Chris Del Conte rejected Saddle Sean Miller, his new recruit, to lead the Texas basketball program, and won the total to film in his first year.
The Longhorns athletic director is too familiar to fall into such a trap. If he publicly name Miller’s target and does not reach it, the Public Opinion Court will use it as a weapon against him.
Instead, Del Conte has kept her goals for Miller’s debut campaign much more vague. When asked what qualifies as a successful first year for Miller, Del Conte simply said he wanted to see improvements.
“Whatever it is,” Del Conte said after Miller’s introductory press conference on Tuesday. “We don’t know what roster you have. That’s a lot. For me, improvement is establishing his culture. His identity, how he proceeds with it. I don’t put victory and loss like you do.
The barometer of successful on-court early in your coaching tenure has changed over time. In basketball, especially in basketball, which is more adaptable than what soccer coaches deal with, the roster building has moved from traditional recruiting and development methods. It is now an annual exercise.
“The program needs to be built with one person at a time,” Miller said Tuesday. “I don’t know that anyone is exempt from what I said. I think how that works best at the University of Texas might have been the worst at Xavier.”
Miller arrived at Xavier before the 2023-24 season, winning 27 games and finishing second in the Big East, reaching the Sweet 16, which turned out to be the best season of his three-year tenure.
Since the NCAA introduced a law in 2021 that allowed athletes to be transferred without a season, 52 permanent head coaches have been hired by the Power Conference Agency. From that group, 23 people reached the NCAA Tournament in their first season. This is about 44%. Within the SEC, the success rate for the same period is approximately 54%.
Miller’s actions over the next few days and weeks will determine whether he will land on the right side of that stat. The transfer portal opened on Monday for college basketball players. The starting gun appeared in the annual race, maintaining and acquiring talent.
Multiple times on Tuesday, Miller showed confidence that Texas would provide him with the NIL resources he needed to compete in that market.
But does Miller choose to build a roster that can compete quickly? Or will he play a long game?
“For me, some of that is making sure how we build our roster is the best interest in winning the SEC and competing for a championship,” he said. “I think we need to hire the right high school players and balance them out. Sometimes they can come this year and develop and advance like TRE (Johnson), who can become the best player in the SEC as a freshman.
“When it comes to transfers, I think there are many forms of them, sometimes a year, sometimes more than a year.
Contact Texas insider David Eckert by email at deckert@gannett.com. Follow American-Statesman on Facebook and explain X in detail. Your subscription allows for this kind of work. With this incredible offer, you’ll get access to all the best content.
