‘A new beginning’
Nostalgia isn’t lost on Miller as he returns to Xavier
“The one thing I know how to do is coach, and there’s
When Sean Miller stood at the podium inside Cintas Center for his second introduction as Xavier‘s men’s basketball coach, before he could even utter a word one of the fans in attendance yelled, “Welcome home.”
It’s rare to return. In college basketball, the exit ramp is usually permanent, and second chances aren’t as common as most would like them to be.
“Xavier is not the same place that I left,” said Miller, who was the coach of the Musketeers from 2004-09. “As always here, it’s been a constant quest to improve, to add, to be better, and in our world — college basketball — to be a part of the Big East Conference is something ... that in and of itself is exciting. But to partner both, all the things that I do know exist at Xavier and then have that stage of the Big East Conference, it sets this place apart from so many places.”
It feels and sounds like Miller truly missed the place and the people and was grateful for the opportunity.
Many of Miller’s former players at Xavier – Justin Doellman, Drew Lavender, CJ Anderson, Keith Jackson, Dante Jackson, Brad Redford and Johnny
Mazza – were there to welcome him back when he arrived.
“To get back to a culture that I love and trust and a culture and a place that knows me very well. That’s, I think, the most exciting part of all this,” Miller said. “That although it is a new beginning, there is so much familiarity between so many things.”
Miller and his wife, Amy, and their three sons spent eight years in Cincinnati when he was at Xavier the first time.
His success on Victory Parkway catapulted him to the University of Arizona, where success followed.
“The last time that we were here, which was 13 years ago, that eight-year period of time in our family’s life was some of the happiest moments that we’ve had and it wasn’t all because of what happened on the court,” Miller said.
For a long time at Xavier, Miller was thought of as the coach who left.
Now, he’s the coach who came back. The reason he’s back is due to the fact that his time at Arizona ended in a way that can’t be overlooked. Miller was fired in April 2021, stemming from a 2017 NCAA investigation into alleged infractions.
“The matter at Arizona is separate from today here at Xavier,” Miller said. “And there’ll be a time, and I’m confident in saying that, that topic can be talked about but just out of respect for the process, although it’s coming to an end, it’s not there yet, and when that day in time comes I look forward to sharing more. Right now, today is so much about returning here and certainly doing things the Xavier way.”
Miller spent the past year away from basketball, without a team to coach or games to prepare for.
It’s a year he said he needed. “This past year was one of the most important gifts of my lifetime,” he said. “I reconnected in maybe the best way I could with Amy. We did things that you just aren’t normally able to do as a coach. I woke up on Christmas day not worried about you guys,” pointing to Xavier’s current players.
“I had conversations with my three sons that without me realizing, I haven’t had in a long, long time,” he said.
Miller said he learned how to take time and appreciate things for what they are in the moment, as opposed to glossing over them and moving on to the next recruit, the next game, or the next season.
“I also learned how much I missed basketball,” Miller said. “If I wasn’t a college basketball coach I can assure you I can’t do anything else. The one thing I know how to do is coach, and there’s nothing more than my own family that I love more than the game of college basketball.”
Miller left Xavier fans with a message about the future: “This will be the best version of myself that I’ve ever been. The lessons that I have learned and the path that I have followed, although never perfect and not easy, learning from mistakes and learning from victories, I am so anxious to lead, to teach, to uphold the values of Xavier on and off the court. I’ve never been more determined.”
nothing more than my own family that I love more than the game of college basketball.”