Well, that escalated quickly.
The future of Sean Miller in Tucson when the 2020-21 season came to a close at the end of the regular season was called into question seeing as there was no word of an extension on his contract going into what would have been his final year in 2021-22. The media asked and twitter discussed, but ultimately, there were crickets for the duration of the conference tournaments and NCAA tournament.
Baylor won the national championship on Monday, April 5, and before the offseason could even start for all of college basketball, BAM! Rumors of Miller’s firing sufficed on Tuesday, March April 6. By Wednesday morning, it became official.
A big reason why this might have happened? The university did not want to miss out on their guy.
One person who was constantly brought up throughout this FBI/NCAA investigation over the last couple of years as a prime candidate if Sean Miller were to get fired was Chris Beard who took Texas Tech to the Final Four in 2019. Out of nowhere, the Texas Longhorns swooped in to grab him as the replacement to Shaka Smart. There are rumors that Arizona had its eyes on Beard and ultimately missed him.
So with Gonzaga’s season ending on Monday, Arizona looks to have decided it wasn't going to allow another prime candidate on their radar wind up elsewhere. As a result, while everyone is still digesting the firing of Miller, Tommy Lloyd is announced as the replacement.
Lloyd is a fascinating hire by the Wildcats. There are many who believe the Gonzaga program and Mark Few would not be what it is today without him. High praise for a program that has gone to the national championship game twice within the last four years.
On one hand, this hire could easily be perceived as disappointing for the Wildcat faithful. But by no fault of Lloyd.
Arizona for decades was one of the most premiere, if not THE most premiere college basketball program out West. Gonzaga spent many years vying to leap the Wildcats of that title while Sean Miller was taking the them to Elite Eights. Over the last four years while Arizona has been dealing with investigations, Gonzaga easily leaped them. So now Arizona going after a Gonzaga assistant is somewhat of a personified example of how the program has fallen during this frustrating time. Hiring an assistant from one of its biggest foes. Not to mention, he has not been the head coach on the sidelines of a college program
But take the history of the two programs out of the equation and this conversely seems like a fantastic hire for Arizona. A program that needs a fresh start now being led by an extremely respected assistant in the college landscape that is now getting his first shot to run and lead a major program. Sounds kind of like a certain football coach that was hired recently as well…
Lloyd has many international connections.
This is seen by his professional playing career (stops in Australia and Germany) and the countless international talent he has brought to Spokane. NBA talent such as Domantas Sabonis, Hachimura, Ronny Turiaf and countless more just name a few. The current Arizona basketball roster is filled with international talent. Their core returning players -- if they don’t transfer -- are primarily made up of athletes from outside the United States. Those athletes include Benedict Mathurin (Canada), Azuolas and Tautvilas Tubelis (Lithuania), Kerr Krissa (Estonia) and Tibet Gorener (Turkey). His connection overseas could be a great way to keep these players, along with the domestic talent like Akinjo, Terry and Brown in Tucson.
The Wildcats prior to Miller’s firing have been pre-season ranked top-15 for 2021-22 since the season ended. Lloyd could be the right guy to maintain this core and keep together what is seen as a very good team.
But this hire isn’t about next season. It’s about years to come.
The last four years has made the very loyal Wildcats faithful jaded, resentful, discouraged, apathetic and many more adjectives that simply haven't been this fan base since the late, great Lute Olsen first stepped foot on campus. Whether Lloyd will have that level of success, who knows, but ripping the band-aid off of what has been an emotionally exhausting last four years is something the program and university certainly needed.
Whether you believed Miller or not about his involvement in this investigation, you can’t deny the black cloud that has been over McKale Center.
Sean Miller’s time in Arizona was special. I attended Arizona as a student during the purgatory years. The odd years of Kevin O’Neil and Russ Pennell that connected Lute and Sean. Those years, it seemed like the future of the program was hanging by a thread. Miller arrived and led a thrilling era of Arizona basketball. Some of the most beloved players in the program’s history were under his watch as well as some of the greatest moments were his doing as well.
It sucks he never made it to the Final Four. You knew it was everything to him. That was well evidenced by that time TJ McConnell couldn’t make it to the bench without sobbing into Miller’s arms when they were on their way to lose their second consecutive Elite Eight appearance.
It’s my hope that the Miller-era won’t be remembered by that black cloud, but the amazing moments Wildcat faithful enjoyed during his tenure. Like the Derrick Williams domination of Duke, those back-to-back runs to the Elite Eight, the countless wins in the Pac-12 Tournament that saw a sea of red in Vegas each and every year, drowning out all the other fan bases. Teams were scared to face the defensive tenacity, incredible length, jaw dropping athleticism and ruckus fans traveling all over the country.
The band-aid is in the trash and now this proud, loyal and passionate fan base can now collectively move forward and hope that a former Zag, Tommy Lloyd, can re-leap frog his old friends and bring Arizona back to the top.
