"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

UPDATE: The hiring of Chris Mack at Xavier opened the door for Ohio State assistant coach Archie Miller (brother of head coach Sean Miller) to join the UA’s staff. Although Reggie Geary would have been a fine choice, Archie Miller comes with some great credentials. Buckeyes coach Thad Matta considered him one of his lead recruiters.

From time to time, we will be reaching out to members of the media, who either cover UA basketball or college basketball in general, for their insights on what is going on at McKale Center and elsewhere. Today, Arizona Daily Star sports columnist Greg Hansen has agreed to answer five of our questions that pertain to new UA coach Sean Miller and the Wildcats.

READ GREG HANSEN’S LATEST COLUMN AND BLOG AT AZSTARNET.COM

Q: UA athletic director Jim Livengood denied to you that his hiring of Miller will be his legacy. Do you agree or disagree? After the John Mackovic, Mike Stoops and now Miller hirings, what do you think Livengood will be most remembered for?
Hansen: If Miller indeed restores the program and maintains its excellence, I think the hire of Mackovic will be washed away. In all other areas — student relations, facilities building, financial responsibility, I think Livengood is among the elite ADs in the country. The Mackovic hire is his only serious blemish. The Lute (Olson) stuff, while on Livengood’s watch, is easily understood. No one had the power to force Lute to step away a year or two earlier. So I think Livengood’s legacy will be that he took Dempsey’s outstanding athletic department, which was hitting on all cylinders, and maintained it.

Q: How long do you think it will take Miller to have Arizona be at least a Sweet Sixteen team?
Hansen: By the looks of his first five days of recruiting, I would think by his second season the UA would return to the NCAA tournament, and by Year Three, Arizona might be positioned to win a game or two in the tournament.

Q: What is the worst-case scenario for Miller’s first season? The best-case scenario?
Hansen: Worst case right now is if Nic Wise doesn’t return and then it’s a 6-22 disaster. But if Wise is back, I suspect they’ll be able to go about 14-14 and maybe 6-12 in a weaker Pac-10. Best case: Probably a game or two over .500 (maybe 16-14) and close to (.500) in the Pac-10. Hard to call without recruiting being completed.

Q: What are your thoughts of how the national media perceived the Arizona program to be, some of them saying that UA basketball went as far as Olson could take it?
Hansen: Arizona basically was Lute-less from the day it lost to Illinois in the 2005 Elite Eight. So I think the transition period has hit bottom without really experiencing a disaster season. If they can continue winning 20-some games since 2005, to me it is a sign that the program is indeed among the national elite and has a chance to get back to the 1988-2005 levels in three years and certainly in four.

Q: If you were Pac-10 commissioner for a day, what would be the one thing you would change about the conference in terms of basketball?
Hansen: I might toy with the Thursday-Saturday rotation in league games, moving games to other days of the week in attempt to get some ESPN coverage regularly on say Wednesday and Sunday. But the Fox deal pays more than any ESPN connection so I don’t see them changing. Of course, I’d love to see the Pac-10 tournament rotate to Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Northern Cal instead of being stuck in the apathetic Staples Center.

UAHOOPSCOACH.COM ANALYSIS:

Livengood’s overall legacy at Arizona will be favorable. Some might argue that Livengood’s ability as an athletic director should be questioned for three reasons: His unsuccessful courting of Tim Floyd after five months of knowing he needed a replacement for Olson, his overzealousness to announce Kevin O’Neill would take over the program, and his hiring of Mackovic. However, you won’t find an athletic department head in the country who cares about his operations and its staff more than Livengood. He was able to land a young coach the caliber of Miller. That makes him a winner more than a loser.

We share Hansen’s outlook for next season. If the UA somehow has a better than .500 record overall and in the Pac-10, Miller deserves to be the conference coach of the year. Yes, the Pac-10 does not seem to be too challenging next season outside of Cal, Washington, UCLA and USC. But you know teams such as Stanford and Oregon State will be better now that Johnny Dawkins and Craig Robinson will have their system in place. Oregon should be more competitive with its young players returning. ASU will always be a difficult task with Herb Sendek there. WSU is a mystery but the Cougs have talented young players (Klay Thompson, Marcus Capers and DeAngelo Casto) and a decent coach in Ken Bone. …

With the lack of quality depth at every position next season, Miller won’t hit his stride most likely until the 2010-11 season after two successful recruiting efforts including the crop from this spring. …

Please Pac-10 consider moving your conference tournament out of Los Angeles and into Las Vegas. If the West Coast Conference can play its conference tourney in Sin City, why can’t the Pac-10? The Mountain West already has its tourney in Las Vegas with UNLV as its host. WCC held its tourney in Las Vegas for the first time this season. If the Pac-10 ever considers a move to Las Vegas, it would be a true neutral site and more fans from each school would attend because of the lure of Las Vegas. Problem is, with the Mountain West having their tourney at the same time, it will be logistically difficult. The WCC has its tourney a week before the Mountain West’s tournament at a different venue than Thomas and Mack: The Orleans Casino arena.

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Josh Pastner said his mentor Lute Olson had a great attention to detail

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE PRESS CONFERENCE ANNOUNCING THE HIRING OF JOSH PASTNER AT MEMPHIS

Former UA player and assistant coach Josh Pastner said Wednesday he was not prepared to hear the news that he would be the next Memphis coach when Tigers athletic director R.C. Johnson summoned him to his house on Monday.

“On Monday morning, I woke up, rolled into the office looking like a mountain man,” Pastner said on the Andy Gresh Show on Sirius/XM radio. “I was not shaved, and my hair was all over the place. I had holes in my socks. I was packing my stuff in my office and heading to Kentucky.

“At about noon I got a call from the AD saying he needed to see me at his house. At about 2 o’clock I was the head coach at Memphis. It happened that quick … It’s been a sprint. I haven’t slept yet. I’ve been saying to myself that I have to sleep tonight because I don’t want to be driving tomorrow and be falling asleep when I’m driving.”

It’s interesting that Pastner received the call from Johnson at 9 a.m. Tucson time, a few minutes after it was announced that Sean Miller agreed to coach the Wildcats. I am not sure it was a coincidence. But Pastner was gaining more support for the UA job, especially after it seemed that Miller was leaning toward returning to Xavier.

Johnson probably waited to see what happened at Arizona before offering the job to Pastner. If that means Pastner was next in line if Miller turned down the UA job, nobody knows, probably even UA athletic director Jim Livengood.

Pastner, 31, talked at such a pace with Gresh you would think he had the energy to stay awake for another 10 days. His focus immediately shifted from accompanying John Calipari to Kentucky to being the head coach of a program that was in the national championship game a year ago. If anybody can handle the whirlwind developments, it’s Pastner.

It is no wonder recruits listen to him because his energy is inescapable. What is fascinating is he earns the respect from his peers as much as he does from his elders despite his youthful nature.

Players respect him rather than see his exuberance and question him. The reason is obvious: He is clearly passionate about what he does. This is a guy who at age 13 was handing out the “Josh Pastner Scouting Report”, an analysis of Houston-area prospects, to college coaches.

“I’ve had a lot of fellow assistant coaches and graduate assistants calling to congratulate me,” he told Gresh. “It’s been a heck of a ride. I’m still on cloud nine.”

Gresh asked Pastner what he learned from Lute Olson as a coach and as a player.

“Unbelievable attention to detail,” Pastner said. “Unbelievable, amazing practice coach. He didn’t allow any slippage. He’s terrific, one of the greats of all time.

“His offense was so underrated. Some of the stuff he did offensively was way ahead of his time, of any of our times. He was a very, very, very good big man coach. A lot of people talk about all the great guards he had at Arizona. But some of his best players he had were his bigs. He was a really good big man coach.”

Of course, Pastner helped coach and develop Arizona’s big men, including Michael Wright, Channing Frye and Jordan Hill.

What about the age factor, Gresh asked, being only 31, heading a major college program?

“Hey, I am Josh Pastner. I am going to be Josh Pastner and go full speed from there,” he said.

Pennell to become Grand Canyon’s head coach. On the surface, the announcement of Russ Pennell’s hiring as head coach at Grand Canyon is a head scratcher. Grand Canyon is a Division II program and many who followed him this year at Arizona thought he could lead a mid-major Divison I program next season.

The national media, which was out of touch with the UA and in its inner-workings from when Olson retired to when Miller was hired, put heat on Livengood for not naming Pennell the permanent coach when the Wildcats advanced to the Sweet 16.

Now he’s buried in Phoenix, a city that has not been kind to college basketball, far from the spotlight he enjoyed in Tucson.

But I don’t believe Pennell could have made a better choice. He’s comfortable in his surroundings, for one. More important than that: Grand Canyon has a 6,000-seat arena in the works and it is about to petition the NCAA for Division I status in 2011. The process takes four years to qualify for the NCAA tournament. At that time, Pennell can build a winning program and lead Grand Canyon into either the Western Athletic Conference or the West Coast Conference.

He can be the guy who laid the foundation for a program. Who can say that nowadays?

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Sean Miller is formally announced as the new University of Arizona basketball coach

THE CBS SITE VIDEO OF THE MILLER PRESS CONFERENCE IS NOW ACTIVE. CLICK ON THIS TO VIEW.

THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE UA PRESS CONFERENCE AS PROVIDED BY TOM DUDDLESTON’S UA MEDIA RELATIONS DEPARTMENT. CLICK ON THIS TO VIEW.

New UA basketball coach Sean Miller met media from the state of Arizona for the first time today at McKale Center. Here are some quick observations:

• First the contract terms: He signed a five-year contract that will earn him $1.6 million per year. He will receive at least another $400,000 per season from Nike and television and radio contracts. UA athletic director Jim Livengood said that the university will likely add two more years to the contract after Miller’s first two seasons, in essence making it a guaranteed seven-year deal. The Arizona Board of Regents requires a contract with a maximum of five years.Miller, 40, will receive a one-time payout of $2.1 million if he remains with the Wildcats for seven years. Miller will receive a $1 million signing bonus, the first of its kind in UA athletics. So adding it all up, if Miller stays at the UA for at least seven years and his base salary remains $1.6 million, he will be compensated for a total of $14.3 million over that span ($1.6 million multiplied by seven years, plus the $2.1 million payout, plus the $1 million signing bonus). That alone is an average of $2.04 million per year as a base salary that will be approved by the Arizona Board of Regents, and that does not include the $400,000 per year from secondary sources such as Nike and his media contracts.

  The $2.04 million per year average salary — provided Miller stays at least seven years — makes him the highest paid coach in the Pac-10, according to published figures. UCLA’s Ben Howland makes an average of $1.97 million per year, not including secondary income.

  Some of the perks for Miller and his family: Two courtesy cars, 20 men’s basketball season tickets, eight football season tickets, four softball season passes, four baseball season passes, four volleyball season passes and 30 private jet hours each year. Miller’s family and friends, numbering 15 people, will also have their expenses paid for NCAA tournament trips.

• One of the best quotes by Miller in the press conference: “The bar from where I came from was high. The bar here is even higher. It was hard for me to remember all the names of all the great NBA players that came here (he went on to list about eight former UA playes in the NBA). You look at the names, there’s a reason why all those guys came here. Having the opportunity to coach at one of the best places in the country, that’s what I was holding out for.”
• Livengood opened the press conference by being critical of media that erroneously reported that other high-profile coaches turned down an offer by him to coach Arizona. The only media reports I can think of that included this information came from Andy Katz of ESPN and Seth Davis of CBS and Sports Illustrated. Katz especially reported that coaches such as Mark Few of Gonzaga and Jamie Dixon of Pittsburgh rejected Arizona. It was reported on this site that Few and Dixon were never interviewed and therefore never had the opportunity to turn Arizona down. Livengood mentioned that Internet reports became gospel during this process no matter how much the information was false. You can check any of the posts on this site through our categories and pages and you will never find that Livengood was formally rejected other than USC’s Tim Floyd. And Livengood confirmed that Floyd was the only other coach that he formally interviewed.
• Miller, who brought his wife Amy and three sons to the press conference, said that he would address members of the current roster in a team meeting today. He reiterated that what he does will be all about the players. His approach is refreshing. He could have come in and said he would evaluate the talent and make changes as necessary. Instead, he is going to preach family and make everyone from Nic Wise to D.J. Shumpert feel like they have a significant place on the roster. After the press conference, Miller told Arizona broadcaster Brian Jeffries that he hopes Wise returns next season because Wise will enjoy the way Miller coaches on the offensive end. Miller said he preaches ball movement, good passing, and a transition style that can be derived from their defense (through blocked shots, steals, forced turnovers), etc. Xavier, perceived to be a half-court offense by some, is hardly that, averaging 71.7 points per game this season compared to Arizona’s 72.3.
• The Tucson weather has already won over his family, most noticeably his sons. “When we got on an airplane to come here, it was like 30 degrees and flurries,” said Miller, who noted that he is probably the most popular dad in America today. “When we landed and got off the plane, the kids wanted to go swimming.”
• Miller did not answer a question directly about any of his Xavier recruits following him to Tucson. He simply answered: “No. My biggest concern besides my job here at hand is making sure my former players are taken care of. We’re a long way from Cincinnati. I’m looking forward to moving on.” He followed up saying that he can not comment about recruits that have yet to sign.
• In attendance at the press conference was Phoenix Suns GM and former UA star Steve Kerr and former coach Lute Olson. Miller said it was an honor to have Olson in attendance and it meant a lot to him that Olson was there showing support for him becoming his permanent successor.
• Miller said this is a critical time mostly for the current team to learn his style and for him to learn all about them. He knows it is important that by the end of this month that he recruits capable players to fill available scholarships. Chase Budinger’s father told The Arizona Daily Star’s Bruce Pascoe that his son will enter the NBA draft. Jordan Hill is also expected to go pro. If Wise returns and Shumpert, a former walk-on, keeps his scholarship, that leaves five open scholarships. The spring signing period starts April 15. Miller acknowledged that most of the talent has already signed during the November signing period. Reggie Geary, part of interim coach Russ Pennell’s staff, has already received a verbal commitment from 6-7 power forward Tremayne Johnson, a junior college player from Los Angeles. It is uncertain at this time if Miller will honor that commitment.
• Miller reiterated that he wants to bring assistant Chris Mack with him from Xavier, but acknowledged that Mack wants the head coaching position at Xavier. Miller did not immediately address Geary staying on the staff or if he would also bring Xavier assistant and lead recruiter Emanuel Richardson with him. Miller did say that is very important this staff has familiarity with his system and that if necessary he would go out and hire an assistant. He insinuated that it did not matter if that assistant had West coast recruiting ties because he believes Arizona is a national program. He also mentioned that since the news came out that he accepted the Wildcats’ job offer that he has all of a sudden received communication from coaches of recruits that was not there before.

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Former Xavier coach Sean Miller will be introduced Tuesday in a noon press conference at McKale Center

Space will not be wasted here telling ESPN’s Andy Katz that Arizona is not in the business of “dropping a couple of pegs” and hiring coaches who are grossly unproven in the NCAA tournament.

Well, not too much anyway.

Do we really need to ask Tim Floyd how the traffic is over there in smoggy Los Angeles? By the way, aren’t the Catalinas beautiful, and what about those scenic sunsets in Tucson? Breathtaking. Wait, we lost our train of thought. …

Now, do we really want to waste our time to ask Jeff Withey, Emanuel Negedu, Abdul Gaddy and Mike Moser if they privately have second thoughts about how they jumped ship on Arizona? You guys could have been the nucleus of Sean Miller’s inaugural team in Tucson, one that surely would have been forecast to go deeper in next year’s NCAA tournament than the formidable team he left at Xavier.

But these recruits are in the past. Withey has transferred from the UA to Kansas without playing a game for the Cats. Negedu opted out of his letter of intent and was a freshman at Tennessee this season. Gaddy has signed with Washington; Moser inked a letter of intent with UCLA.

We purposely omitted point guard Brandon Jennings from this list because he never had a qualifying entrance-exam score before jetting to Europe to play professionally over there.

Solomon Hill, who backed out of his commitment to Arizona in favor of USC when Lute Olson retired, has yet to sign. Players like him, immediately available if possible, represent what could be a promising near future for the Wildcats.

Hill’s father, Solomon Crawford told The Arizona Daily Star that he will be contacting Miller this week. Hard to believe that kind of exuberance envelopes the Arizona program now that Miller has agreed to coach the Wildcats. As recently as 24 hours ago, things were so dire, we were wondering if the UA would have needed to check the school’s rec center for potential walk-ons.

You could picture opposing coaches in the Pac-10 grinning and rubbing their hands together in excitement, believing Arizona would not be a major player in the recruiting circuit for a while. Imagine their reaction when Miller suprisingly had a change of heart Monday and decided to accept Arizona’s offer.

Floyd, for one, undoubtedly immediately got on the phone with his assistants and strategized about how they would keep Hill in tow.

The panic transferred from Arizona to Floyd, et al. UCLA’s Ben Howland is no longer the highest paid coach in the Pac-10 at $1.97 million a year, if the reported terms of Miller’s contract ($18 million over seven years) are factual. How will the three-time Final Four coach take that news?

Arizona is still not out of the woods yet in terms of next year’s prospects, even with Miller’s hire, but the Wildcats now have a leg to stand on with his national image.

If Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill forego their senior season for the NBA, and Nic Wise surprisingly joins them, the UA would have only seven scholarship players returning (one of which is walk-on D.J. Shumpert who occupied the UA’s last scholarship because the Wildcats had no other bodies).

The main six returning (if Wise, Budinger and Hill do not return) with their class and position next season:

• Kyle Fogg, sophomore guard
• Jamelle Horne, junior forward
• Alex Jacobson, sophomore center
• Zane Johnson, junior guard
• Garland Judkins, sophomore guard
• Brendon Lavender, sophomore guard

Looking at this list, the UA is in dire need of a wing forward, strong rebounding front court player, point guard and more depth. If Wise and Budinger return, that takes care of two of those needs, but all indications point toward Jordan Hill definitely leaving to the NBA. He has a child to raise, which is very difficult to do as a college student, and he has been told by scouts that he is a potential lottery pick because of his upside.The UA can utilize up to 13 scholarships. The Wildcats can have as many as seven to fill or as few as three depending on whether Wise, Budinger or Hill return and Shumpert, a Santa Rita grad, is given another scholarship.

Solomon Hill can add depth on the perimeter. He is a 6-foot-6-inch forward from Los Angeles (Calif.) Fairfax High School who is rated No. 28 in the Rivals.com Top 150 for the Class of 2009 poll. The UA has already received a verbal commitment from 6-7 power forward Tremayne Johnson, a player from Los Angeles Southwest Community College.

Another highly-touted high school recruit who has expressed interest depending on who the UA hired is athletic combo forward Victor Rudd from Van Nuys, Calif. Rudd, who transferred to to Findlay Prep in Henderson (Nev.) this year, was dismissed from the Findlay team last month for disciplinary reasons.

Rudd is still being heavily recruited by UNLV’s Lon Kruger, who recruits with integrity as much as any other coach, so that signals that Rudd’s problems at Findlay are not too serious.

According to the Cincinnati Enquirer, Miller will likely bring to Tucson recruits he pursued to Xavier, although it is not certain whether any will play for Arizona next season.

High school junior J.D. Weatherspoon, a 6-6 combo forward from Columbus (Ohio) has de-committed from Xavier and might consider playing at Arizona for Miller starting in the 2010-11 season. Kevin Parrom, a 6-6 small forward from South Kent (Conn.), has already signed a letter of intent but might ask to be released from that and could be with the Cats next season.

The other players who could be headed to Tucson in the next couple of years, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer: Xavier’s 2010-11 recruit Jordan Latham, a 6-8 forward from Baltimore, and 2011-12 recruit Nadir Tharpe, a talented playmaking and scoring point guard from Worcester (Mass).

The Cincinnati media is also reporting that Miller will likely bring assistant coach Emanuel Richardson, his primary recruiter, with him from Xavier. Richardson worked the AAU circuit recently in New York City. Miller also wants to bring assistant Chris Mack, but Mack, a former Xavier player, is rumored to be the frontrunner to replace Miller.

In order to bridge the gap toward West coast recruiting, Miller will likely keep former UA player Reggie Geary as an assistant coach. Geary has continued to maintain contact with potential recruits and their coaches this season.

If Mack is hired by Xavier, that will leave an assistant position open. Miller will likely hire a tactician from outside the Arizona program.

Miller, 40, was set to start a vacation on Monday before Jim Livengood made his significant push to hire the young coach. His time off will have to wait. He has alot of work to do with the spring signing period almost a week away (April 15).

Arizona’s image repair is well under way.

2009 NCAA DIVISION I COACHING CHANGES

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Dan Wetzel of Yahoo Sports is reporting this morning that Sean Miller had a change of heart and has accepted a very lucrative offer from Arizona.

Wetzel lists the contract terms of $18 million over seven years — $2.57 million per year — with a $1 million signing bonus. The contract must be approved by the Arizona Board of Regents, but that will be a formality, according to sources close to the UA.

Wetzel’s report also indicates that Miller has informed Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski and UA athletic director Jim Livengood. No press conference at Arizona has been scheduled yet, although one can be scheduled as early as tomorrow, a source said.

If the reported contract terms are accurate, Miller will earn more in base salary than some of the more esteemed college basketball coaches in the nation. The only coaches who will be earning more in base salary than Miller would be Kentucky’s John Calipari ($3.96 million), Florida’s Billy Donovan ($3.3 million), and Kansas’ Bill Self ($3 million).

Miller, 40, would be earning more than UCLA’s Ben Howland ($1.97 million), North Carolina’s Roy Williams ($2 million), Texas’ Rick Barnes ($2 million), Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski ($2.2 million), Louisville’s Rick Pitino ($2.25 million), Ohio State’s Thad Matta ($2.5 million).

Keep in mind that these are base salary figures. They don’t include money from shoe contracts, advertisement income, appearance fees, etc.

Former UA player and assistant coach Josh Pastner said he is excited about Livengood targeting Miller as the person who will try to carry on the legacy left by Lute Olson.

“Sean is a good friend and even better coach,” Pastner said. “He is a super hire.”

Pastner did not comment on whether he would join Miller’s staff because of his recent move to Kentucky and the preliminary status right now of Miller’s reported hire at Arizona. As is the norm with any coaching hire, the new coach usually brings someone from his existing staff for familiarity reasons. Reggie Geary, who has continued to recruit for Arizona despite its tenuous situation, has let it be known he wants to be on the next UA staff.

What Arizona fans can expect from Miller:

• A departure from Olson’s transition-style basketball into a more disciplined half-court game with an emphasis on defense. The Musketeers this season allowed the opposition to shoot just 37.4 percent from the field. Miller has shown a propensity for recruiting bruising 6-foot-9 type players who play physical around the basket. Xavier ranked fifth in the nation with an 8.8 rebounding margin.
• One misnomer about Xavier basketball under Miller, however, is that Xavier is not a high-scoring team. The Musketeers averaged 71.7 points per game this season, which rivals Arizona’s 72.3 a game.
• Miller has always preached team balance and has rarely depended on one or two standouts, as the UA has been prone to do in recent years. Nine of Xavier’s players averaged at least 12.8 minutes a game this last season. Miller utilizes his bench frequently from the first five minutes of the game all the way to the end.
• As part of that team philosophy, and building without a superstar, Miller’s five recruiting classes have normally included 3-star recruits on a 5-star scale. There have been occasional 4-star recruits, as rated by Rivals.com, but only four out of 15. He has never inked a 5-star recruit. Miller has a 4-star recruit who verbally committed to Xavier but he is only a junior and will not be able to sign until the November signing period. He is power forward Jordan Latham, 6-8, 210, from Baltimore. Miller does not have any recruits who have verbally committed for the spring signing period, which starts April 15. One highly rated recruit who has not signed with a college yet — 6-6 swingman Victor Rudd, of Henderson (Nev.) by way of Fontana (Calif.) — has listed Arizona and UNLV as his favorites. Rudd, however, was kicked off his Findlay Prep team for disciplinary reasons last month, and it’s uncertain whether he’s on track to complete his academic requirements.
  
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Xavier coach Sean Miller flew to New Mexico for an impromptu meeting with UA athletic director Jim Livengood and president Robert Shelton on Sunday thinking all along that he was staying with the Musketeers.

It was up to Livengood and Shelton to change his mind. Apparently, they tried their best, offering Miller a significant pay increase from his close to $1 million contract at Xavier. But after thinking things through, and knowing he can coach a team to his first Final Four next year, Miller has let some close to him know he is staying at the Jesuit school in Cincinnati, according to sources.

Apparently, Miller, 40, has wrestled with the idea of coaching at Arizona, which he believes to be one of the elite programs in the country, versus continuing his crusade for a Musketeer program that has come one game away from the Final Four twice in the last six years.

He let it be known after Xavier was eliminated in the Sweet 16 that he had no desire to leave the program. Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski, as recently as Saturday afternoon, said that Miller had indicated to him that he was not interested in the Arizona job. Apparently, after consulting with his wife Amy and other family, he decided to take the private jet flight supplied by UA booster Paul Weitman to meet with Livengood and Shelton as a fact-finding mission.

The meeting was held in Albuquerque because Shelton is attending the Association for the Tutoring Profession Convention there, according to sources. Livengood and Shelton also used the meeting as a barometer to see how interested Miller was in becoming the next Arizona coach. It appears that they left the meeting not very confident. They got the feeling that Miller had Xavier more on his mind rather than being excited about the opportunity in Tucson.

WHERE DOES THE UA GO FROM HERE?

• Reggie Theus: The former New Mexico State coach has “no chance”, the exact words used by Livengood when he talked to Arizona Daily Star columnist Greg Hansen this week. If Livengood has to retract that statement by interviewing Theus now, it will do even more damage to his image.
• Josh Pastner: Pastner told me Saturday morning that he did not think he will get the job. He considered himself a longshot because Livengood is only targeting somebody with head coaching experience. Livengood might have to abandon his preconceived agendas at this point and listen to what some former UA players and staffers at McKale Center want: Give Pastner a chance. Look at the coaches in Monday’s national title game: Michigan State’s Tom Izzo coached 14 years under Jud Heathcote before he was given a chance. North Carolina’s Roy Williams is back at his alma mater, where he coached under Dean Smith for 10 seasons. Pastner coached under his primary mentor, Lute Olson, for more than a decade.
• Jim Boylen: The Utah coach has an extended NBA background and learned some of his craft under Izzo at Michigan State. Livengood would be smart not to go in this direction. The last image in the minds of UA fans was Boylen getting humbled by Russ Pennell and Mike Dunlap in the Utes’ first-round loss of the NCAA tournament. If Livengood can’t win the press conference now, he must at least try not to lose it.
• Oliver Purnell: You can forget about Purnell as well. The Clemson coach, widely respected in the ACC, is 0-5 in NCAA tournament games in his career. Livengood will not go there.
• Frank Haith: He might be the darkhorse now. CBS analyst Seth Davis a couple of months ago suggested Haith is interested in the UA position. The young Miami (Fla.) coach is a solid recruiter, who attracted the likes of Rodney Rodgers to Wake Forest and LaMarcus Aldridge to Texas when he was an assistant at both places. If he was hired by Livengood this week, Haith, 43, a native of Queens, N.Y., will undoubtedly get a couple of recruits immediately simply because of his connections. Haith has thrived in difficult situations. Miami was predicted to finish last in the ACC in the 2007-08 season coming off an injury-scarred season, but he coached the Hurricanes to the second round of the NCAA tournament with a 23-11 record. Haith was a finalist for the Naismith National Coach of the Year Award after his first season at Miami in 2004. The Hurricanes were coming off two straight losing seasons and picked to finish last in the ACC. He coached them to the postseason for the first time in three seasons.
• P.J. Carlesimo: The former Seton Hall coach, who led the Pirates to the 1989 NCAA title game, probably should have never tested the NBA waters. Now because he did, and was decidedly unsuccessful, his hiring by Livengood would be met with skepticism by UA fans. Also, Carlesimo has not had to recruit in 20 years and knows nothing about the West coast talent.
• Avery Johnson: The “Little General” as he is called would be a good fit at Point Guard U. having been a successful point guard in the NBA and college. His coaching was not too bad either. He was fired in 2008 by the Dallas Mavericks despite winning 73 percent of his games (194-70) in four seasons. He has the personality to win Tucson over in a second, not to mention recruits and their parents. He was named the 2006 NBA Coach of the Year. Did you know he holds the NCAA record with 13.3 assists per game as a senior at Southern University in 1988? That’s right: 13.3 assists per game. Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was forced to eat the last three years of Johnson’s contract, which paid him approximately $4 million a year. He has never coached an NCAA game, but traditionally coaches who have worked in the NBA and NCAA fare a lot better in the college game (Lon Kruger, John Calipari, Rick Pitino and Mike Montgomery to name a few).
• Lon Kruger: UNLV was in shambles before Kruger came around in 2004. The Rebels became just another program after Jerry Tarkanian was forced out because of NCAA infractions. They suffered through some below-average coaching efforts by Rollie Massimino, Bill Bayno and Charlie Spoonhour. Kruger, practically a businessman coaching college basketball, had the UNLV program organized and efficient in only three years. UNLV won 30 games in 2007 and went to the Sweet 16. The Rebels won 27 games in 2008 after losing four seniors from the 2007 team and went to the second round. UNLV failed to go to the NCAA tournament this season, but it did have another 20-win season and it beat the eventual No. 1 seed of the NCAA tournament, Louisville, on the road at Freedom Hall. Some concerns: Kruger has insisted his work is not complete yet at UNLV, so there’s a chance for another embarrassing rejection, and he had open-heart surgery two years ago. Doctors have given him a full bill of health but it’s a concern nonetheless.
• Randy Bennett: The Lorenzo Romar protege is familiar with West coast recruiting and he just coached the Gaels to a 28-win season. Like Purnell, he has yet to win an NCAA tournament game but he has been at St. Mary’s for only eight years. Bennett likes to play in transition. He was able to land future NBA point guard Patty Mills, one of five Australian-born players Bennett has recruited to Moraga, Calif. The knock on Bennett is he has not been able to solve Gonzaga’s dominance in the West Coast Conference and he’s had almost a decade to try.

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Xavier coach Sean Miller met with UA athletic director Jim Livengood this morning in Albuquerque to discuss contract terms and other aspects associated with the Wildcats’ head coaching vacancy.

The meeting was intended to be without public knowledge, sources said, away from Miller’s home in Cincinnati, Tucson, and Detroit, site of the Final Four. Livengood wanted to avoid a similar situation to what happened with USC coach Tim Floyd in which he was spotted in Tucson although he never went to the UA campus.

However, itinerary information about the private jet, owned by prominent UA booster Paul Weitman (Lute Olson’s best friend), provided to Miller is available on flightaware.com.

Miller, after talking to his wife and some of his peers, called Livengood last night and agreed to take the next step in the process. Miller did inform Xavier athletic director Mike Bobinski last night as well about the first official meeting between him and Livengood.

Similar to the Floyd situation, Livengood will ask Miller to make a decision in a 24-hour window. According to sources, Miller took the trip with the mindset that he is staying at Xavier and it was up to Arizona to change his mind. He has indicated he has a special bond with his returning players. Xavier will likely be ranked in the Top 10 heading into next season.

Bruce Pascoe of The Arizona Daily Star is reporting that Livengood is offering a package worth $13 million over five years, which a source confirmed is a reasonable estimation. Livengood generally signs a coach in a five-year window and he is offering close to $2 million a year. The Arizona Board of Regents still must approve what ever package is offered to Miller, but nobody in the UA athletic department believes that will be an issue.

If Miller agrees to those terms by tomorrow, he will become the highest paid coach in UA history. Olson’s base salary was in the neighborhood of $1.1 million.

Miller, 40, will decide on the UA job without visiting Tucson and the Wildcats’ facilities. That is not out of the norm. John Calipari accepted the Kentucky job without visiting Lexington first in the interview process, for example.

If Miller accepts the UA’s offer, a press conference will be scheduled in Tucson either Monday or Tuesday, most likely Tuesday, according to sources.

The first day of the April signing period is April 15. Xavier, which has most of its players returning next year, does not have any recruits who are unsigned for next season. Miller does have two high school juniors who have verbally committed to the Xavier program for the 2010-11 season, both power forwards: Jordan Latham of Baltimore and J.D. Weatherspoon of Columbus, Ohio.

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