Report: Former Indiana Assistant Mike Roberts Hired at Cincinnati

Mike Roberts is going to be reunited with Wes Miller at Cincinnati. The two worked together at UNC-Greeensboro and Roberts, who was bypassed for a coaching job on Mike Woodson's staff, wanted to return to coaching.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Mike Roberts is heading back to the bench. The former Indiana assistant is joining Wes Miller's staff at Cincinnati, according to a tweet from the Stadium's Jeff Goodman.

Roberts, a former Indiana player who was hired by Archie Miller two years to be an assistant coach with the Hoosiers, was not retained by Mike Woodson went he replaced Miller last month. Roberts was asked by Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson to stay around during the transition after Miller was fired on March 15, and he did. After Woodson was hired, Roberts accepted the job of assistant athletic director for basketball administration.

But Roberts still wanted to coach, and when Wes Miller, who was hired two weeks ago at Cincinnati, offered a position back on the bench, Roberts couldn't say no. Roberts used to work for Miller at UNC-Greensboro.

New Cincinnati coach Wes Miller has hired Mike Roberts as his assistant. Roberts was with Miller for eight years as his associate head coach at UNCG before joining Archie Miller’s staff at Indiana a couple years ago.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 26, 2021

Roberts played for Indiana from 2001-2005. Roberts was born in Terre Haute, Ind. and then later played high school basketball in Oregon. He returned to Indiana for college, and was a part of the Hoosiers’ 2002 national championship runner-up team that lost to Maryland in the title game. 

Roberts spent time as an assistant coach at multiple schools, including eight successful seasons at UNC-Greensboro before returning to Indiana as an assistant coach.

After his playing career at Indiana, Roberts served as a graduate assistant coach under Bob Knight at Texas Tech for one year. He went on to coach as an assistant at Rice and California before landing at UNC-Greensboro under Miller. 

Roberts and Miller had three straight 20 wins at Greensboro. The Spartans were the No. 1 overall seed in the NIT during the 2018-2019 season where they won 17 consecutive home games and 11 non-conference victories. 

In 2019, Roberts returned to Indiana to be an assistant under Archie Miller, replacing Ed Schilling, who left the program that year.

When Woodson was hired, he retained assistant coach Kenya Hunter from Miller's staff, but Tom Ostrom was not. Roberts was helpful in the transition, but Woodson had other ideas for the openings.

He hired Dane Fife, a former Indiana player who had a great reputation as a 10-year assistant at Michigan State, and then hired Yasir Rosemond, a former Alabama assistant.