Miller - Candidate?

[Wedgeman]

My business associate in the SE was conducting business in South Carolina yesterday. He said the talk of the town is who is replacing their current coach (Odom) who has announced his retirement after this season. He said that Sean Miller is high on their want list.

Would Sean leave X for SC? I suspect he is going to be targeted by all coachless schools based on this teams success this year. I also think he'll jump at a chance to coach in the SEC, ACC, Big East, or 10. Disagree?


I am not a communist!
Beer is Good!

[xavierj]

Make it stop. Xavier just locked the guy up for some serious cash just 9 months ago and now wveryone thinks he will jump at any offer. Seriously would you want to coach at Xavier and win for the same money or roughly the same money or go to the middle of the road sec team? Sean was the one that wanted the large buyout for a reason. The guy has it made and the only job I could ever see him leave for is Pitt. The guy has been here 7 years and his kids have been in the same school for 7 years. Do you really think is ego is that big? Also the apple does not fall far from the tree and his dad coached the same high school team for like 35 years and I am sure he had other opportunities. Xavier knows what they are doing and Sean will be here for a while. I would imagine Sean will get another nice bump after the season and should be close to the million $ range. The guy can and will win at Xavier every year while making nice jack and keeping his family life stable. What else would you need. Xavier is a big time job even Thad Matta acknowledged that.

[bbaker06]

XavierJ,

Many people (including myself) said the very same things before Thad left. I like Sean. I hope he stays. I think he will unless a premier program comes calling, but wouldn't be surprised if he left for a school in a bigger conference with a bigger budget (there's only 19 of them according to Forbes). There are plenty of positives for him staying and i'm sure there are plenty of positives to him taking a job at a school like SC or LSU. Let's not be naive. I will say that when or if Sean leaves I expect him to handle it a lot better than Thad.

[Frank D.]

I don't think it's ridiculous at all to think that Sean will be a candidate for some big jobs and he may consider them. That being said, I think it is ridiculous to bring up every individual job that will be open and state that Sean is high on their list. Of course he is - he's a great coach and big schools probably figure they can lure him away from Xavier with a good offer.

I think the moderators need to open up a new forum this offseason . . . "Sean Miller Will Leave Xavier For . . ." It will save a lot of time and space on this forum.

[drudy23]

[quote="xavierj"]Make it stop.quote]

Why? If chatter likes this stops, that means we likely suck. People wanting our coach is a good thing...it means we're good.

Would you rather no one want him and we suck?

He's going to leave eventually. Maybe not next year...maybe not in 3 years. But eventually it will happen. We can't compete financially with the top high conference schools.

Just prepare yourself for that fact now. And, in saying that, we'll all move on and Xavier will still be good, just like we always have been.

[GBXU]

Matta's motivation was/is money. None of us will know what Miller's motivation is until someone with deeper pockets comes along. I'm a bit of a homer but I think Miller can achieve greatness here faster than anywhere else.

[Wisexuowl]

<Xavier is a big time job even Thad Matta acknowledged that.>

Oh boy, we've finally made becaause he says so? What a rip roaring laugh I got out of that!

I knew the day XU hired him, he was going to use us. The guy walked out on his alma mater less than a year aafter getting the job. He took one look at what was returning at XU (David West was going to be a junior) and jumped on that bandwagon.

For the record, in the two years before he told lie aafter lie about the OSU job, he was campaigning for the Illinois job, the Pitt job, and several others. Xavier was never, ever in any long range plans.

I am willing to bet that Sean will be here for a very, very long time. Yes, he'd jump at the chance for the Pitt job, which BTW is not going to be available in any forseeable future.

He likes Cincinnati, he likes Xavier, he likes Xavier's mssion. He is a master coach, motivator, and recruiter. He has put together an outstanding staff and he'll have this program up with the elite year after year, and Xavier will reward him year after year.

But South Carolina? Never.

[Mr. Neutral]

<<Xavier was never, ever in any long range plans (of Matta's).>>

Wise, you must be the only X fan who didn't know that. From the day Matta was hired, everyone I talked to knew that he'd be gone in 3 years if he was really successful, or 5 years if he was slightly less successful. That prediction was probably posted on this board (and its predecessor) dozens of times while Thad was still here.

After completing the best 3-year run in Xavier history, along with our deepest tourney run, he left, just about the time that most of us thought he'd be leaving, except for those misty-eyed Xavier fans who go to sleep on sheets with the Xavier fight song lyrics on them.

He came, he won big, he left. You feel used and abused because he didn't leave the way you wish he had. Four years later, you still have this idea of the purity of college basketball that is disproved each and every year, as dozens of schools fire their coaches, and other coaches leave for greener pastures. Say hello to the real world.

[Masterofreality]

On Charlotte radio this week, they actually addressed the South Carolina job. "Pacman" who has the 3-7 show on 610am and his cronies all said Tuesday that Anthony Grant was the desired candidate. When someone called in and mentioned Sean, all of the guys on that show said NO Way. They all said that Sean had it "going on" at Xavier and said that the South Carolina job was a step down.

The last thing they said was that college basketball talk and interest stops at the NC/SC border. In South Carolina it's football season, and waiting for football season with the football recruiting period thrown in for grins. Anything else is a minor diversion.

Sean may decide to go somewhere, but it won't be to Columbia. I feel pretty confident about that.

[Mr. Neutral]

Odom's later years at Wake were less successful than his earlier years there, which led to his leaving and Skip getting that job. I'm not too surprised that the South Carolina job will be open again shortly.

My guess is that they'll be leaning towards some aggressive young guy who'll pound the recruiting pavement and energize the fan base.