The University of Arizona Alumnus / Spring 2009

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GAME ON

The Miller Matrix Unfolds at McKale
by Ford Burkhart
Luke Adams photos

It was the first media circus at McKale in some time, a jubilant crunch of celebrities, UA athletes, and journalists drawn by the newest UA coach, Sean Miller. Fans filed into some of McKale’s 14,500 seats, mostly on the upper deck. Outdoors, five TV trucks hoisted antennas for remote broadcasts and inside, 13 television cameras and nearly 30 reporters crowded in.

At 11:58 a.m., in walked a dapper Lute Olson, in an off-white linen coat on a 90-degree April day, drawing a scrum of reporters, jostling microphones. Applause broke out as three boys walked in with their mother, Amy, and their beaming father, Sean. At 40, Miller brings a career mark of 120-47 and four-straight 20-victory seasons at Xavier University in Cincinnati, including two Sweet Sixteen appearances and an Elite Eight appearance. Right off, Miller embraced Olson, and later, thanked him for his many contributions to college basketball.

Miller endeared himself to the crowd. “It was 33 degrees at home and snowing. As soon as the boys landed, they were ready to go swimming,” he said. “They think I did something right today.” And so did countless other Arizona fans, perhaps enough to fill seats next season, bringing in a projected $5.2 million in basketball ticket sales, just part of UA Athletics’ $16 million in yearly revenues. Miller’s yearly base salary will be $1.6 million in a five-year deal, paid from money that the athletics program raises, plus $400,000 in annual outside income from his contracts with Nike and IMG.

As an hour of press hoo-hah wound down, Miller’s older boys, Cameron, 11, and Austin, 13, were off shooting baskets as Braden, 7, watched. They looked at home.

Jim Click, the businessman and donor, strode up to Jim Livengood, the athletics director, leaned in close to his ear and said, “Home run.” The sentiment was the same from donor Paul Weitman, whom Miller thanked early in the press conference.

UA players shot around the basket as David Bagga, a graduating senior, remarked to Steve Kerr, the Phoenix Suns president, “I wish I had another year.”

It was a moment of hope after three unsettled years. Some players next fall could greet their fourth coach: Olson in his last year, then Kevin O’Neill and Russ Pennell as interim head coaches, and now Miller.

Livengood voiced frustration that some media reports had claimed Arizona was rejected by several coaches. “Absolutely, completely false,” he said. Sean Miller, he said, “was on our earliest radar screens.”

Miller declared he left Xavier for Arizona for one towering reason: the chance to build on the Lute Olson legacy of five Final Fours and to win an NCAA Championship. Few other schools have such a history of great NBA players, he said. “It’s hard to remember them all, Elliott, Kerr, Jefferson, Bibby, Iguodala, oh yes, Luke Walton, others. That’s an amazing run over a long period of time.”

Moments into the press conference, Miller established himself as the one in charge on this court. As Livengood began to explain the drawn-out end of the search, Miller interrupted, saying: “Can I help you out with that?” He said the UA was simply at the mercy of his need for time to think about his decision, adding, “I was just making sure.”

Then he set out his terms as coach: “I come here with a true system. There will be no experimenting.” Every phase of his approach has been tested — recruiting, conditioning, style of play, he said. “I have great confidence in the system I bring here.”

Miller was soon on his way to meet with the players. “Nothing is more important than the players,” he said. For Miller the chemistry is crucial: “The primary focus is the players. You treat them the right way and they’ll run through a wall for you. “I’m going to meet with them, work them out, and begin moving forward.”

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