Arizona Basketball: Time running out on Sean Miller’s contract

As the 2020-21 Arizona Basketball season soon comes to an end, the Wildcats will have tough decisions to make regarding their future of the program and with Sean Miller.

It has been a long time since Sean Miller came to Tucson from Xavier, arriving in 2009, as he took over the storied Arizona Basketball program from the Lute Olson years.

At the time, Miller was considered one of the youngest up-and-coming head coaches in the game. A basketball savant of sorts, he quickly led us past the tumultuous and turbulent transition years from the Olson era.

Arizona Wildcats

Taking over a depleted roster and a program on probation, his journey ahead would be a challenging one, to say the least.

However, Miller saw immediate and immense success, building Arizona back up to a respectable level.

From 2010 to 2017, we saw six NCAA Tournament appearances, three Elite Eights, five Sweet Sixteens, four regular-season Conference Titles, and two conference Tournament Championships. Unfortunately no Final Fours.

Despite getting close to reaching the proverbial College Basketball promised land numerous times, the team ultimately came up short just by a few plays each time. Fast forward to 2021, and the lack of a Final Four still haunts Miller.

However, since that successful stretch, we cannot be coy about what has transgressed recently. The FBI Investigation broke in September of 2017, and ever since, Arizona and Miller have had a dark cloud of sorts hovering over the program.

Impacting recruiting and perhaps, more importantly, the on-court results, it has led to many differing opinions among fans regarding Arizona and Miller’s future with the Wildcats.

I know many still debate how much Sean knew what was going (if anything) versus what he should be held accountable for, and that has caused a rift among even the most ardent of fans.

At the end of the day, the FBI investigated Miller, Deandre Ayton, Rawle Alkins, Jahvon Quinerly, etc., and found no proof of payment, no proof of transactions, nothing that would implicate that Miller indeed knew what was going on. All that can be made are insinuations, and insinuations without facts are just opinions.

All that was essentially proven to have happened, was that former Assistant Book Richardson pocketed the bribes, which is still a bad look for Miller and the University, to say the least.

Now, you can argue that Miller should have run a tighter ship to prevent such things from happening, and ultimately, anything that happens within the program is on him.

At the end of the day, the program has been hampered by the investigation, and with only one year left on Millers’ contract, it is going to leave the University with a tough choice.

So where does Arizona Basketball and Sean Miller go from here…

Depending on who you ask, many are calling for a change, while others are still in his corner willing to still give Miller a chance.

If Arizona were to make a change here a few things to note…

Keeping Miller means

• Arizona would still have one of the better coaches in college basketball… be honest with yourself, there are not too many 400+ win coaches out there with a winning percentage over .720, the results speak for themselves. No Final Fours aside, there are not many coaches with that kind of track record. Replacing him isn’t as easy as you think.
• You are likely keeping together a solid core of young players and talented incoming recruits that could be special next year.
• You are maintaining stability with a program that could see more punishments from the NCAA following the Independent Review Process.

Getting rid of Miller means

• Finding a replacement all while having the ‘Dark Cloud’ hanging over the program isn’t as easy as you think it is. Remember, Arizona was a bit hampered with the probation from the Lute years, as the Wildcats nearly settled for Kevin O’Neal, Tim Floyd, or even Russ Pennell.
• The athletic department is seeing financial hardships, see the firing of Kevin Sumlin, and Covid impacting the final success and overall well-being of the Department.
• Arizona is going into complete rebuild mode. That means that the Wildcats likely do not see immediate recruiting success, and may even have some roster turnover as a result. Would fans be patient with a storied program that likely doesn’t see success for a few years?

At the end of the day, the program is at a crossroads and the choices are not easy ones. Arizona is now meeting its fate following the FBI Investigation, and we’re so far removed from the situation, that any punishment at this point is only hurting players that weren’t even involved in the initial claims.

Can the program endure making the change right now? I say no. I still think Arizona’s best option is to extend Miller two-to-three more years, see if he can weather the storm, and get this program turned around. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!