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Social media reactions of Sean Miller, Arizona parting ways


Arizona will have a new permanent coach in 2021-22 for only the third time in almost 40 years from when Lute Olson arrived in 1983.

Olson coached 24 years followed by two seasons of interim coaches Kevin O’Neill and Russ Pennell and then the last 12 years by Sean Miller.

Social media is going wild with speculation of Miller’s successor at Arizona, which won a national title in 1996-97 but has yet to return to the Final Four since 2000-01.

Miller came close with Elite Eight appearances in 2010-11, 2013-14 and 2014-15.

With potential probation looming after an NCAA investigation deemed Miller did not demonstrate that he “promoted an atmosphere for compliance and monitored his staff,” the new hire will have the difficult task of rebuilding the program.

The NCAA charged the school with five Level I violations, according to a notice of allegations released last month. The program was hit with two alleged instances of academic misconduct involving former assistants Book Richardson and Mark Phelps.

Here are some social media reactions of Miller’s firing today by Arizona president Robert C. Robbins and athletic director Dave Heeke:

Steve Rivera, of Fox Sports 1450-AM and AllSportsTucson.com, has been around the Arizona basketball program longer than anyone. He provided his insight with this column:

The two biggest revenue producers at Arizona — football and men’s basketball — will have new coaches in 2021-22 at the same time for the first time in 107 years:

Miller may be off to the NBA. Keep in mind, the Miller family is good friends with New Orleans coach Stan Van Gundy.

Somebody slept on it.

Arizona softball coaching legend Mike Candrea said he loved the way Miller bridged the tradition from Olson to how he coached the program.

Fred “The Fox” Snowden’s daughter Stacey tweeted something that many people would agree with — hire Adia Barnes as the men’s coach:

Matt Moreno of Rivals.com is dialed into the program. What took Robbins so long? Boosters? The deep run by the Arizona women’s team in the NCAA tournament?

Miller’s son Austin is not pleased with Robbins’ decision to let his dad go.

Kerr Kriisa’s reaction to Austin Miller’s tweet:

Allonzo Trier thinks Arizona fans should not be ecstatic of Miller forced out:

Longtime NBA standout Jamal Crawford weighs in on two of his friends:

Marc Spears, an ESPN NBA writer, thinks Stoudamire is the wise choice at Arizona:

Gonzaga assistant Tommy Lloyd is the basketball equivalent of Jedd Fisch, a longtime assistant groomed by a legendary coach (Mark Few). Fisch learned under multiple legendary coaches. Who hired Fisch? Robbins did. Interesting to note that Arizona almost hired Tim Floyd before it hired Sean Miller. Now it might be Tommy Lloyd in charge.

Um, why is Archie Miller on this list?

It could be because of the timing of the move so far after the end of the regular season, or let’s face it, some people, including prominent boosters, did not mind Miller as the head coach.

Why not throw Steve Kerr in there as well?

For the record, Luke Walton has “no interest” in the Arizona job.


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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon.

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