The school announced Sunday it had fired Rodney Terry after nearly three seasons in charge. Terry took over as Texas’ head coach eight games into the 2022-23 season when Chris Beard was suspended and ultimately fired for a domestic violence accusation that ultimately resulted in dropped charges. Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte considered hiring […]
The school announced Sunday it had fired Rodney Terry after nearly three seasons in charge. Terry took over as Texas’ head coach eight games into the 2022-23 season when Chris Beard was suspended and ultimately fired for a domestic violence accusation that ultimately resulted in dropped charges.
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte considered hiring Miller two years ago but Terry’s run to the Elite Eight convinced him otherwise.During that season, Arizona vacated wins from earlier in his tenure because of the FBI’s corruption investigation into college basketball. As part of that investigation, Miller was accused of being involved in then-illicit payments to make sure DeAndre Ayton went to Arizona instead of Kansas.Texas went 19-15 overall in 2024-25 and was 6-12 in the SEC. That came after a 21-13 season and a No. 7 seed in the 2024 NCAA tournament a year ago in the Longhorns’ final season in the Big 12. Texas beat Colorado State in the first round of the tournament but then lost by four to Tennessee in the second round.
That tournament run was enough to get Terry promoted to be the team’s permanent coach. But Texas couldn’t sustain that success, even though the school signed five-star prospect Tre Johnson ahead of the 2024-25 season. Johnson was the team’s leading scorer with nearly 20 points per game.
Arizona made the NCAA tournament seven times in Miller’s tenure, but the Wildcats missed the tournament in both 2019 and 2021. At Xavier, the Musketeers have made the NCAA tournament in six of Miller’s eight seasons and lost to Illinois in the first round on Friday night after beating Texas.Texas scraped its way into the 2025 NCAA tournament as one of the last teams in the field. The Longhorns were a somewhat surprising inclusion in the field, but lost to Miller’s Xavier on Wednesday night in the First Four.
At Texas, Miller will be tasked with succeeding at a resource-rich program where big success has been hard to come by over the past two decades. Texas hasn’t been back to the Final Four since 2003 and has lost on the first weekend of the tournament 13 times since then. That Elite Eight trip in 2023 was just the fourth time Texas had advanced to the Sweet 16 since the 2003 team led by T.J. Ford fell to eventual national champion Syracuse in the semifinals.
The Longhorns fell 86-80 after leading by eight at halftime. Texas led by 10 with 13:04 to go, but Xavier chipped away at the lead and moved ahead with just over five minutes remaining.
“I am so appreciative to have served the University of Texas and our men’s basketball program for 13 seasons,” Terry said in a statement. “It was a dream of mine to be the head coach of the Longhorns, and I’ve been able to live that dream. I want to thank all of our coaches and current and former players who not only helped us win a lot of games, but more importantly represented this great university in a first-class manner.”Miller just finished the third season of his second stint at Xavier. He returned to the school ahead of the 2022-23 season after a year out of college basketball. Miller was at Arizona from 2009 through 2021, but was fired at the end of the 2021 season.A disappointing first season in the SEC has led Texas on what appears to be a very brief search for a new men’s basketball coach.
