A second-round Big 12 Tournament collapse against UCF proved to be the fatal final mistake for Wes Miller’s career at Cincinnati. Bearcats athletic director John Cunningham has decided to fire Miller, a source told CBS Sports, two days removed from UC’s 66-65 overtime loss to the Knights at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
Cincinnati led UCF by eight points with a little more than two minutes remaining and spilled away the victory, ultimately blowing its last possession both in regulation and overtime to fall to 18-15 and end their chances on the bubble.
The plan is for the formal separation to go official on April 1, when Miller’s buyout drops from $9.9 million to $4.7 million, according to a source. There is no formal announcement of Miller’s firing expected in the upcoming days.
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Miller’s record through five seasons was 100-74. After the game, Miller said the following when asked by CBS Sports about the state of the program and why he believes he deserves a sixth season.
“I’m really proud. Really, really proud,” Miller said. “What we’ve done here: took the job while there was a lawsuit going on with the previous coach. Our players are getting subpoenaed on game days in Year 1, NIL, the transfer portal happened, and a move to the Big 12. I’m really, really proud. We have never been anything but competitive, and we’ve been on the bubble multiple years. I’m really proud of the work that we’ve done. We’re Cincinnati. We need to be in the NCAA Tournament. I understand that as much as anybody, but we are in the right direction of building something — we built something that I believe is now sustainable.”
Unfortunately for Miller, he will not get the chance. Cunningham’s decision is in line with what sources expressed a few weeks ago: The Bearcats would need to make the NCAA Tournament in order to save Miller’s job. He went 0 for 5 when it came to qualifying for the Big Dance.
The UC fan base has been aching to be consistently competitive on a national level, but splitting from Miller will not assure anything, alas. The Big 12 is an extremely tough league to adapt to and it’s going to take the right hire and the right time to get the program back into the national landscape. Utah State‘s Jerrod Calhoun is the immediate frontrunner for the vacancy, sources said. Calhoun went to Cincinnati and is 52-14 in the past two seasons with the Aggies.
If Calhoun winds up being the guy, that’s going to take some time: Utah State has at least a week before its season is over, as the Aggies are safely in the NCAAs and a projected No. 8 seed in Friday’s bracketology forecast.
