Arizona got its man the second time around as Xavier coach Sean Miller accepted the Wildcats’ head coaching position today. The Wildcats initially sought USC coach Tim Floyd, who rebuffed the Cats to remain with the Trojans. Miller arrives in the desert after working for the Musketeers for five seasons as head coach. He was an assistant coach there from 2002-04. Arizona issued a press release to announce the hiring of Miller and will introduce him at a press conference tomorrow.
Miller succeeds Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame member Lute Olson, who retired last fall, and his interim replacement, Russ Pennell, who continued Arizona’s streak of consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament with the programs’ 25th in 2008-09. The first 23 of those came under Olson and the 24th under 2007-08 interim coach Kevin O’Neill.
His clubs won the last three Atlantic-10 Conference regular-season championships and he carries a career head coaching record of 120-47, a superlative .718 winning percentage. He took two Xavier teams to the Sweet 16, in 2008 and 2009. He is the school’s overall coaching leader in NCAA play with a 6-4 record in his share of Xavier’s 20 tournament appearances.
