Archie Miller of Dayton is the Hoosiers’ New Basketball Coach

PHILADELPHIA– It is hard to criticize Indiana’s decision to hire Archie Miller of Dayton as the Hoosiers’ new basketball coach. The 38-year old Miller built a pristine reputation at Dayton. He comes from a coaching family and is considered the best young coach under 40 in the profession. He has won 69 percent of his games and improved on his Atlantic 10 finish in each of the last five years, winning the regular season championship this year with a roster filled with players from Ohio, Illinois and Michigan. Miller, a one-time Ohio State assistant, coached the Fliers to four NCAA tournaments in the past six years and advanced to an coveted Elite 8 in 2014. He knows the Midwest and built an excellent reputation as a recruiter.

Indiana AD Fred Glass obviously wanted Miller. He never even bothered to contact Steve Alford of UCLA, a Hoosier hero from the Bob Knight era who grew up in New Castle, Ind. and was the All American captain of Indiana’s last national championship team in 1987. The Big Ten school instead threw big money at Miller, signing him to a seven year deal worth $3.5 million per year.

Miller was officially introduced at a press conference Monday.

“The reason I’m here, and I really believe this, is the state of Indiana,” he said. “I never talked to one school in my six years at Dayton, other than Indiana. I think that speaks volumes about the power of the brand of basketball.

“I’m a basketball guy. I love the Big Ten. I think it’s excellent, the best coaches, and had the best road venues in college basketball in my time in the league. I was blown away by this place the most. Really, my last impression here was nine years ago, coach Crean’s first year, when things weren’t off to a good start, he inherited something that wasn’t easy to take over. And I remember being in here and feeling the power of this building on that team, and I left saying, ‘I wonder what it’s like in there when they’re good.”

We just hope Miller knows what he’s getting into with the Indiana administration and demanding fan base, that still puts the Hoosiers on the same Mt. Olympus pedestal as Kentucky and Louisville in the basketball cradle and thinks the school should be competing for a spot in the Final Four on a regular basis with local stars in the lineup.

As much as Bob Knight was a lightning rod during his three decades in Bloomington, he was also considered the gold standard for modern day coaches at Indiana. After cycling through successors Mike Davis and Kelvin Sampson for the job, the administration hoped Tom Crean would be the savior who could clean up the mess left by Sampson, a good coach who got involved in too much texting of recruits and was hit with NCAA sanctions. Crean came to Indiana in 2008, having burnished his resume with a 2003 Final Four run at Marquette.

He was the hot young coach, much like Miller. Crean inherited a decimated roster and rebuilt Indiana from the ashes. He won two Big Ten championships in the past five yeas coached the Hoosiers to three Sweet 16 appearances since 2012. Just last year, he coached the Hoosiers to a 27-6 record, won the Big Ten regular season and defeated Kentucky in the round of 32 to advance to a third Sweet 16 since 2012.

But all fame is fleeting.

Crean was fired the day after the Hoosiers n injury plagued 18-16 NIT season that included the season ending loss of sophomore forward O G Anunoby, his best pro prospect, to knee surgery in January and a season ending loss to Georgia Tech. He did not meet the unusually high bar Glass has set for this program and could not escape the fact he had the second lowest winning percentage of any Indiana coach. In an effort to do damage control, the official announcement of his dismissal came out minutes before the start of the NCAA tournament. . “The expectations for Indiana University basketball are to perennially contend for and win multiple Big Ten championships, regularly go deep into the NCAA tournament, and win our next national championship, and more after that,” Glass said.

Miller may be the flavor of the month, but he will not have a long honeymoon. Indiana has statewide support, but patience is in short supply.

Miller’s first priority to salvage this year’s recruiting class. Forward Justin Smith of Stevenson High in Buffalo Grove, Ill. is still on board, but 6-9 four star forward Jordan Tucker from Wheeler, Ga. High, who said Indiana was at the top of his list, said Indiana was no longer on his radar and 6-10 center Clifton Moore of Hatboro Horsham, Pa. High and point guard Al Durham of Berkmar, Ga. High have asked for a release from their letters of intent.

None of those players are from in state and IU alums have grown tired of watching prep stars like guards Zak Irvin, Trevon Bluiett and Gary Harris, forwards Caleb Swanigan, Kris Wilkes and 6-11 Jalen Jackson leave for other destinations. Indiana only had one local starter, guard James Blackmon Jr., on this year’s team. Miller promised to rebuild the pipeline from the inside out. “We have to start inside this state of Indiana, he said, “and we have to start moving outside very slowly, because the footprint is there. The inside out approach means that we have to dedicate ourselves to the high school coaches in this state, the high school talent in this state, the grassroots programs in this state, and they must feel like they’re being dominated by Indiana University.”

A good start would be to obtain a verbal from 6-6 junior guard Romeo Langford, a generational prospect from New Albany, Ind. who has already been offered by Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas and Louisville in addition to the Hoosiers.

Indiana fans need a sign they will be back in the game.