Fansided

Lorenzo Romar is obvious candidate to replace Sean Miller at Arizona

By Brad Berreman

LAS VEGAS, NV - DECEMBER 02: Head coach Sean Miller (L) and associate head coach Lorenzo Romar of the Arizona Wildcats look on during their game against the UNLV Rebels at the Thomas
LAS VEGAS, NV - DECEMBER 02: Head coach Sean Miller (L) and associate head coach Lorenzo Romar of the Arizona Wildcats look on during their game against the UNLV Rebels at the Thomas /
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If Arizona fires Sean Miller, Lorenzo Romar is almost too obvious as a candidate to take over the Wildcats.

In reaction to ESPN’s report that he was captured on a wiretap discussing a payment to freshman star Deandre Ayton, Arizona head coach Sean Miller will not be coaching Saturday night against Oregon. Associate head coach Lorenzo Romar will take Miller’s place against the Ducks, and perhaps going forward.

Miller, at this early stage, expressed confidence he will be vindicated via a statement released by the school Saturday afternoon.

"I continue to fully support the University’s efforts to fully investigate this matter and am confident that I will be vindicated."

If it can be clearly proven it is Miller’s voice on whatever recording investigators have, he’ll have no real recourse. Arizona will also have virtually no choice but to fire him, even if it will cost the school the same as it would to keep him. But all is not lost for the Arizona men’s basketball program if Miller is let go in disgrace.

Romar is in his first season at Arizona under Miller. But he spent the previous 15 seasons as head coach at Washington, with a 298-196 record (.603 winning percentage) and six NCAA Tournament appearances. But six straight seasons without an appearance in the Big Dance, and a 9-22 record in 2016-17, got the three-time Pac-12 Coach of the Year fired.

Over 21 total seasons as a college head coach, at Pepperdine, Saint Louis and Washington, Romar has a 391-284 record.

It’s worth noting that two of Romar’s former players at Washington, Markelle Fultz and Dejounte Murray, were mentioned in Yahoo!’s report as among those who received money from the agent the FBI is investigating. As expected, Romar said he didn’t know anything about the alleged payments until the Yahoo! report came out.

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As long as Romar is not directly implicated in the scandal that is set to engulf college basketball, he’ll land as a head coach again somewhere soon. If Miller is gone, it might as well be in Tucson as Arizona’s new man in charge.