Sean Miller

Sean Miller

Sean Miller (born November 17, 1968 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American basketball coach, currently the head men's basketball coach at Xavier University.

Early years

The son of a basketball coach, Miller was a star point guard under his father at Blackhawk High School in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. In his junior year, he led Blackhawk to the 1986 Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) title, and in his senior year, he averaged 27 points and 11 assists per game and led Blackhawk to the 1987 WPIAL championship game, which they lost. He chose to stay in the area for college basketball, opting for Pittsburgh.

Pitt

Miller had an immediate impact at Pitt, being named the Big East Freshman of the Year in 1988 while helping lead the Panthers to a 24-7 record, the Big East regular-season crown and a second-round appearance in the NCAA tournament. He would lead Pitt to NCAA appearances in his next two seasons, 1989 and 1991 (he was forced to medically redshirt the 1989-90 season after foot surgery). In the 1991 offseason, he played on the US team that won a gold medal at the World University Games. In his senior year, the Panthers made the NIT and Miller was a second-team All-Big East selection. He ended his Pitt career as the school's all-time leader in assists and free-throw percentage, and in the school's top 15 in scoring.

Through the coaching ranks

After graduating from Pitt with a degree in communications in 1992, he took a graduate assistant position at Wisconsin. The following year, Miami (Ohio) head coach Herb Sendek offered him a full-time assistant position. Miller spent two seasons at Miami, during which the Redskins (now the RedHawks) made two postseason appearances. He then returned to his alma mater of Pittsburgh for a season as an assistant under Ralph Willard.

In 1996, Miller rejoined Sendek, who by that time had taken the top position at North Carolina State. In Miller's five years in Raleigh, the Wolfpack made four postseason appearances, including a run into the 2000 NIT semifinals.

His next move was a return to southwestern Ohio in 2001, this time to join Thad Matta's staff at Xavier as the first associate head coach in the school's history. The Musketeers won 26 games in each of Miller's three seasons under Matta, making the NCAA tournament each season. The 2004 season was especially notable. First, the Musketeers won the Atlantic 10 postseason tournament despite having to play four games to do so. Then, they made a deep run in the subsequent NCAA tournament, finishing with the school's first-ever appearance in the Elite Eight.

Head coach

Shortly after the Musketeers' 2004 NCAA run, Matta left to take the head coaching job at Ohio State, and Miller was elevated to the head position at Xavier, signing a six-year contract. In his first season, the Musketeers finished 17-12, and he received a one-year extension to his contract. The following season, Xavier went 21-11, winning the A10 tournament title and thereby making the 2006 NCAA tournament.

In 2006-07, Miller led the Musketeers to a share of the A10 regular-season title with UMass. After defeating BYU in the first round of the 2007 NCAA tournament, Xavier's reward would be a reunion with Matta and Ohio State in the second round. Two of Miller's senior starters, Justin Cage and Justin Doellman, were freshmen starters on the team that he and Matta had taken to the Elite Eight three years earlier.

Although Ohio State led at the half, the Musketeers took an 11-point lead with 7½ minutes left, and were still 9 ahead with 2:54 left. A furious Ohio State comeback, capped by a Ron Lewis three-pointer at the buzzer, took the game to overtime, and the Buckeyes won.

After the season, Xavier extended Miller's contract as head coach through the 2015-16 season.

Head coaching record

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Xavier (Atlantic Ten Conference) (2004–present)
2004–2005	Xavier	17-12	10-6	T-2nd (West)
2005–2006	Xavier	21-11	8-8	T-7th	NCAA 1st Round
2006–2007	Xavier	25-9	13-3	T-1st	NCAA 2nd Round
2007–2008	Xavier	29-6	14-2	1st	NCAA Sweet Sixteen
Xavier:		92-38	45-19
Total:		63-32
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

External links

• Official Xavier bio