Former Indiana Coach Archie Miller Gets Hired at Rhode Island; Saves IU Buyout Money
Former Indiana basketball coach Archie Miller got hired by Rhode Island on Friday, getting back to work after being fired by Indiana last March after four difficult seasons in Bloomington.
That's good news, because it saves Indiana a lot of money.
Miller went 67-58 and 33-45 in Big Ten games at Indiana and never led the team to the NCAA Tournament in his four years but, to be fair, probably would have made the 2020 event that was canceled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
He signed a seven-year deal at Indiana in 2017, hired by former athletic director Fred Glass. He was fired after four seasons, and had a $10.3 million buyout coming, every dollar remaining on his contract. New Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson got two donors to commit to paying the entire buyout, which is paid out annually.
He was paid approximately $3.4 million this season. The $1.4 million he will make at Rhode Island each of the next two years will offset a portion of what Indiana owes him, saving the Hoosiers around $2.8 million.
Miller's deal at Rhode Island is dramatically less the first two years, likely because of the buyout terms at Indiana. He makes $1.4 million the first two years, but $1.9 million the final three years, plus incentives.
“My family and I are beyond excited for the opportunity lead the men’s basketball program at the University of Rhode Island,” Miller said in a press release. “President Marc Parlange and the Director of Athletics Thorr Bjorn are aligned in a strong vision for URI Basketball, which was everything for us. URI is a diverse, world-class university. We are excited to be a part of it in every day.''
“URI is synonymous with success on the basketball court. It hasn’t been just one coach. It has been several who have led this program into March Madness. Jim Harrick, Al Skinner, Tom Penders and most recently Dan Hurley all had their runs. I want to credit David Cox as well. He was the Head Coach but also a pivotal part of the last two teams that went and advanced in back-to-back NCAA tournaments.
“I want our Rams fanbase to know we are going to do things in a certain way on and off the court. In transition, it doesn’t always take off smooth. WE will IMPROVE ... WE will be good again ... and then WE will be REALLY GOOD! Honoring the process takes time, but we will be relentless in our quest to develop an identity that all of New England will be proud of.”
Rhode Island plays in the Atlantic-10 Conference, which Miller is familiar with. He coached at A-10 member Dayton for six years from 2011 through 2017, and made four NCAA Tournaments there before coming to Indiana.
He was 139-63 at Dayton, and was 68-34 in A-10 play. He will now be the highest-paid coach in Rhode Island history. He will be introduced in a Monday morning press conference on campus.
Miller is replacing David Cox, who was fired last week after four years. there. They were 15-16. this year, and 5-12 in the Atlantic 10. Rhode Island has reached 10 NCAA Tournaments, most recently under Danny Hurley in 2017 and 2018.
“We say it all the time that we’re a basketball school,” Rhode Island athletic director Thorr Bjorn said. “Now we can tell people that we actually are acting like it at a high level.”
Miller, 43, reached the Elite Eight with the Flyers in 2014, the first of four consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. He spent the last year as an analyst with The Field of 68, a digital college basketball media entity.
According to the Providence Journal, Bjorn reached out to Miller through former St. Bonaventure athletic director Tim Kenney, who is a close friend. Bjorn and Miller spoke extensively by phone on Sunday and began to discuss the framework of a deal.
Miller was put in contact with a pair of significant URI donors earlier in the week — former CVS president Tom Ryan and Milwaukee Bucks co-owner Mike Fascitelli. Bjorn and Parlange discussed an increased investment at the university level that put the Rams on par with programs in the conference like the Flyers, VCU and Saint Louis. Parlange ultimately agreed to fund the additional spending within the university budget and not through alternative means like a loan from the URI Foundation.
“This can’t be, ‘Hey coach, these are things we’re hoping to do,’ ” Bjorn said. “It needs to be, ‘These are things we’re doing.’ Marc understood that and made those commitments at the university level. Now we’re able to go out and do something really special. That means building the program up and going to compete at the national level. That’s where we all want to be
“You have a lot of teams spending a lot of money to do great things, and you know who those teams are,” Bjorn said. “We need to be one of them. That’s what the expectation is and that’s where we need to be.”
Rhode Island thinks they've hit a home run with Miller, who's had great success at the A-10 level.
“I will cheer for him like I do every single year except for one game,” said Providence coach Ed Cooley, who happens to be a close family friend of Miller and is currently playing in the NCAA Tournament. One of Miller's former players at Indiana, Al Durham, plays for Cooley at Providence.. “I hope they’re absolutely horrendous when they play us, and I told him that as I talked to him on the phone today.
“I’m very excited for him. I’m very excited for the URI fan base.”
