INQUISITR.COM / Sports

In Archie Miller, The Indiana Hoosiers Hired Next Coach From AD’s ‘Short List’

By Ernie Howell
Published on: 07:11 PST, Mar 25, 2017

Archie Miller will leave the Dayton Flyers to become the next head coach of the Indiana Hooisers men’s basketball team, multiple media outlets have reported.

Indiana University Hoosiers athletic director Fred Glass said that Archie Miller was a target from the start of the search to replace Tom Crean. According to the Indianapolis Star, Fred Glass believed that Archie Miller could replicate his success from his previous stop at Dayton University, a school from the A-10 Conference.

“While there was great interest in this position, Archie Miller was on my short list from the very beginning… Archie is a proven leader, proven winner, proven recruiter, and a proven player developer with a defense-first mentality that will help us win championships. Perhaps most importantly, he understands and embraces the special stature of Indiana University basketball and the critical relationship it must have with its former players, Indiana high school players and programs, and the entire State of Indiana.”

Archie Miller agreed to a seven-year deal with the Indiana Hoosiers, according to sources at ESPN. The school has scheduled a press conference for Monday in Bloomington, Indiana, to make the announcement official.

In a statement Saturday, the 38-year-old Archie Miller indeed recognized the value that comes with accepting the Indiana Hoosiers head coach job. Archie Miller praised his future school as an institution that would provide him and his athletes a chance to become a national title contender.

“I am honored to be the head coach at Indiana University. IU is one of the greatest basketball programs and academic institutions in the country, and I cannot wait to get started. With peerless fan support, outstanding facilities and tradition, a beautiful campus, and located in one of the most fertile recruiting areas in the country, IU is a dream destination for me and my family.”

Archie Miller has had tremendous success at the University of Dayton, leading the Flyers to four straight NCAA Tournaments. Archie Miller — whose brother Sean Miller is the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats — had a 139-63 record at Dayton, winning at least 24 games each of the last four years. His deepest run in the NCAA Tournament is an Elite 8 appearance in 2014.

This season, Archie Miller led Dayton to its first-ever outright regular season A-10 Conference championship. The Flyers finished with a 24-8 record, including a loss to Wichita State in the round of 64.

Dayton athletic director Neil Sullivan believes that the Indiana Hoosiers have made a good hire in Archie Miller, according to a statement released by the school. “He is a first-class person and coach and has made incredible contributions to our men’s basketball program, the university and the community,” Neil Sullivan said about Archie Miller. “He has made a lasting impact on the student-athletes he has served.”

At Indiana, Archie Miller will be replacing former Hoosiers coach Tom Crean. The 50-year-old Tom Crean left Indiana with a 301-166 record in his nine seasons, but rebuilding the program after NCAA sanctions brought on by the previous head coach meant the Hoosiers had to endure their worst three-year stretch in the storied program’s history at the beginning of the Tom Crean era.

After Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers endured those three disastrous seasons, the school returned to prominence over the final six years. Tom Crean led the Indiana Hoosiers to four of the past six NCAA tournaments. But the Hoosiers failed to make the NCAA tournament before suffering an opening-round loss to Georgia Tech in the NIT.

Do you think that Archie Miller can return the Indiana Hoosiers to prominence? Follow the Inquisitr’s Sports Twitter Feed (@InquisitrSports) to join in on the conversation.

[Featured Image by Kirk Irwin/Getty Images]

Share this article: In Archie Miller, The Indiana Hoosiers Hired Next Coach From AD’s ‘Short List’
More from Inquisitr