Sean Miller and Arizona are both back in the Sweet 16 for the sixth time in 15 years. This year, Miller isn’t on the Wildcats’ bench.
Sporting the burnt orange of the University of Texas, Miller coached the 11 seed Longhorns past the first weekend of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament for the first time since 2023, including a 74-68 upset over No. 3 seed Gonzaga.
Coincidentally, 2023 was the year that Texas eliminated Miller in the Sweet 16 after he brought Xavier to the regional semifinals in his first year with the program. Miller has done the same with the Longhorns in his inaugural season, taking them from the First Four to their second Sweet 16 appearance in 14 years.
Miller hopes to avoid the same fate the Musketeers suffered in 2023.
If the Longhorns beat No. 2 seed Purdue on Thursday afternoon, Miller could be on a collision course for a reunion with the Wildcats in the Elite Eight. Arizona, the No. 1 seed in the West Region, will face No. 4 seed Arkansas. Miller has never faced Arizona in the postseason, with this year serving as his greatest chance to do so.
“Well, we’re obviously thrilled to advance, be a part of the Sweet 16,” Miller said. “It doesn’t matter how many times you have been there or not; it’s a huge difference between being in that round and just entering the tournament.
“Having the opportunity to play through another week, be a part of a field that only includes 15 other teams, and obviously it’s that next four-team tournament you’re playing to get to the Final Four.”
Texas hired Miller on March 23, 2025, and he finished the regular season 18-14 and 9-9 in SEC play. Despite the 10th-seeded Longhorns falling to 15th-seeded Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament, Texas still earned a bid to the First Four. Three wins and five days later, Miller has a chance to head back to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2015.
“I came to Texas to build a championship program,” he said. “The steps and foundations that have to be laid, processes, failure, really learning what the SEC and the University of Texas is about, this has been very rewarding, enlightening. When I think back to coming here about the end of March last year, there’s a lot that happened in a quick manner.”
From 2009 to 2021, Miller led Arizona to seven NCAA Tournament appearances, with three of those teams advancing to the Elite Eight. During his time in Tucson, Miller was also investigated by the NCAA for multiple recruitment violations. The first instance occurred in 2017 and centered around offers to illegally pay athletes to attend his school, including a top-10 high school recruit and future No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, Deandre Ayton. While the investigation resulted in a one-game hiatus before reinstation as Arizona’s coach, it wasn’t the last time Miller ran into trouble.
After Arizona fired Miller following the 2021 season, the Independent Accountability Resolution Process ruled in the corruption scandal from the 2017-2018 season that Arizona and Miller had to vacate 50 wins from the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
Once the House Settlement was approved in June 2025, schools were officially allowed to share revenue with athletes through NIL money. In his first season with the new rules, Miller has assembled the 12th-best recruiting class for the upcoming 2026-27 season, with each tournament game Texas wins likely improving its odds to land highly sought-after transfers once the portal opens on April 7.
“What once was is no longer, whether that means a postseason meeting with a player that would return, how you go about recruiting, even to some degree player development, how you build your roster,” Miller said. “I think it’s just a moving target, and there’s a lot that goes into it, a lot of thought. And even in the last year, I think things are constantly evolving and growing, and we’re all trying to evolve and adapt and grow with it, and quite frankly, learn from others.”
After Arizona fired him, Miller made the NCAA Tournament in two of his three years leading Xavier, and is now making his second Sweet 16 appearance in four years. In his first year as a part of the SEC, Miller has faced some of the top competition in the country, going 4-5 against ranked opponents in the pre-NCAA Tournament portion of the schedule.
“I hope I am a better coach,” Miller said. “I know that over time, learning from lessons, good and bad, I think you always have the opportunity to evolve and grow.
“I think when you look at our team this year, we spent a lot of time talking about being able to learn from failure and grow, and sometimes when you go through those tough moments, it can really bring out the best and take you to a place and another side that quite frankly you would never have arrived at if you didn’t go through that.”
Texas brought in nine newcomers while returning six players for Miller, who has begun to establish a culture throughout the program in his first season. With a combination of fresh and familiar faces delivering in key moments in the past three games of the tournament, Miller’s new squad has built a tight bond in a short amount of time to fuel the Longhorns’ Sweet 16 run.
“His intensity, his emphasis on all the little things,” senior guard Jordan Pope said of Miller. “Some nights we’re not going to be playing our best offensively or making shots, so what are we doing to impact the game?
“Every day in practice since he’s gotten there, just emphasizing our effort level, what we’re doing on defense, our deflections, which is kind of a measurement of how hard we’re playing, getting kills, getting stops that will open up other things throughout the game.”
During his 12 years at Arizona, Miller’s teams allowed more than 70 points per game just twice while averaging 80 points per game just as many times. In his first season with the Longhorns, they’ve averaged 82.9 points per game while allowing 76.1 points, both career-highs for a Miller-led squad. They’ve also eclipsed 80 points 22 times this season, another anomaly for Miller’s previous coaching style, as he looks to move down a new path of how he runs his teams.
“I really wanted to move in that direction as a coach, and I did,” Miller said. “I’m glad I did. Not that I have any or all answers at all. I’m not saying that. But I enjoy coaching offense right now. I like the way we play. As a matter of fact, as we’re at Texas longer, I think we’ll play with more pace and more movement. We’re here today in large part because of our offense.”
Miller has spent nearly half of his 21-year career in the Sweet 16, but this one might be the most improbable of them all. With an 18-14 record, Texas squeaked in. As the confidence within the locker has strengthened with each win, Miller has seen the Longhorns build a run that could bolster his resume more than his other eight appearances in the regional semifinal.
Miller may not have been expected to be in the Sweet 16 this year, but he’s in a position to be this year’s Cinderella after spending the majority of his career trying to hold off improbable upsets in March.
“What I really wanted to do in year one at Texas is get one foot on the ground, introduce kind of the culture that we want to build, the way we want to play, who we want to become,” Miller said.
“Obviously, at the University of Texas, it’s about one thing, and that’s challenging for the top prize in our game. There is a progression. I don’t know if anybody can do it in the first six, nine, or 12 months that you’re at a new program. But that’s the philosophy that we’re going down, using this year as a springboard to bigger and better is clearly our plan.”
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