Commentary: It's time for Mizzou to play the way everyone else is playing
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When Mun Choi announced Desiree Reed-Francois as Missouri’s newest Director of Athletics in August, he boldly claimed “business as usual goes out the window.” Missouri has a chance to prove that was something more than empty press conference bravado now.
Hire Sean Miller. Or at least try to.
Reed-Francois is leading the charge for a new basketball coach. Missouri parted ways with Cuonzo Martin on Friday after five seasons. The next hire is about reversing eight years of disappointing basketball to return the program to at least where it was before it cratered in 2014 and hopefully take it to even greater heights.
So why should they call Miller? Because it’s something Missouri would never have considered doing before.
When the Tigers replaced Norm Stewart in 1999, they came down to a choice between Bill Self and Quin Snyder. Most focus on the problem being that the Tigers chose Snyder. I’m not sure that was the actual problem. Quin was good at the start at Missouri, making four straight NCAA Tournament appearances and an Elite Eight. Then came the Rickey Clemons debacle. That landed the Tigers in the crosshairs of the NCAA.
The misalignment with NCAA rules led to Snyder’s dismissal and it scarred Mike Alden to the point that the biggest goal thereafter in the basketball program became to do things by the book. Mike Anderson managed to do that and still be successful. Frank Haith didn’t and still had mixed results. After that, as college basketball’s out and out defiance of anything resembling rule-following has been laid bare, Missouri has watched two coaches with sterling reputations as far as NCAA Compliance is concerned go a combined 105-134.
Nobody’s going to accuse Sean Miller of being a rule follower. It’s the only reason he’s even available for Mizzou to consider hiring.
On April 7, 2021, after 12 seasons, Miller was fired by the University of Arizona. The Wildcats were one of the teams at the center of the FBI investigation into college basketball. Miller’s assistant, Book Richardson, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery by taking $20,000 to steer players toward agent Christian Dawkins. During the ensuing trial for Dawkins, Richardson was heard on wiretap saying that Miller himself was paying DeAndre Ayton $10,000 a month to play for Arizona. It’s an allegation Miller denies. Arizona was also accused of two instances of academic misconduct and Miller himself hit with the broad “lack of promoting an atmosphere of compliance.”
In other words, Sean Miller was accused of being caught doing what we now know the vast majority of coaches—or at least a significant number of them—in college basketball were doing.
Miller hasn’t yet gotten his punishment from the NCAA. Arizona self-imposed a one-year NCAA Tournament ban last year. The Wildcats currently sit 29-3 and are ranked second in the country in Tommy Lloyd’s first season replacing Miller. They'll be a one seed in the NCAA Tournament and maybe the top one seed. More penalties could be coming, both for the program and for Miller. Missouri fans shouldn’t much care what happens to Arizona, but if you’re in my camp—the one that says Mizzou should call Miller about being its next head coach—you might have some interest in what could happen to him.
The worst case scenario is that the Independent Accountability Review Process board rules on Arizona and Miller’s case in the coming months and slaps a show cause on Miller. Most people think a show cause means you can’t hire a coach. That’s not it. You can. A show cause means that any NCAA penalties assigned to a coach at one school would follow him to any subsequent school. In other words, if Arizona were to be banned from postseason play or suffer scholarship and/or recruiting restrictions, Miller would have those same penalties if he were to go to a new school. The rule is designed to prevent coaches from escaping penalties by taking a different job. The term “show cause” comes from the fact that the only way those penalties can be avoided at the next school is if that school “shows cause” for the penalties not to be applied. Of course, Miller didn’t escape, he was shown the door. And Missouri’s hire is almost certain to be made before any of Miller’s penalties are known.
So let’s say Miller gets a show cause and Missouri has already hired him. Maybe you can’t play in the NCAA Tournament next year. Guess what? Missouri doesn’t really look like a team that’s headed back to the Big Dance in year one no matter who it hires. There could be some scholarship limitations. That wouldn’t be ideal, but how often do the 12th and 13th scholarship players really matter anyway? The worst case scenario would be if Miller has some penalties that do things like limit or prevent off-campus recruiting or on-campus visits by prospects. That’s the ONLY scenario in which the penalties would be a deterrent if I were in charge of the search.
The worst-case scenario from the FBI investigation so far has been Oklahoma State. The Cowboys got a one year postseason ban, which was upheld by the NCAA on appeal, for Lamont Evans’ involvement in the rule-breaking. They lost three scholarships over an unspecified period of time and have some other recruiting-related restrictions. Now, to be fair, Evans was the only Oklahoma State coach mentioned in the case. Head coach Brad Underwood wasn’t mentioned and he’s off having plenty of success at Illinois. That’s a difference with Miller that shouldn’t be completely ignored.
But Bruce Pearl, Will Wade and Bill Self are still coaching. Missouri played them all this season and lost by a combined 66 points in four games. Pearl had, for a while, the top-ranked team in the country. Self signed a lifetime contract, won another Big 12 title and Kansas is going to be a one seed in the NCAA Tournament. Wade has LSU headed for its third consecutive tournament appearance.
The NCAA has told everyone the penalties—if they’re ever actually levied—shouldn’t really be much of a deterrent from doing what you have to do to win games. Arizona has already recovered. Kansas, LSU and Auburn haven’t even hit a bump in the road. Oklahoma State isn’t playing in the tournament this year, but it isn’t good enough even if it was eligible and the Cowboys are going to be just fine.
And, oh by the way, thanks to name, image and likeness, the vast majority of this stuff is now legal anyway.
The goal is clear: Hire someone who wins games.
Sean Miller wins games. He’s won 422 of them in 17 seasons, exactly 73% of the games he has ever coached. He’s won at least 21 in 12 different seasons. He has won eight regular season conference titles, four conference tournament championships and appeared in 11 NCAA Tournaments. He made an Elite Eight at Xavier, then made another one, plus two Sweet Sixteens, at Arizona. Miller started his coaching career the same year Quin Snyder had his first losing season at Missouri. While he has gone 422-156 since then, Missouri is 317-260. The Tigers have had eight losing seasons; Sean Miller has never had one.
College basketball and the NCAA have told you what to do: Hire a coach who can win games, let him win games and never ask him how he’s doing it. Period.
That’s what Missouri should do. You want this program back where it used to be? Hire a guy who’s gotten two programs to that point. Of course, Miller has to want the job. I have no idea if he would. But you have to find out. If you call him and he says no, move on down the list until you find someone that says yes. But try and make it known you tried.
I understand this approach will be met with disdain by some. Some of you still believe in the myth of the student-athlete and would rather lose doing things “the right way” than win by any means necessary. More power to you if that’s your stance. You’re probably a better person than I am.
Personally, I’d like to watch winning basketball again. Sean Miller coaches winning basketball. So I’d call him. I’d flip the double birds at the NCAA as I introduced a guy who wins games and will get fans back in Mizzou Arena. Doing things the right way certainly hasn’t gotten Missouri anywhere lately. It’s time to do things the way everyone else is doing them.
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