Texas announces hire of Xavier’s Sean Miller to replace Rodney Terry

A Comfort Inn and McDonald’s breakfast in Plainview.

Skulking around the cemetery in Snook.

When Texas Longhorns athletics director Chris Del Conte hired former basketball coach Chris Beard, the two met 45 minutes north of Lubbock in Plainview and had sealed Beard’s departure from the Texas Tech Red Raiders over breakfast at McDonald’s.

When Del Conte brought longtime friend Jim Schlossnagle back from College Station to take over as the new baseball coach, the athletics director waited near the cemetery for Schlossnagle to finish his final obligations at Texas A&M in the hours after losing in the College World Series finals.

When Del Conte hires the replacement for head men’s basketball coach Rodney Terry, fired after two seasons as the head coach and two years after leading the Longhorns to their first Elite Eight appearance since 2008, there may not be an instantly iconic story behind it, but after seven-plus years in the role, one thing that’s clear about Del Conte is that he will move quickly now after informing Terry of his decision.

The name initially receiving the most buzz was Xavier head coach Sean Miller, who ended the Texas season and Terry’s tenure as the head coach in Austin on Wednesday in the First Four.

According to basketball analyst Jeff Goodman, Del Conte vetted Miller two years ago before Terry helped orchestrate that magical run to the Elite Eight as the interim coach, and Miller’s name quickly emerged as a top candidate in this search, including from Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, one of the first to break the news of Terry’s termination.

Before Del Conte’s decision on Terry on Sunday, the Longhorns were in communication with Miller’s representation, Kirk Bohls of the Houston Chronicle reported, after initial overtures to other candidates fizzled.

And on Sunday afternoon, Cedric Golden of the Austin American-Statesman was the first to report that Miller will be the replacement for Terry.

Other outlets confirmed the news, including Horns247 and CBS Sports.

On Monday, Texas officially announced the hire of Miller as the program’s 27th head basketball coach.

“Coach Miller is a guy who consistently builds winning programs, he develops great players and is an absolutely brilliant coach and basketball tactician,” said Kevin Eltife, Chairman of the UT System Board of Regents. “He’s without a doubt the perfect choice to lead our men’s basketball program. When you watched his teams at Arizona and Xavier, they were extremely well-coached, won at the highest level, made deep runs in the NCAA tournament, and played a fun and exciting brand of basketball. I couldn’t be more thrilled to watch him bring all of that to our program here on the Forty Acres.”

Del Conte expressed his excitement about hiring Miller.

“I’m so excited about the future of our men’s basketball program and thrilled to add another phenomenal coach to our Longhorn Family. When we were considering our next head coach, Sean Miller was a name that immediately came up as a perfect fit for us. He certainly checks all the boxes, is exactly what we’re looking for in every facet as a leader, and in talking with him, he has a great plan and vision for our program. Like all our decisions in athletics, and everything we do, we couldn’t have made this happen without the incredible leadership of our chairman of the board of regents and our president. Chairman Eltife and President Davis are such key parts in every decision we make, they’re people I lean on heavily, and I am beyond grateful for their counsel, support and friendship. Together, they help us make awesome days like today happen for Longhorn Nation, and I can’t thank them enough,” said Del Conte.

“Coach Miller has long been known as an exceptional program builder and tremendous developer of players with a highly-respected basketball coaching mind,” Del Conte added. “He’s someone I’ve known for a long time and have enjoyed following throughout his career, and I’ve been impressed with the outstanding teams he produces year in and year out. Anyone who is familiar with college basketball history knows he played at a very high level himself back in his day. He has taken that passion for the game and turned it into an accomplished coaching career, cares deeply about the players he coaches and consistently brings the best out of all of them. Coach Miller’s energy is infectious, he is driven to succeed, and he is a truly special person, too. I’m confident our players and coaches will thrive under his leadership, and he will build a successful program that we will all be extremely proud of. Longhorn Nation is going to absolutely love him. The future is bright, and I can’t wait to get him here with our elite group of head coaches.”

Bohls reported the contract details, which includes compensation of $2 million more per year than Terry’s contract of $3 million per season.

With Terry’s buyout representing a relatively significant expenditure, several names of NBA coaches were circulated as potential replacements for Terry because of their lack of buyouts. Miller reportedly has a “relatively small buyout,” according to Bohls — although the exact number is not public because Xavier is a private institution — and a higher floor than Terry thanks to his proven success in two stints at Xavier and his 12-year tenure at Arizona, which ended with three average seasons and Miller’s termination as a result of the wide-ranging college basketball corruption scandal.

A Pennsylvania native whose father was a high school basketball coach, Miller went on to start at point guard for four years at Pitt, still ranking as the program’s most accurate free-throw shooter and second-most accurate three-point shooter.

After a year as a graduate assistant at Wisconsin, Miller landed at Miami (Ohio) as an assistant under Herb Sendek, spending two years there before returning to his alma mater for a year. When Sendek took the NC State job, he hired Miller for a second time, retaining him for five seasons until Thad Matta gave Miller a promotion to associate head coach at Xavier, where Miller received his first head coaching opportunity when Matta left for Ohio State.

In five seasons as the head coach of the Musketeers, Miller led Xavier to four NCAA Tournament appearances and finished in first place or tied for first place in the Atlantic 10 three times. In 2008, Miller led the Musketeers to the Elite Eight before making a Sweet 16 appearance the following year.

The success in Cincinnati earned Miller the opportunity from Arizona to fully move on from the Lute Olson era after two years of interim coaches. The Wildcats missed the postseason in Miller’s first season before going on an impressive run over the next eight years, finishing first or tied for first in the Pac-10/Pac-12 five times and making three appearances in the Elite Eight and two appearances in the Sweet 16.

But Miller was also caught up in the wide-ranging college basketball corruption scandal and eventually forced to vacate his victories over two seasons as the Wildcats produced three mediocre seasons, missing the postseason in each.

Miller returned to Xavier, leading the Musketeers to the Sweet 16, where they lost to Terry’s Longhorns two years ago, but then finished tied for ninth in the Big East and lost in the first round of the NIT before tying for fourth this season and landing in the First Four. After beating Texas, Xavier lost to No. 6 seed Illinois 86-73 on Friday.

Miller is known as a tough-nosed head coach who focuses on the details and has a high-level coaching ability offensively.

“A coach that you want to run through a brick wall for and a coach that will, in turn, run through a brick wall for his guys, you’re talking about Sean Miller,” former Xavier forward Brandon Cole said of Miller. “He garners the ultimate respect, he gives the ultimate respect.”