Before Coaching, Texas Coach Sean Miller Was Child Star Sensation
New Texas Longhorns men’s basketball coach Sean Miller has been a head coach for 20 years, and has been coaching in the collegiate ranks for more than 30 years.
However, his basketball journey goes back much further than that.
Miller’s father, John Miller, was a high school basketball coach in Pennsylvania when he was growing up, and the skills run in the family. Not only is Miller now an accomplished coach on his own – as is his younger brother Archie Miller, now the head coach at Rhode Island – but he showed some impressive skills at a young age.
At just 14 years old, Miller made an appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson” to showcase his impressive ball handling skills, and even give the host some lessons. More than 40 years later, clips of his appearance on the show have resurfaced as he begins a new chapter of his career.
More than that, Miller also landed a small appearance in the 1979 film “The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh,” which starred NBA legend Julius Erving. Though he was only on screen for a handful of seconds, it speaks to his skill that he managed to land a movie role at just 10 years old.
Miller actually had an impressive playing career in both high school and college. As a senior at Blackhawk High School, his father’s team, he averaged 27 points and 11 assists to lead the team to the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) title game in 1987. Then in college at Pitt, he averaged 10 points and 5.8 assists per game while shooting 41.6 percent from three-point range over his four seasons. He was also the Big East Freshman of the Year in 1988.
Though Miller didn’t have the athletic ability of some of his peers, his basketball knowledge was evident to all. So it’s no surprise he’s still a great coach all these years later.
Now, the 56-year-old heads to Texas to begin the next chapter of his career. He takes over a Longhorns team that he ironically just beat in the First Four with Xavier, and he believes he can take the program to new heights.
