UA fires basketball coach Sean Miller after 12 seasons
The University of Arizona announced Wednesday that it has fired men’s basketball head coach Sean Miller whose program has been under scrutiny since 2017 for alleged NCAA violations.
Saying it was time for a “fresh start” and that the program was not meeting high expectations, Vice President and Director of Athletics Dave Heeke said he met with Miller on Wednesday morning and told him of his decision.
Heeke said he took many factors into account, including the on-court performance of the team as well as NCAA allegations of academic misconduct, a bribery scheme and the cover-up of a loan.
He said he made the recommendation to change leadership of the men’s basketball program to President Robert C. Robbins, who agreed.
“We’ll move swiftly and hire someone
as quickly as we possibly can. We’ll be going at it 24-7,” Heeke said during a Wednesday news conference.
Associate head coach Jack Murphy will serve as interim head coach.
The university said it will honor Miller’s contract, which runs through May 31, 2022. Miller is being terminated without cause, which allows him to receive 50% of his remaining guaranteed pay, or about $1.5 million.
Heeke said Wednesday that the exact dollar amount was still being calculated.
Miller’s contract hadn’t been extended since 2017, when the FBI announced its investigation into college basketball, of which Arizona played a prominent part.
The Wildcats went 17-9 overall and 11-9 this season, but were not eligible for the Pac-12 or NCAA tournaments due to a self-imposed ban.
Stadium’s Jeff Goodman first reported the news.
Goodman reported that Miller met with Robbins and Heeke on Tuesday night, but didn’t come to a conclusion regarding his future with the program.
Goodman reported that upon meeting again on Wednesday morning, the school decided to “part ways” with Miller.
Heeke told the media on Wednesday that he made the decision “late last evening or early this morning prior to arriving at the office” and meeting with Miller. He wouldn’t provide details of their meeting but said, “These are difficult conversations, but he was professional and very respectful.”
After meeting with Miller, he met with the coaching staff and student athletes and informed him of the decision.
In March, college basketball insider Jon Rothstein tweeted that Arizona and Miller “were moving forward with the idea that their marriage would continue.”
Miller, 52, led the Wildcats to five Pac-12 regular season titles and three NCAA Elite Eight appearances since becoming the coach in April 2009.
He was surrounded by off-the-court questions, however, since the federal investigation into college basketball was made public in September 2017.
An ensuing NCAA investigation led to five Level I (most serious) charges, including multiple allegations of academic misconduct, a bribery scheme and the cover-up of a loan. Arizona released the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations containing the charges on March 5 after being ordered to by a court.
The “Notice of Allegations” document, which the governing body for college sports presented to UA last year, alleges nine rule violations, including a lack of head coach responsibility against men’s basketball coach Miller and a lack of institutional control against the university.
The 22-page document says Miller, as head coach, is presumed responsible for five of the allegations and “did not demonstrate that he promoted an atmosphere for compliance and monitored his staff within the basketball program.”
The allegations single out two former assistant coaches, Emanuel “Book” Richardson and Mark Phelps. Phelps and Richardson are accused of arranging for a false or inaccurate transcript between March 2016 and September 2017 for two prospective athletes who needed to meet academic standards.
The NCAA alleges that beginning in March 2016, Richardson arranged for or paid $40,000 to obtain fraudulent academic credit or a false academic transcript for a men’s basketball prospective athlete. The transcript was needed to meet NCAA initial eligibility standards. The athlete enrolled and competed, including in postseason contests, while ineligible, the NCAA alleges. The university redacted information that would reveal the student’s identity.
Richardson also is accused of receiving $20,000 in cash bribes from a business management company in exchange for agreeing to steer athletes toward the company’s services when they turned pro.
The NCAA also alleges that Phelps in June 2017 loaned an athlete $500 to buy a plane ticket. The athlete paid him back the following month, but the loan was not permitted under NCAA rules. The NCAA alleges Phelps then directed the athlete to delete a text message about the loan and “provided false or misleading information” to the university about his knowledge of the violation.
The NCAA document says the “ultimate responsibility for the integrity of the men’s basketball program rested with Miller and his staff ’s actions reflect on Miller as head coach.”
Heeke, the athletic director, was repeatedly questioned by the media on Wednesday about why he didn’t fire Miller sooner, given the multiple allegations of NCAA violations.
Heeke said university officials wanted to allow the investigation process to go forward while continuing to review all the on- and off-court factors that surround the basketball program. He said he didn’t anticipate the investigation would take as long as it has.
“At this point, we feel we need to move forward. We think that’s best for a fresh start. That’s best for everyone involved,” he said.
Last month, former Arizona star Richard Jefferson strongly defended Miller. “I’m a Sean Miller guy,” Jefferson said on the Pac-12 Network.
He continued: “If you were to put him nationally with other coaches and other programs, he would probably be top five, top seven. Coaches like that don’t grow on trees. And so I’m a big Sean Miller guy and I hope that they can turn this around and get going in the future.”
As recently as March 8, Robbins, the university’s president, gave Miller a public endorsement.
“I’m not sure what the timing is going to be, but we hope as soon as possible that we can get past this as a university, that Coach Miller, his family and his basketball program can move forward,” Robbins said. “You know, he’s out there recruiting. I think signing day is coming up soon. We’ve got a really good team. They’re young. And we’re eager to move forward and get the final chapter of this now almost four-year saga over. But Coach Miller is our coach.”
On Wednesday, however, Robbins said in a statement that after discussions with Heeke “it has become clear that our men’s basketball program — and our University — needs to write a new chapter in our history, and that begins with a change of leadership.”
Miller is under contract through the 2021-22 season. He makes $2.5 million plus $200,000 each from Nike and IMG. By terminating him without cause, the university is on the hook for 50% of his remaining pay. Heeke said the buyout will come from athletic revenues, not tax dollars nor the university’s general fund.
The Arizona Board of Regents, the governing body for the three state universities, released a statement supporting the decision to part ways with Miller.
In February, Miller kind of addressed his contract situation with the media.
“You know, I’m just not there right now,” Miller said when asked about his contract and recruiting without an extension. “Right now, for me and our team and everything that we’re doing, it’s more about ... how are you gonna finish this season, how are you going to be the most ready you can be, what are your goals, what are you talking to your guys about? That’s the box that we’re in.
“So that’s the task at hand and when all of that ends, then I think your question is a fair question,” Miller said. “Right now, I’m just going about my day thinking about those things.”
Big things were expected from the Wildcats in the 2021-22 season, according to some early college basketball polls. One ranked Arizona No. 11 in the nation.