big Dance for four straight years, including a run to the Elite Eight in 2014. Three of those seasons, Miller helped propel the team into the AP top 25 and in the last two, the Flyers won the Atlantic 10 regular season conference championship.

Prior to his success with Dayton, Miller worked at Arizona State under Herb Sendek, was an assistant coach with Thad Matta at Ohio State University and spent two seasons as an associate head coach at Arizona under his brother, Sean. Miller took the job with the Flyers in 2011.

The move will generally be considered a home run for the Hoosiers who fired Tom Crean after nine seasons earlier this month. Crean failed to live up to the university’s goals, which include winning Big Ten championships, making deep runs in the NCAA Tournament and winning its next national title, according to Indiana’s statement announcing the coaching move.

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Miller has largely succeeded at Dayton without high-level recruits, but now he’ll have an opportunity to live up to the standards set by the Hoosiers’ administration with the potential to bring in some of those top talents. If Miller can meld his combination of coaching acumen with recruiting — and there’s little reason to think he won’t — then Indiana just might be able to forget the Crean years in the near future.