Miller, others should step up for a change.
Ex-UA coach Miller could have been a crusader instead of suspected cheat
Sean Miller should have handled things differently. ● As soon as the FBI went after one of his assistants in 2017, the former University of Arizona men’s basketball coach should have loudly and defiantly denounced the NCAA over its ridiculously hypocritical system that allows coaches, schools and TV networks to earn millions while expecting players to settle for scholarships. ● He should have called a news conference, stood on the nearest table and yelled as loudly as possible that he was going to start paying recruits out of his own pocket and that he was daring anyone to do anything about it. ● For the record, Miller, who was fired Wednesday, was never implicated by federal authorities in the sting that ensnared several top college basketball programs and landed UA assistant coach Book Richardson in prison. ● But that case led to an NCAA investigation that accused Miller of running a program that was out of control.
He leaves Tucson with a 302-109 record, eight Pac-12 titles (either regular season or tournament) and seven NCAA Tournament berths, including three Elite Eight appearances, in 12 years.
Miller had earned the reputation as one of the brightest up-and-coming stars in the men’s college basketball.
He was considered the best coach who had yet to reach a Final Four, and it looked like he had everything he needed to break into the winners’ club at the start of the 2017-18 season; then it all fell apart.
Miller’s top assistant, Richardson, was accused of accepting bribes to influence players to attend UA.
Miller’s top player, Deandre Ayton was implicated and had to play his one season in Tucson under a cloud of suspicion. (Tellingly, Ayton wasn’t accused by federal authorities, nor was his name included in the NCAA investigation, but headlines suggesting his exoneration haven’t been nearly as bold as those touting the accusations.)
For his part, Miller denied the allegations and suspicions throughout, and his defining statement will be what he said in March 2018: “I have never paid a recruit or a prospect or their family or representative to come to Arizona. I never have, and I never will.”
Of course, the aspiring agent at the center of the federal investigation, Christian Dawkins, didn’t believe Miller and called him out in a 2020 HBO documentary, “The Scheme.”
“You wanna know my opinion? … That wasn’t true,” Dawkins said.
“If anyone’s gonna say Book was a cheater and Book was a liar and Book paid players, there’s no way you can separate Sean from it.”
The investigation seemed deeply flawed and horribly racist.
The case unraveled when an undercover agent was accused of misconduct.
And of all the people in college basketball, why was it that a small cluster of Black men (a few assistant coaches and Dawkins) were the main focus?
Through all that, Miller continued to coach, but not to his previous standard
His 2018 NCAA Tournament team went out in the first round and hasn’t been back to March Madness since.
Miller is now out after an NCAA probe alleged that his program was out of control.
The findings said he “did not demonstrate that he promoted an atmosphere for compliance” or properly monitor his assistant coaches, two of whom (including Richardson) were accused of unethical recruiting.
‘We need a fresh start’
UA decided to sit out the postseason as a self-imposed punishment, and Dave Heeke, UA’s athletic director, said in a statement Wednesday, just days after the men’s college basketball season ended, that “after taking the many factors involved into account, we simply believe that we need a fresh start and now is the time.”
But that, too, stops short.
Players SHOULD be paid in cash — above and beyond their scholarships, meal stipends and access to top-notch facilities.
And Miller, Heeke and anyone else associated with men’s college basketball needs to spearhead such a shift. It wouldn’t be particularly difficult. Just start openly breaking the rules and quoting Martin Luther King, who said in his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” that “one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws ... one who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly and with a willingness to accept the penalty.” (Otherwise it would lead to anarchy, King said.)
Barring that type of civil disobedience, top-notch players should continue to go around the NCAA system.
The NBA’s developmental league has a team dedicated to talented young players who have decided to skip college in favor of a paycheck and a lifestyle as a professional athlete.
Other top prospects, such as the NBA’s leading rookie-of-the-year candidate, LaMelo Ball have gone overseas to play professionally. (The NBA requires players to be at least 19.)
But it’s clear with every scandal that things should be handled differently. Miller had an opportunity to do that. Frankly, he still does. He’d be remembered as a crusader and suspected as a cheater.
That goes for everyone else involved with men’s college basketball, too.