Should Texas basketball be worried about North Carolina poaching Sean Miller? | Golden
North Carolina showed head coach Hubert Davis the door Tuesday and Texas athletic director Chris Del Conteought to test in with Sean Miller.
Surely Miller is in for the lengthy haul within the ATX, however how about we ensure that’s all good on the homefront, proper, CDC?
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Isn’t {that a} kick within the shorts? texas basketball lastly finds his groove after which a blue-blood job opens up — not that there’s any indication the Tar Heels are stalking Miller to switch Davis, who misplaced his job 5 days after the Tar Heels blew a 19-point lead and misplaced to Eleventh-seeded VCU within the first spherical of the NCAA Tournamentits second consecutive early tourney exit.
Texas head coach Sean Miller reacts throughout the second half within the second spherical of the NCAA Tournament in opposition to Gonzaga, Saturday, March 21, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (Amanda Loman/Associated Press)
MORE CED: Unlikely basketball heroes stepped up vs. Gonzaga
Texas head coach Sean Miller reacts throughout the second half within the first spherical of the NCAA faculty basketball event in opposition to BYU, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (Amanda Loman/Associated Press)
Meanwhile, Miller has resurrected the Longhorns (21-14) from their comatose end within the common season and has the 512 buzzing about an opportunity to play in an Elite Eight if Texas can take down No. 2 Purdue on Thursday within the coach’s ninth Sweet 16 look in 21 tourney appearances.
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Of course he was additionally the pinnacle coach when the Horns had been going by means of their struggles and he owns his position in these robust instances. But he deserves credit score for keying this turnaround.
And now the Carolina job is vacant.
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No one is saying Miller is taking the primary prepare for Tobacco Road. At 57 years previous, he is most likely on his final head teaching cease. He seems like somebody who will be in Austin for the subsequent decade or so. That mentioned, if the telephone rings and there is a 919 space code on the display, he has to take that decision. Carolina is a vacation spot job and unquestionably a basketball faculty, one thing Texas won’t ever be.
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Carolina is a university basketball blue blood with six nationwide championships and a lineup that features Hall of Fame gamers like Michael Jordan and James Worthy. The commonplace is excessive and never even Davis, who performed there himself and led this system to its final nationwide title sport look in 2022, was immune from the Turk.
Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte watches the Longhorns play within the second inning of the NCAA Tournament Austin Regional sport in opposition to the Houston Christian Huskies at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, May 30, 2025. (Sara Diggins / Austin American-Statesman)
He was believed to be secure after main the Heels to a 24-8 file and a regular-season win over archrival Duke, however two first-round losses within the Big Dance is a basketball demise sentence in Chapel Hill.
So what does that must do with Miller? Probably nothing. The faculty normally stays inside the powder blue household in terms of basketball with the final three coaches having performed there, however the brand new rent might come from elsewhere. Florida’s Todd Golden. Iowa State’s TJ Otzelberger, Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd and Alabama’s Nate Oats are some early names being talked about.
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A have a look at Sean Miller’s numbers
Davis, who will obtain a payout of greater than $5 million on his means out the door, was making a modest $3.75 million a 12 months, which ranked solely twenty eighth nationally, based on USA TODAY’s teaching database on the finish of final season. Miller signed a six-year, $31.8 million deal after Del Conte tabbed him to switch Rodney Terry after final season. Miller makes $4.8 million this 12 months and his wage will go up $200,000 annually by means of 2031. If he had been to depart for one more job between now and March 31, his new employer must pony up a $6 million buyout.
From all indications, the bag makes Miller is a cheerful camper in Austin though he would love some Longhorns basketball lovers to dig deeper and assist make this program extra aggressive within the market.
CDC is aware of the take-no-prisoners method is the important thing to a successful athletic division. He’s the identical shrewd nearer who staked out a cemetery in Snooksimply south of College Station, to snag Texas A&M baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle someday after the Aggies completed because the College World Series runners-up.
Texas Longhorns head coach Sean Miller watches the sport throughout the first half of Lone Star Showdown, Jan. 17, 2026 on the Moody Center in Austin. Texas A&M gained the sport 74-70. (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman)
He has constructed a monster teaching roster that is captured four Learfield Directors Cups within the final 5 years and with head coaches like Schlossnagle, Miller, soccer’s Steve Sarkisian and ladies’s basketball’s Vic Schaefer all stalking their first nationwide titles, the starvation is there to be nice.
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This feels just like the burgeoning of a brand new golden period in Texas sports activities, however for it to match what we witnessed within the early-to-mid 2000s — when the Horns gained two College World Series titles below Augie Garrido, a soccer crown below Mack Brown and appeared in each the lads’s and ladies’s Final Fours in 2003 — championships should occur within the main sports activities.
Winning is the whole lot and within the current period, these faculties will do something to land a coach able to taking a program to the subsequent stage.
Texas has one in Miller.
