‘He’s our guy.’ Sean Miller era began with Xavier basketball 20 years ago today

Twenty years ago today, on July 8, 2004, Xavier named Sean Miller as its next head basketball coach to replace Thad Matta, who left the Musketeers for Ohio State. Miller would lead the Muskies for five seasons before heading to Arizona. He returned in 2022.

Looking back two decades, Dawn Rogers still remembers the enormous test she faced early in her tenure as Xavier’s athletic director.

Rogers, now the Deputy Director of Athletics/Internal Affairs at SMU, was named Xavier’s AD on May 21, 2004. At the time, Xavier men’s basketball was at its highest point as a program coming off its first-ever Elite Eight appearance.

That all changed on July 6, 2004, when Xavier head coach Thad Matta told Rogers he would visit Ohio State University to interview for its vacant head coaching position.

“We had a really long conversation that day about what it would look like at Ohio State. It was so late in the season and most of the positions had opened and closed.” Rogers said. “I remember thinking about how quickly this was happening in my very young time as an athletic director surrounded by tremendous resources and people at Xavier.”

Matta was on the search committee that picked Rogers to replace Mike Bobinski as AD. It was initially top priority to keep him happy with the Musketeers, now replacing him took center stage.

Dawn Rogers was named Xavier’s Athletic Director on May 21, 2004.

‘There was just this great comfort in Sean.’

The next day was a whirlwind that began at 4:30 a.m., when Matta left his Loveland home for Lunken Airport and a short flight to Columbus. Media followed the Chrysler Pacifica that was driving Matta and then-OSU Athletic Director Andy Geiger to Schottenstein Center, then to Ohio State President Karen A. Holbrook’s home.

Xavier Musketeers head coach Sean Miller calls out a play in the second half of the NCAA Big East Conference basketball game between the Xavier Musketeers and the Creighton Bluejays at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati on Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024….

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/hes-guy-sean-miller-era-020048749.html

Author : Cincinnati.com | The Enquirer

Publish date : 2024-07-08 02:00:48

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