Texas has found its newest men’s basketball coach.
After moving on from Rodney Terry, Texas has officially hired Xavier’s Sean Miller to lead its men’s basketball program. Terry was let go after the Longhorns underachieved in the 2024-25 season, a campaign that ended in the NCAA Tournament’s First Four with a loss to, ironically, Xavier.
Here are five things to know about Miller, who is reportedly Texas’ next head coach.
1. The basics
Born: November 17, 1968 (age 56)
Hometown: Ellwood City, Pennsylvania
College: Pittsburgh
Previous head coaching experience: Xavier 2004-09, Arizona 2009-21, Xavier 2022-25
2. A decorated player and coach
Miller has been one of the top coaches in college basketball for a long time. He got his first head coaching gig in 2004 with Xavier, then was Arizona’s coach from 2009-21 before ending up back at Xavier from 2022-25.
During his time as a head coach, he was named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 2008 and the Pac-12 Coach of the Year in 2011, 2014 and 2017. He won the A-10 Tournament in 2006 and won the A-10 regular season championship in 2007, 2008 and 2009. At Arizona, Miller won the Pac-10/Pac-12 regular season title five times (2011, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018) and the Pac-12 Tournament three times (2015, 2017, 2018).
Miller’s career record is 487-196, including 13 trips to the NCAA Tournament and four trips to the Elite Eight.
As a player, he was a point guard at Pitt from 1987-1992. He averaged 10 points, 5.8 assists and two rebounds, was named the 1987-88 Big East Freshman of the Year and Third Team All-Big East in 1992. Though Pitt is no longer in the Big East, Miller still ranks fourth all-time in Big East history in career assists with 744 dimes.
3. A controversial exit from Arizona
While his tenure at Arizona was largely successful, his time in Tucson ended negatively.
Miller was the subject of an investigation into the 2017 NCAA basketball corruption scandal that involved illegally paying athletes, most notably future No. 1 NBA draft pick Deandre Ayton. Miller was not allowed to coach Arizona for a few days, but was reinstated after he denied allegations against him.
In late December 2020, Arizona self-imposed a one-year postseason ban and Miller was ultimately fired on April 7, 2021. On December 14, 2022 it was ruled that Arizona and Miller had to vacate all regular-season and Pac-12 Tournament wins from 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons in which illegally recruited players participated in.
4. Not the only Miller in coaching
Miller’s younger brother Archie has also been a successful college basketball coach. Better yet, the brothers have coached together.
Archie Miller, who is 10 years younger than Sean Miller, was an assistant coach at Arizona for the first three years of Sean’s tenure at Arizona. After his time at Arizona, Archie got his first head coaching shot in 2011 with Dayton. He spent 2011-17 with Dayton, 2017-21 as Indiana’s head coach and was hired as Rhode Island’s head coach in 2022.
Archie has won two Atlantic 10 championships and was named the Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year in 2017.
5. Young TV star
Miller’s dribbling and ballhandling skills were so impressive that he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson when he was just 14 years old.
Not bad for a 14-year-old kid!
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