Sean Miller Making some serious $ this spring

[BD80]

With the way he has his team playing in crunch time, Sean Miller is setting his price higher and higher should NCState try to lure him away from UA.

And the UA faithful are becoming more and more willing to back the cash truck up to his door to keep him.

Good for Sean.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

With the way he has his team playing in crunch time, Sean Miller is setting his price higher and higher should NCState try to lure him away from UA.

And the UA faithful are becoming more and more willing to back the cash truck up to his door to keep him.

Good for Sean.
I'm sure the folks in Raleigh are drooling Wolfdrool this morning.

[Reisen]

I've got to be honest, AZ fans have been laughing about this for months now, and I just don't see it. Why on earth would Miller go from Tuscon to Raleigh?

I'm not even sure I buy that this will get him a new contract yet. A win Saturday will, but that's a big if.

[OZZIE4DUKE]

I've got to be honest, AZ fans have been laughing about this for months now, and I just don't see it. Why on earth would Miller go from Tuscon to Raleigh?

I'm not even sure I buy that this will get him a new contract yet. A win Saturday will, but that's a big if.
1. NC State is in the ACC. With the right coach, there is no reason why State can't be a power in the conference again. Look where Duke was in the early and mid 70's.
2. Raleigh is on the east coast, and that is where Miller is from. He moved/uprooted his family west when he took the Arizona job 2 years ago.
3. He was an assistant coach at NC State under Herb several years ago. His brother Archie played at State. He has ties to the school.

Arizona is a good job in a major conference and has a good history with Lute Olsen. But it's so far out there and isolated if you're an East Coast person... :cool:

[kexman]

In arizona you could be king...at state you will be third fiddle on your own evening news with duke and carolina. I wouldn't want the state job if I had other options.

[Rudy]

In arizona you could be king...at state you will be third fiddle on your own evening news with duke and carolina. I wouldn't want the state job if I had other options.

This is so true that the thought of him leaving his current job to go to NC State and Raleigh is laughable. It would take a couple of seasons of losing for his fan base to turn and make him available. The PAC-10 conference and Arizona ain't chopped liver when it comes to basketball tradition.

[BD80]

I've got to be honest, AZ fans have been laughing about this for months now, and I just don't see it. Why on earth would Miller go from Tuscon to Raleigh?

I'm not even sure I buy that this will get him a new contract yet. A win Saturday will, but that's a big if.

AZ fans can laugh all they want, but State is probably coming after Sean with a bunch of $. If UA doesn't cough up some more $, Sean is gone.

UA's AD is NOT in a strong negotiating position.

[DevilWearsPrada]

1. NC State is in the ACC. With the right coach, there is no reason why State can't be a power in the conference again. Look where Duke was in the early and mid 70's.
2. Raleigh is on the east coast, and that is where Miller is from. He moved/uprooted his family west when he took the Arizona job 2 years ago.
3. He was an assistant coach at NC State under Herb several years ago. His brother Archie played at State. He has ties to the school.

Arizona is a good job in a major conference and has a good history with Lute Olsen. But it's so far out there and isolated if you're an East Coast person... :cool:

EXACTLY! And sports radio has said all of those things and about a half dozen more. Arizona might be an okay place to live, but NC has the best overall climate, and also Sean Miller has those direct ties to State.

Keep hearing the name JAY WRIGHT for NCState tho.

Sean Miller has done alot along the way to pad his resume. Very impressed with his coaching ability and maximizing his players talents and showcasing them on the big dance stage. Kudos to his coaching. Just sad it was with our Duke team.

[OldPhiKap]

State won't get Sean Miller.

State won't get Jay Wright.

State won't get anyone that 95% of us have ever heard of before.

It's where dreams go to die.

[Reisen]

I have to agree. State fans are just crazy that to think after being bad for this long, they are going to get a hot coach at a program that has been as consistently good as Arizona over the past 15 years.

Yes, AZ missed the tourney last year, but look at the streak before that. They have a ton of guys in the pros, access to all that SoCal talent, etc. And the PAC 10 seems to be swinging back a little, after years of being a joke. Not to mention AZ and UCLA are the Duke-UNC of that conference.

I'm well aware of the ties to the school, but this isn't Roy Williams leaving Kansas for UNC. This would be Roy Williams leaving Kansas for UNLV, or Michigan, or something.

I agree with Old Phi Kap that NCSU probably isn't going to get a Jay Wright, either. I'd like to see them go after a young guy like Shaka Smart, Chris Mooney, etc. Very similar to who Tech is going after.

Or, hey, there's always Herb Sendek, right?

[Rudy]

State won't get Sean Miller.

State won't get Jay Wright.

State won't get anyone that 95% of us have ever heard of before.

It's where dreams go to die.

:D State has a better chance at Wright than Miller. He's been at Villanova for awhile. It's fallen below expectations for two years running. Even though he's born and bred in Pennsylvania (h.s. and Bucknell) he's been in Philadelphia for awhile, and Philadelphia is, well, Philadelphia.:p

[sagegrouse]

It will be interesting to see what Sean Miller decides. I have lived in both the East and West, and I like both -- but it is a matter of taste. One of the things I have noticed, however, is that if travel involves commercial airlines, every nonstop flight in the US seems to take the same time, given all the extra time one spends at airports.

As an intellectual exercise, I decided to set up a hierarchy of basketball programs in terms of prestige and economics. Here's what I came up with (alphabetically within category)--

Bluebloods
Duke
Kansas
Kentucky
North Carolina
[UCLA and Indiana granted leaves of absence]

Competitive, Big-Money Programs
Arizona
Connecticut
Florida
Louisville
Maryland (may be downgraded)
Michigan (may be downgraded)
Michigan State
Ohio State
St. John's (#6 overall in total wins)
Syracuse
Texas

In the Mix (Incomplete)
Georgia Tech
Gonzaga
Illinois
NC State
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Pitt
Purdue
Tennessee
Villanova
Virginia
Wake Forest
Wisconsin

Anyway, my take. What does it mean? Well, if one of the Bluebloods goes to hire a coach, the job is very hard to turn down. The prestige, the recruiting mojo, and the soft money (TV, etc.) are really attractive. And no one would get criticized for accepting a job at the next tier. I my hierarchy I would put the Arizona job well ahead of NC State and most other ACC jobs, but I guess we'll see....

sagegrouse

[DWINS]

It is amazing how this rumor just keeps going and going. IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! First of all, Miller makes 2 million a year at Arizona plus incentives that can reach to 3 million. He also has a top 10 recruiting class coming in next year followed by a class that already has a five star forward committed. He really is on the verge of having Arizona return to elite status on a yearly basis. Why would he give this up to tackle the mess that is NC Stat? Also, the Arizona athletic director has already come out and said that he has had talks with Miller and that he's not going anywhere.

[OldPhiKap]

It is amazing how this rumor just keeps going and going. IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! First of all, Miller makes 2 million a year at Arizona plus incentives that can reach to 3 million. He also has a top 10 recruiting class coming in next year followed by a class that already has a five star forward committed. He really is on the verge of having Arizona return to elite status on a yearly basis. Why would he give this up to tackle the mess that is NC Stat? Also, the Arizona athletic director has already come out and said that he has had talks with Miller and that he's not going anywhere.

The "rumor" persists because State fans are chronically delusional.


sage, very good list -- I would like to quibble because I am in a quibbling mood today, but I think you nailed it.

DW -- congrats on a very good win by a very good team. Go beat the @#$@ out of UConn, please.

-- OPK

[weezie]

It is amazing how this rumor just keeps going and going. IT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! First of all, Miller makes 2 million a year at Arizona plus incentives that can reach to 3 million. He also has a top 10 recruiting class coming in next year followed by a class that already has a five star forward committed. He really is on the verge of having Arizona return to elite status on a yearly basis. Why would he give this up to tackle the mess that is NC Stat? Also, the Arizona athletic director has already come out and said that he has had talks with Miller and that he's not going anywhere.

Plus, the green corn tamales are superb in Tucson.

[Reisen]

AZ fans reporting Miller already has a new contract that has been finalized...

[Slackerb]

To everyone that thinks that State has no chance of Miller:

Miller's contract is actually 1.6 million by my research, plus incentives. I've been hearing that unlike last time, State is going to pony up the cash for this search. Rumors are that State is looking to land top-shelf talent and drop an unprecendented amount for them of 3-3.5 million/year.

If they offered Miller that kind of raise and Arizona couldn't compete, it'd be hard for any non-hall of famer coach to turn down that kind of raise.

The problem last time, from what I've read, was mostly that State went for it's top picks but didn't have the wallet to seal the deal.

They offered Barnes, reportedly, at a 15% pay cut.

They offered Beilein, but his buyout money fell through.

Calipari was close to offering, and some say that the ACC's admittance standards kept him away.

I don't think that State getting Miller is likely, but it also isn't as ridiculous as some of you make it out to be, especially if State brings the big $$.

[tommy]

Sean Miller is setting his price higher and higher. Miller is making some serious $ this spring, but not as much as Derrick Williams. Dude made a LOT of money last night.