Texas Longhorns’ choice for their next head men’s basketball coach is quite ironic after their March Madness exit
The Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team entered the offseason earlier than any fan or member of the program would have liked last week. Accordingly, changes came swiftly for the Longhorns.
Rodney Terry fired by Texas
The Texas Longhorns have made a change at leadership for their men’s basketball team. Rodney Terry has been fired, and Texas wasted no time finding a new head coach. Oddly enough, they played their newest HC quite recently.
Terry finished 62-37 (.626 winning percentage) as the Longhorns head coach.
Sean Miller expected to be hired
The Longhorns are hiring Xavier head coach Sean Miller as their replacement for Terry. Xavier beat Texas in the First Four to earn an 11-seed spot in the 64-team bracket last week.
In essence, Texas’ program is embracing the mantra of “if you can’t beat them, join them.” Miller was also in consideration when Terry got the Longhorn’s HC job two years ago. He was a strong candidate, so this choice is no surprise for Texas.
Context: Miller was strongly in the mix to get the Texas job two years ago, when Rodney Terry took UT to the Elite Eight (beating Xavier in the process). He always remained high on UT AD Chris Del Conte’s list. His name has been heavily rumored for the impending opening for weeks — Norlander via X
Miller had a combined 185-87 record over eight total seasons across two stints as Xavier’s head coach. Those tenures were separated by a 12-year stint at the University of Arizona. Miller went 302-109 with the Wildcats, including three Elite Eight runs in 2011, 2014, and 2015.
Arizona made two Sweet Sixteen runs in 2013 and 2017 under Miller’s leadership. There was consistent success and legitimate hype surrounding the program during his tenure.
That being said, his Wildcats were forced to vacate 50 total wins from 2016-17 and 2017-18 because of Miller’s alleged involvement in a major 2019 corruption scandal.
For Texas, this is a swing for a well-known head coach who they hope will bring the program into contention for a potential SEC title and NCAA tournament success.
