My Two Cents: Scott Dolson Makes Right Call on Archie Miller, With Help From His Friends

Changes needed to be made in the Indiana basketball program after a dismal fourth year under Archie Miller that ended with a 12-15 record and a six-game losing streak. Athletic director Scott Dolson fired him on Monday, despite a massive $10.3 million buyout.

Tom Brew | Mar 15, 2021

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- You have an athletic director at Indiana who's just walked in the door and a university president who's walking out, but when Scott Dolson and Michael A. McRobbie huddled to talk about the future of Indiana basketball last week, they were both on the same page.

It was time for Archie Miller to go.

There was agreement on that. It was Dolson's decision to move on, and McRobbie, who's retiring in June, gave his blessing. But there were also hurdles, too. Miller was just four years in to a seven-year deal that still had a hefty buyout in 2021. The athletic department -- and not the university -- was going to owe Miller $10.3 million in that buyout, basically all the money he would have earned through 2024.

That's a real number, and real dollars.

But here's where we stand with a below-average basketball program and a fan base that was in step that something needed to change. Paying for that huge buyout number had to come from private sources, basically Indiana's wealthiest of boosters -- and Dolson got that done.

Firing Miller couldn't have happened any other way. Not during the middle of a pandemic.

"Given the university’s very tight financial situation in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, private philanthropic funding has been obtained for all transition costs and obligations related to the change in leadership,'' Dolson said in a statement released from the school. "We worked to secure the necessary private support following my recommendation to President McRobbie, ensuring that there would be no charges to the university budget.''

Dolson didn't hesitate to include that private support in his statement on Monday morning, because that in itself might be just as important as firing Miller. From top to bottom, literally no one is happy with the current status of Indiana's blueblood basketball program, and no one really had faith that it was going to get better any time soon under Miller.

So this had to be done. It was the right decision.

And more importantly, it is the right time.

On two occasions in the past year, I've had recruits that Indiana wanted badly tell me that they chose other Big Ten programs over Indiana because they were sure the head coaches would be at their schools, while they weren't sure about Miller. His status, straight from their mouths, was a factor in their decisions.

Miller, who was 67-58 at Indiana and just 33-43 in the Big Ten, and his staff have one of the biggest recruiting budgets in the country, but they've been swinging and missing for a year. Logan Duncomb, a four-star big man from Cincinnati Moeller, is their only recruit in the Class of 2021. He's a good one, but he's the only one.

This season, Indiana finished 12-15 overall and 7-12 in the Big Ten, which was good --or bad -- for 10th in the 14-team league. Miller lost to Purdue twice, and was 0-7 against Indiana's arch rival in four year.

This year a record nine Big Ten teams were selected for the NCAA Tournament, and Indiana wasn't one of them.

Let that sink in for a moment.

Not making the NCAA Tournament simply can't happen at a place like Indiana, not five years in a row.

Since Bob Knight was fired in 2000, Indiana has made the NCAA Tournament only 10 times in 21 years. They have reached the Final Four only once, when they lost to Maryland in the 2002 national title game. That was the only time in six years that coach Mike Davis made it out of the first weekend.

Kelvin Sampson didn't get out of the first weekend either in his first year, and interim coach Dan Dakich couldn't do it either the following year after Sampson was fired in February.

Tom Crean coached at Indiana for nine years and reached the NCAA Tournament four times. He did get to the second weekend three times, but lost in the regional semifinals in 2012, 2013 and 2016.

Indiana fans and administrators demanded more, and that's why Miller was hired. But it clearly didn't work.

So now we move on. There will be big names big and small bandied about here now, and that's all good and well. For Scott Dolson, the first major step is done in firing Miller and being able to pay for it.

The next step will be even bigger. He has to get this right, and it will be how his legacy is defined at Indiana. Sure, there are a thousand things that he has to do to run this athletic program every day, and it's a daunting task. But there is NOTHING more important when you're the athletic director at Indiana than hiring the right basketball coach.

So, batter up.

For now, we also have to remain concerned about the current roster at Indiana as well. Quite frankly, the concerns about a mass exodus are premature and far off base. Most of the guys on the Hoosiers' roster came to Indiana because it's Indiana, not because of Archie Miller, especially the kids who are Hoosier natives.

Many of the freshmen have already commented this afternoon that they're not going anywhere, Trey Galloway, a coach's son, said “I’m staying and I believe in IU basketball and I trust in everything that is going to happen in the future.”

Indiana freshman Trey Galloway to me following the firing of Archie Miller:

“I’m staying and I believe in IU basketball and I trust in everything that is going to happen in the future.”

Good news for IU fans.
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) March 15, 2021

Anthony Leal, last year's Mr. Basketball who got very little playing time under Miller, basically said the same thing. He said he's a "Hoosier for life. Born and raised and that’s never going to change.”

Following the firing of Archie Miller...

Freshman guard Anthony Leals tells me he’s a “Hoosier for life. Born and raised and that’s never going to change.”

Gotta respect that. @anthonyl3al
— Joe Tipton (@TiptonEdits) March 15, 2021

The most important piece to Indiana's talent puzzle is sophomore forward Trayce Jackson-Davis, who led the team in scoring and rebounding this season. He said last Thursday that he was going to take his time with his decision about turning pro or coming back.

Miller's firing really won't have anything to do with him either. He's got NBA potential for sure, but there are still some gaping holes in his game. Because 6-foot-11 center Joey Brunk was hurt all year and Miller hadn't recruited any other depth inside, the slender 6-foot-9 Jackson-Davis was forced to play center all year, and bang with all the 7-footers in the Big Ten.

This just adds another piece to the equation for Jackson-Davis, who said Monday that there's ''still a lot to take in.”

Since there's no rush in making a decision, he'll probably wait to see who gets hired before he pulls the trigger on anything. He could really use another year of college basketball, but only in the right setting where he can expand his game -- and coaches can help make him better.

He and Joey Brunk are great friends, and I'm sure they'll talk a lot, too. Brunk made it clear a few weeks ago when I asked him about his future that he wants to continue playing basketball ''for the foreseeable future.''

There's no reason why they can't play together at Indiana, with the right coaches. So on that, we'll have to see, too.

Don't think for a minute that the clock just starts now for Dolson on this. He's known for a while that firing Miller might have to be an option. He's got his wish list in order, and he will do his due diligence. He will, without question, hire the best possible coach he can for his alma mater.

"While I will not establish a formal search committee, I will consult within the University and with trusted experts in the state and around the country as I seek out and recruit a new coach,'' Dolson said in a statement. "The work to find the next leader of Indiana Basketball will begin immediately, and I will seek a chief executive that I can partner with to reestablish the brand and national presence of Indiana Basketball.”

Please don't ever forget that Dolson has skin in the game here. He was a student manager for Bob Knight in the late 1980s, and he was part of the 1987 national championship team. He knows the importance of basketball at Indiana and -- even more importantly -- he knows the importance of WINNING at Indiana.

The first move was to execute the firing, and be able to pay for it. He's done that. Now he needs to hire the right guy.

And no one knows that more than Scott Dolson.

Related stories on Archie Miller