The last time I checked this is Saturday, May 7th, not typically a day in college basketball where you might be writing about coaching changes, but we are.
With the surprise announcement of Gary Williams retiring from Maryland, suddenly one of the best jobs in all of college basketball is now open.
And to no one's surprise Maryland has its eyes on Sean Miller the outstanding coach of the Arizona Wildcats. Miller might be one of the brightest coaches to come along in west coast basketball in many ages. But he might be the shortest bright spot as well, if he goes to Maryland.
He is meeting soon with the AD from Maryland, who also has its eyes on Tubby Smith. Would Miller leave the Wildcats for Maryland? He so far has not said NO.
Several things to watch here. About Miller, he has one of the top five recruiting classes in the country coming to Arizona next year. He loves the east coast though, grew up in Pennsylvania and would have no trouble recruiting the east coast. On a side note, his wife has been tweeting lately about her allergy problems in the desert. Wives do have an impact on their husband's coaching future.
I recently had two people with strong ties to the University of Oregon basketball program tell me they would love to see Miller out of Arizona, because they do not want to have to recruit against him and they also feel he is a great bench coach.
Could Miller leaving create a domino theory on the west coast? Possibly.
Mark Few turned the Wildcats down once. This time in my opinion, he would leave. While Few is loved my most of the Gonzaga faithful, for the first time there are some rumblings he might be wearing out his welcome with the Zags by not getting the Zags further in post season.
An open Gonzaga coaching search, would for nothing else, be fun to watch. It still is one of the premier jobs on the west coast for sure.
Yes this is all speculation, but also has lots of facts and is going to be fun to follow in the next week.
Comments always welcome as are emails, crawscorner@gmail.com
Editor Note:
ReplyDeleteAppreciate all the great emails on this post. Many of you have asked, "Is Miller working for a larger contract"?
A fair question indeed. My research tells me he is not, because by most accounts he would take a pay cut going to Maryland and as stated in the post, he would be leaving behind a top 5 recruiting class.
miller stays in tucson
ReplyDelete