Sean Miller has been fired as head coach of the Arizona men’s basketball team, sources told ESPN.
Miller has been in Tucson since 2009, leading the Wildcats to seven NCAA tournaments and three Elite Eight appearances. Arizona has won at least one of five Pac-12 regular season championships under Miller.
Miller had one year left on his contract.
Arizona was caught in the 2017 federal basketball corruption investigation. Former assistant coach Emanuel “Book” Richardson has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge of bribery after being accused of accepting $ 20,000 to guide Arizona players to aspiring sportsman Christian Dawkins. During Dawkins’ trial, prosecutors made an FBI interception call in which Richardson told Dawkins that Miller was paying $ 10,000 a month for former player DeAndre Ayton. Miller consistently refused to pay players to participate in Arizona.
The NCAA has charged the school with five Level I violations, according to a notice of indictment released last month. The program was hit by two alleged cases of academic misconduct, while Miller was charged with failing to prove “that he promoted an atmosphere of compliance and monitored his staff.”
Arizona has imposed a one-year post-season ban on itself for last season.
Sources told ESPN that Arizona was considering a contract extension for Miller, but the Board of Regents would not approve it because of ongoing NCAA issues.
Prior to taking over in Arizona, Miller had coached Xavier for five seasons, going to four NCAA tournaments and one Elite Eight.
A potential replacement in recent days has been Gonzaga’s deputy coach, Tommy Lloyd, sources told ESPN. Arizona-linked names expected to be involved include Damon Stoudamire of Pacific, Josh Pastner of Georgia Tech and Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Miles Simon. BYU head coach Mark Pope had been linked to the post at the start of the season, while Arkansas’ Eric Musselman is another name that could receive a call to assess interest.