Sean Miller’s Contract

[Dback Jon]

The chatter is that might’ve been Miller’s last name.

You mean game?

And who is chattering?

 

[GatorAZ]

You mean game?

And who is chattering?

The birds are chirping that he’s not getting an extension and it doesn’t make sense to have a lame duck coach for the recruiting disadvantage. Arizona also has to make the NOA public which would look bad if you’re about to re-sign the coach who oversaw that mess.

 

[TJ]

The birds are chirping that he’s not getting an extension and it doesn’t make sense to have a lame duck coach for the recruiting disadvantage. Arizona also has to make the NOA public which would look bad if you’re about to re-sign the coach who oversaw that mess.

Not quite. That’s one option on the table. They’re likely to meet this week to discuss.

Problem is, the boosters would be pissed if CSM is let go, and with how boosters have fallen off the wagon the past decade or so, Arizona has little margin for error and can’t afford (literally ) to piss off anymore.

All three avenues have pros and cons. I still maintain that a short extension is the way to go.

 

[GatorAZ]

Not quite. That’s one option on the table. They’re likely to meet this week to discuss.

Problem is, the boosters would be pissed if CSM is let go, and with how boosters have fallen off the wagon the past decade or so, Arizona has little margin for error and can’t afford (literally ) to piss off anymore.

All three avenues have pros and cons. I still maintain that a short extension is the way to go.

If anyone else were president you’d think the boosters would win out here.

 

[Cheesebeef]

By all means, let’s give an extension to a coach who hasn’t made the tournament in the last three years, got embarrassed in the first round four years ago and who’s dragged the programs name through the mud.

that should turn things right around...

 

[TJ]

By all means, let’s give an extension to a coach who hasn’t made the tournament in the last three years, got embarrassed in the first round four years ago and who’s dragged the programs name through the mud.

that should turn things right around...

If it were that easy, sure. Make the move. But the state of the athletic department is awful, and if a move were to be made today, your pickings are slim. It operated at a loss all year d/t COVID and other borrowed money from the Byrne era. It just paid over $7.5 million to buy out Sumlin and the rest of his coaching staff. It had to take a loan out to pay for Fisch. Boosters are already pissed at Robbins and Heeke for how they handled the PR from the FBI probe and BS Schlabach article, and many would likely close the purse strings if Miller is canned (Arte Moreno has already said “goodbye”), and a Miller buyout is somewhere around $3.5 million alone. Furthermore, the coaching candidate pool this upcoming season is not very attractive. To top it all off, the IARP hearing wont even be looked at for at least another year or so, which keeps a cloud hanging over the program.

With all that said, what high-level candidate are you going to get to replace Miller that’s better than him with pennies to spend and uncertainty around the immediate future of the program?

If you keep Miller, you bring back almost all of the heralded talent from this season, which with development, should be a Top-20 team out of the gate. You finally have a team that’s suited for Miller and not a bunch of 5-star dudes with one foot out of the door even before stepping onto campus.

I admit, it’s a Sophie’s Choice situation, but to me, until the entire FBI thing is done and there’s more money to spend, it just seems like the wrong time. If a move is to be made, make it when the pool of candidates is larger and you have more money to compel a Nate Oats-type coach to come over.

 

[Russ Smith]

So the NOA is out and again does NOT directly name Miller in anything but failure to promote compliance etc, and no mention of the ESPN story. Ironically ESPN had to sue Arizona to get them to release it under FOI laws.

It has 2 claims in there of Arizona assistants getting fake transcripts for players before they were submitted to clearinghouse. One of them appears to be Alkins, the other one never played for UA. Before we were told it was Shareef O'Neal but since then it's been denied repeatedly that it was him so hard to say who it was?

5 level 1 violations alleged but nothing really new other although I wasn't aware Phelps originally lied to investigators when asked about the plane ticket for Pinder. He apparently later said he didn't tell them because he didn't think it was against the rules because Pinder repaid it, and didn't consider it a violation because he didn't consider it a loan, even though he'd admitted Pinder paid it back which sounds like a loan to me.

So probably won't help or hurt Miller.

 

[TJ]

Best part was finding out Robbins got pegged for an illegal interview with Book.

*******.

 

[GatorAZ]

Best part was finding out Robbins got pegged for an illegal interview with Book.

*******.

Quite telling as to why he tried covering up the release. Probably ignored legal advice in doing so.

 

[Lefty]

I wonder if anyone could sue Mark Schlabach for saying Ayton was given $100,000? He was so adamant about that.

 

[Russ Smith]

The other thing is it appears to confirm the rumor was true that UA fixed Shareef's transcript, or Phelps helped, and that's why UCLA made him wait months before qualifying, they were aware of the rumors and presumably made him redo classes before he qualified. When he left UCLA there was a bunch of "insiders" insisting that wasn't true and blaming UCLA fans for being part of the reason Shareef had left, he was unhappy fans believed the rumor. We all knew it was really he wanted to start and play the 3 and Cronin told him I see you as a 5 that might play some 4, but I guess the family did a good job of leaking rumors to guilt the fans.

He's a good kid and obviously once the heart condition came up at UCLA all the other stuff went out the window, but it interesting how that story has come full circle and now it's pretty apparent there was academic fraud with him to get qualified at Arizona.

 

[GatorAZ]

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[GatorAZ]

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[TJ]

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Pastner sent Duke and Virginia flowers.

 

[Dback Jon]

So Archie Miller got canned from Indiana today.


Remember when the Miller Brothers were the hottest coaching brothers around?

 

[overseascardfan]

So Archie Miller got canned from Indiana today.


Remember when the Miller Brothers were the hottest coaching brothers around?

Archie should have stayed at Dayton.


Any chance of Slick Rick ending up in Tucson?

 

[Dback Jon]

Archie should have stayed at Dayton.


Any chance of Slick Rick ending up in Tucson?

Pitino?

Zero

 

[TJ]

Any chance of Slick Rick ending up in Tucson?

Vampires don’t do well in the sunshine.

 

[overseascardfan]

Vampires don’t do well in the sunshine.

Character issues aside, the man can coach.

Not saying he's coming to UA but if Miller is somehow fired (only a small chance I know) what established upgrade of a coach is out there?

 

[GatorAZ]

Character issues aside, the man can coach.

Not saying he's coming to UA but if Miller is somehow fired (only a small chance I know) what established upgrade of a coach is out there?

Whoever comes in probably will need to have close to a squeaky clean reputation. @Russ Smith pointed out to me Pastner was put on probation and has a little bit of a shady past. I don’t think he’d be a candidate until another year or two of sustained success. Pitino is a great coach but there’s no way you can bring him in. Not only was he caught up in the FBI investigation but he’s got some dark stuff from his past.

 

[Russ Smith]

Whoever comes in probably will need to have close to a squeaky clean reputation. @Russ Smith pointed out to me Pastner was put on probation and has a little bit of a shady past. I don’t think he’d be a candidate until another year or two of sustained success. Pitino is a great coach but there’s no way you can bring him in. Not only was he caught up in the FBI investigation but he’s got some dark stuff from his past.

It's really hard to find a coach who doesn't to be honest. Alabama appears to have hit a home run with Nate Oats who beat Miller while coaching Buffalo when Miller had Ayton and Trier. Apparently Oats expressed interest in the UCLA job, they were interested in him but when they did their background checks they found stuff they were not happy with and ended the talks. Nobody has a clue why and UCLA fans were all mad at the time.

personally having a coach tell Will Wade to "get the F out of here" wouldn't bother me at all!

 

[TJ]

Character issues aside, the man can coach.

Not saying he's coming to UA but if Miller is somehow fired (only a small chance I know) what established upgrade of a coach is out there?

Your second sentence summarized much of the entire fiasco that’s ongoing with Arizona.

Pitino is not only going to command more money, but he’s old and likely to still serve a suspension from his Louisville days at some point.

 

[Russ Smith]

The reality is coaching is a fickle business. Not that long ago people thought Larry K was as good as any coach in the conference, UCLA fans brought him up to replace Alford, he just got fired because he can't recruit and can't get kids to stay at his school.

I think Altman is the best coach in the conference, I would not want him anywhere near UCLA as a fan, I think the man has no ethics, but he can coach. Beyond that it's hard to say, I think Cronin is very good, I think Tad can coach, Tinkle looks good now with the tourney run but has actually been pretty bad and without any more sons and Thompson out of sons can he get any recruits there is iffy. Enfield same situation if the Mobley brothers leave can he still get kids from Compton Magic? I love Cronin but he has his warts too.

There is no magic answer as a coach. Pitino is an amazing coach, but he's probation waiting to happen.

People are touting Pasternack to Utah, he's directly named in the FBI case against Arizona, but he can recruit and that was the weakness at Utah so his name is up there.

 

[Dback Jon]

Pitino is 68 - will be 69 by the time the season starts. He’s from New York. I don’t see him leaving the north east at this point

 

[GatorAZ]

The reality is coaching is a fickle business. Not that long ago people thought Larry K was as good as any coach in the conference, UCLA fans brought him up to replace Alford, he just got fired because he can't recruit and can't get kids to stay at his school.

I think Altman is the best coach in the conference, I would not want him anywhere near UCLA as a fan, I think the man has no ethics, but he can coach. Beyond that it's hard to say, I think Cronin is very good, I think Tad can coach, Tinkle looks good now with the tourney run but has actually been pretty bad and without any more sons and Thompson out of sons can he get any recruits there is iffy. Enfield same situation if the Mobley brothers leave can he still get kids from Compton Magic? I love Cronin but he has his warts too.

There is no magic answer as a coach. Pitino is an amazing coach, but he's probation waiting to happen.

People are touting Pasternack to Utah, he's directly named in the FBI case against Arizona, but he can recruit and that was the weakness at Utah so his name is up there.

Larry K is kinda the antithesis of Lorenzo Romar. If they were the same guy they’d kill it. I’ll be interested to see where he ends up.