Sean Miller has coached 482 basketball games in 14 seasons, first at Xavier and now at Arizona. The number would stand today at 483 were it not for an ESPN report presented Friday that accused him of violating the most sacred of NCAA rules.
However, No. 483 will arrive Thursday night. Rest assured that whatever defensive strategies he devises or inbound plays he calls, no maneuver will be a fraction as bold as his declaration Thursday afternoon that ESPN’s report was “inaccurate, false and defamatory.”
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And that he looks forward “to coaching this outstanding team as we attempt to capture a Pac-12 regular season championship this week.”
Which means that the Arizona board of regents, who met Wednesday to discuss this circumstance, and university president Robert C. Robbins, are standing firmly behind Miller as their head men’s basketball coach.
Let’s be honest about this. Given the proclamations by some in the media – particularly at ESPN -- that the report could be “career-ending” for Miller, his public statement Thursday afternoon was as stunning as Christian Laettner’s, Tyus Edney’s and Bryce Drew’s buzzer-beating shots rolled into one. March Madness 2018 will not have another moment so unexpected and powerful.
“I appreciate more than anyone can realize Dr. Robbins and the university carefully considering this matter and acting upon facts,” Miller said.
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Once the initial shock of ESPN’s report late Friday dissipated, concerns about the story were fairly obvious. There was no audio link to the recorded conversation that the report said had occurred between Miller and agency recruiter Christian Dawkins allegedly discussing a six-figure payment to lock up star forward Deandre Ayton’s enrollment at Arizona. There was no transcript of the conversation attached. There were no quotes of any exchange between the two men. And there was no date initially reported as to when the conversation supposedly had taken place.
The author, Mark Schlabach, subsequently appeared on an ESPN news broadcast and said the conversation had occurred in 2017. This was long after Ayton had committed to join the Wildcats. ESPN issued a correction saying the call was made in 2016.
A recruiting analyst who observed Ayton’s recruitment told Sporting News that Dawkins had no apparent affiliation with Ayton and that it would be curious for Miller to discuss the player’s recruitment with him.
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Miller was not at all nebulous in discussing the veracity of the story. He has been quiet with the media since a member of his staff, Book Richardson, was arrested in September as part of the Justice Department’s investigation into corrupt practices involving agents and money managers and their recruitment of future clients.
“While I have done nothing wrong, I am responsible for our men’s basketball program and I am sickened that we are in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons,” Miller said, reading from prepared remarks. “Contrary to what has been written this past week, we do our very best to run a clean program at Arizona. I have done that since the first day I stepped on this campus.
“I have never knowingly violated NCAA rules while serving as head coach of this great program. I have never paid a recruit or prospect or their family or representative to come to Arizona, and I never will. I have never arranged or directed payment or any improper benefits to a recruit or prospect or their family or representative, and I never will.”
Miller clearly was upset that the report “sullied the name of a tremendous young man, Deandre Ayton,” and emphatically stated he has “never discussed with Christian Dawkins paying Deandre Ayton to attend the University of Arizona.” He said he did not meet or speak to Dawkins until Ayton had committed to U of A.
Miller has led Arizona to four Pac-12 regular-season championships and two conference tournament titles, as well as to three appearances in the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight. He made one Elite Eight in five seasons at Xavier. He has a record of 362-120 and four times at Arizona has won 30 or more games in a season.
He did not coach the team’s overtime loss at Oregon last Saturday, roughly 24 hours after the ESPN report appeared. He reportedly did not work with the Wildcats at practice earlier in the week. But he will be on the bench for Thursday night’s penultimate Pac-12 home game against Stanford, and again Saturday when the team plays California. Winning either would assure a tie for the league title; winning both would clinch it outright.
“I’m outraged by the media statements that have been made and the acceptance by many that these were true,” Miller said. “There was no such conversation.”
Miller left us all with plenty to talk about now, though.
He still is Arizona’s coach, still a college basketball coach. That’s quite a comeback.
