New Texas Longhorns Coach Sean Miller Seeks to Reach New Heights

New Texas Longhorns coach Sean Miller is incredibly accomplished, bringing nearly 500 career wins and 13 NCAA Tournament appearances to Austin.

However, there are still two accomplishments he's yet to achieve: reach a Final Four, and by extension, win a national championship.

As the 56-year-old begins the next chapter of his coaching career, those two are absolutely at the top of his to-do list.

"I've been a head coach for 20 years," Miller said at Tuesday's introductory press conference. "There's only been one coach that's been to more Elite Eights without reaching a Final Four than me, and that's Hall of Famer John Chaney."

Texas Longhorns coach Sean Miller — The University of Texas announces Sean Miller as their new men's basketball coach Tuesday, March 25, 2025. | Mikala Compton/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Miller, who had two stints at Xavier (2004-09, 2022-25) surrounding a 12-year run at Arizona (2009-21), has had some great teams over the years but has struggled to get over the hump. He has reached the Elite Eight four times - once at Xavier and thrice at Arizona - but lost each time. Probably the most heartbreaking losses came in 2014 and 2015 when his Arizona teams earned No. 1 seeds but lost to Wisconsin both times.

Chaney, who coached at Temple from 1982-2006, led his team to the Elite Eight five times without a Final Four appearance.

"I've always operated from this perspective," Miller said. "You have to beat the door down and knock at it a number of times to eventually punch it through. And I'm looking forward to uniting with the resources at this amazing institution in place here at the University of Texas and breaking through - not once - but multiple times, competing for Southeastern Conference championships and being a perennially great program, like so many other great programs at this university are right now."

The Longhorns are starved for a Final Four appearance of their own. They've made it that far just three times and two of them were in the 1940s. The third one came in 2003 when they lost to a Carmelo Anthony-led Syracuse team that would go on to win the national championship.

At Texas, the expectation is to compete for championships year in and year out. That expectation usually applies to football and baseball, but Miller and athletic director Chris Del Conte clearly want it to apply to basketball as well.

"Coming here gives us the best opportunity to compete for and win national championships," Miller said.