Sean Miller was the apple of Chris Del Conte's eye. I do not know if Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte rushed into this as quickly as Big Tom Callhan did with Beverly Barish back in the day, but he knows what he likes. Texas barely qualified for the NCAA Tournament under Rodney Terry as the No. 11 seed. Fate would have it, they had to play Miller's former team in Xavier as part of the First Four.
Xavier got past Texas 86-80 in Dayton nearly a week ago on Wednesday, March 19. The Musketeers earned a right to lose to the No. 6 Illinois Fighting Illini in the Round of 64 on Friday, March 21, 86-73. By Sunday afternoon, March 23, Del Conte hired the former Xavier head coach twice over as Terry's replacement. I wonder if Miller's sweat-soaked button-down from his time at Arizona finally dried out...
Terry went 62-37 over parts of three seasons leading Texas. Keep in mind he took over midway through the 2022-23 college basketball season in the midst of Chris Beard's scandal. While Terry did make the NCAA Tournament all three years he lead Texas, it was of the diminishing returns variety. Texas went from an Elite Eight team two years ago to a First Four loser with an awful 6-12 SEC mark.
As for what Texas is getting in Miller, they are getting a head coach who wins 71 percent of the time.
Sean Miller will be hired as the new head basketball coach at the University of Texas, a high ranking official told the Austin American-Statesman Sunday.
— Cedric Golden (@CedGolden) March 23, 2025
Miller has been a head coach in the Power Five for two decades and has never been to the Final Four.
Texas bets on former Xavier HC Sean Miller as Rodney Terry's successor
To date, Miller has won nearly 500 games as a college basketball head coach. He has led Xavier and Arizona to the Elite Eight a combined four times. He has also gotten to the Sweet Sixteen eight times. More likely than not, you are going to make the NCAA Tournament and have some level of success in March Madness with Miller at the helm. He got Xavier to its ceiling, but he never did leading Arizona.
Texas may have all the resources in the world to be as good as anyone in any athletic competition. It may be more of a football school historically, but you can get to Final Fours leading the Longhorns. That being said, Miller could not make his free throws when it counted at Arizona, culminating in a good, but not great decade-plus run at Tucson, one that was eventually mired by a scandal in the end.
Ultimately, teams have to move very quickly in the hiring and firing cycle in college sports. Sometimes there is really only one candidate for the job. You only move on from a head coach when you know for sure that the guy you want is going to show up and accept the next day. Agents are great or what?! To be quite frank, I think Miller will have success at Texas, but the SEC is as difficult as it has ever been.
Let's hope he dresses comfortably, as the heat does get cranked up a bit whenever you are at Texas.