Former Arizona Basketball Assistant Coach Archie Miller to Coach Indiana

After joining the college head coaching ranks just a few seasons ago, Sean Miller’s brother and former Arizona Assistant Archie Miller is heading to Indiana.

The Miller’s are becoming much more of a household name in the coaching world. In 2009, Arizona’s head coach Sean Miller had his chance to jump at an Arizona offer, after having immense success at Xavier, now it seems his younger brother Archie Miller will be following a  similar path.

A former player at North Carolina State, the young Miller made stops at a few schools as an assistant, before joining Sean at Arizona.

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An assistant for the Wildcats from 2009 to 2011, Archie was then offered a head coaching position at the University of Dayton. Over the next six seasons with the Flyers, he would compile a 139-63 record, making the NCAA Tournament the last four consecutive years, including the remarkable Elite Eight run in 2013-14.

At 38 years young, it seems Miller will get that chance to prove himself at a premier program, similar to Sean. Just weeks ago, Indiana, a once storied program, announced that they would be parting ways with now former head coach, Tom Crean.

After days of searching, and rumors of Steve Alford (UCLA’s current coach & former Indiana player) potentially being the leading candidate, along with rumors of possibly Billy Donovan, the Hoosiers instead went with Archie. Granted Steve Alford wanted to stay in Westwood with the No. 2 recruiting class coming in, a few commits local to Los Angeles probably wouldn’t have followed him either we surmise.

News broke yesterday that Miller would be the head coach at IU, and the hire looks to be a good one. Archie Mller will become the 29th head coach at Indiana.

Archie is one of the finest young coaches in the game of college basketball, and he will be given an opportunity to prove himself even more. Dayton, Ohio is not too far from Bloomington, Indiana, so scouting should be similar, but now he has an edge when recruiting in the area.

Indiana, even among their inconsistencies in the past 15 to 20 years, are still perceived to be a great college basketball program with immense history. The Hoosiers have five national championships (with their last coming in 1986-87), and have made eight Final Fours (their last appearance was in 2002).

Miller will have a great opportunity in Bloomington. Already known for getting the most out of his players, Archie did a great job in elevating the level of play at Dayton, while not having access to some of college basketball’s best talent.

Currently, the Hoosier’s have Justin Smith (four-star forward) committed in the class of 2017, with plenty of highly rated players still left uncommitted. It will be interesting to see how he does in his first season.

From first reactions, most seem to like the hire. “It’s a home-run,” said IU insider Zach Osterman on a USA Today podcast. Another IU insider and columnist gave his thoughts on why Archie has what it takes to be successful at Indiana.

Must Read: Arizona Basketball: Five Adjustments Sean Miller could have Tried, to win in the Sweet 16

At Zona Zealots, we think this is a great hire by Indiana, as Archie is a very talented, young head coach. We certainly want to wish him the best of luck, that is unless they play Arizona! Bear Down, Archie, and congratulations!