Arizona will keep Miller as its coach
When Arizona hastily called a news conference on Thursday afternoon, it appeared Coach Sean Miller’s tenure in Tucson could be coming to an end.
Instead, the coach vehemently denied a report claiming he discussed a six-figure payment to a recruit. Less than three hours later, the school president announced
Miller will remain as the 19thranked Wildcats’ coach.
“We have no reason to believe Miller violated NCAA rules or the law,” university President Robert C. Robbins said after an Arizona Board of Regents meeting Thursday afternoon.
“We will continue to pursue every avenue of inquiry available to us during this active and federal investigation to fully understand the facts.”
ESPN reported last Friday, using anonymous sources, that the FBI had Miller on a wiretap discussing a $100,000 payment to Wildcats freshman Deandre Ayton to attend the school. Miller made a statement to the media inside Arizona’s McKale Center on Thursday, denying the report and saying he looked forward to shifting his focus back to basketball.
“There was no such conversation,” Miller said. “These statements have damaged me, my family, the university, Deandre Ayton and his incredible family.”
Robbins said he and Athletic Director Dave Heeke decided to keep Miller on after having face-to-face discussions with the coach and going over investigations conducted by the school and federal authorities.
“Coach Miller is our coach,” Robbins said. “He has a contract and we’ll be moving forward.”
In its report, ESPN said Miller was caught on the FBI wiretap discussing the payment for Ayton with Christian Dawkins, a runner for ex-NBA agent Andy Miller.
Ayton and his family denied receiving any money from Dawkins.
ESPN said its stands by its reporting on Miller and the FBI investigation.
In his statement on Saturday, Miller said it was in the best interest of the program for him not to coach the team that night at Oregon. He also did not coach the team in practice three days this week, sparking speculation he would step down or be fired.
Miller did coach Arizona to a 75-67 victory over Stanford late Thursday night.
“I have been completely open and transparent, and I look forward to coaching this team as we seek a Pac12 regular-season championship this week,” Miller said. “I now intend to turn my focus to basketball, our players and this team.”