Arizona men’s basketball associate coach Archie Miller was named the head coach of the Dayton Flyers on Sunday afternoon.
The 32-year-old brother of Arizona head coach Sean Miller becomes one of the youngest head coaches in the NCAA, and his departure takes one of the country’s better recruiters from Tucson to Ohio.
“”He hit everything we said we wanted when we began our search,”” Dayton athletic director Tim Wabler told the Dayton Daily News. “”And the more we talked to him the more obvious it became.
“”We need somebody that embraces the challenge of where we are at — of just breaking through and getting us to the point where we annually are in the NCAA Tournament — and it just became clear he’s the right guy for this time right here.””
Wabler told the Daily News that he was looking for an associate head coach from a major Division I school that had success.
Archie Miller fit both of those criteria and has the added experience of coaching and recruiting in the midwest. He coached at Ohio State under current head coach Thad Matta, gaining valuable experience in knowing where and how to navigate the region as far as recruiting goes.
And at Arizona, the vacancy comes as a hit to a program that is bringing in a top-10 recruiting class for 2011, much of which is to Archie Miller’s credit — he is regarded as the staff’s West Coast recruiting guru.
Shortly after the news broke Saturday evening, incoming player Nick Johnson, out of Findlay Prep in Nevada, shot off this tweet: “”nothing is ever permanent, even if its promised. Don’t rely on anyone so that when they let you down you won’t be affected #arizona.””
Meanwhile, current players directly cited their former assistant coach.
“”Congrats to Archie Miller!!! Big time to get a head coaching job at such a young age…sad to see him leave tho,”” said walk-on Max Wiepking on his Twitter handle,
@maxwiepking52.
Forward Solomon Hill also was disappointed to see Archie Miller leave for Dayton.
“”Congrats to Archie Miller (head coach) now at Dayton. I really don’t want him to leave,”” Hill said via his Twitter, @kingxsolo.
