Indiana Basketball: Is Archie Miller the right guy for the Hoosiers?

As Archie Miller enters his third year as Indiana head coach the Hoosiers have yet to make the tournament. So the question remains: Is Miller the right guy to get IU back?

When Indiana fired Tom Crean after the 2016-17 season they went looking for the hot name in the mid-majors. What they came up with was Archie Miller, brother of Sean Miller. He was coming off his fourth straight tournament appearance with the Dayton Flyers, one that included an Elite Eight run in 2014.

Miller was pushing all the right buttons with the Flyers in guiding them to 20+ wins in five of his six years there. The only time they didn’t get to 20 wins was in 2012-13 when they went 17-14. He compiled a 139-63 overall record at Dayton and had them as one of the best mid-majors in the country.

He came to IU with high expectations to turn the Hoosier program around and after leading Indiana to a 16-15 record in his first year and a 6th place finish in the Big Ten the excitement started to rise for a good year in 2018-19. They had played better than most had expected and he was bringing in five-star recruit Romeo Langford.

The Hoosiers faithful was dreaming of the NCAA tournament and after a 12-2 start including a blowout win of Marquette, they seemed to be headed for just that. But a 1-12 stretch derailed those dreams and rumblings of chemistry issues plagued the Hoosiers.

They would make the NIT but an NCAA tournament berth was not in the cards after losing to Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament.

A fanbase that was excited for Miller was now calling for his head. How could he fall from savior to hot seat so fast? Get a fanbase as desperate for a winner as Indiana is and it can happen fast.

So the question still remains is Miller the right guy for the job? The short answer is yes, the longer answer is to wait and see. But either way, the answer should not be no, yet.

Two years is not enough time to judge a coach on if he is the right guy or not. Especially if he hasn’t done anything seriously wrong or gone winless. Miller has done neither of those, unlike his brother at Arizona but that is a different story.

Miller won at Dayton with his type of guys that fit into his system. Hard-nosed players that wanted to get after it on the defensive side. He wasn’t going to get top recruits at Dayton but he won anyway. He had the Flyers playing some very good basketball without the fanfare.

So yes, any team would love top recruits, but some coaches thrive on the lesser-known guys that fit into their coaching philosophy.

The greatest example of that would be what John Beilein did at Michigan. In his first three years with the Wolverines, he had two sub .500 seasons and only one tournament appearance. He would then take Michigan to eight tournaments in his last nine years including two national title games. He rarely did it with top recruits but unheralded guys that fit his system.

Miller seems like another coach like that. Get good players, but better teammates and ones wanting to work hard and play the right way. This year’s teams look like it is loaded with those types of players and could surprise teams this year.

Miller needs to build it his way and not just chase the top names that would disrupt the chemistry of the team (see Romeo Langford). If he can do that, and the Hoosiers have some patience Miller will get these team back up to the top of the Big Ten.

The worst thing Indiana can do is pull the plug quickly and start all over again. Two or three years is definitely not enough to make a decision. Give Miller a chance and you should be happy.