A bill came due Sunday for the Arizona Wildcats' surprising Elite Eight NCAA tournament run.
And for head coach Sean Miller, it wasn't just about seeing a staffer get hired away. It was also about losing his brother.
Archie Miller, 32, was named Dayton's head coach, leaving Arizona just two years after arriving as associate head coach to help Sean turn around the Wildcats.
"That's the bittersweet part," Sean Miller said, "and sometimes you ask yourself, 'Where did the last 24 months go?' From that perspective, it's hard."
The easy part for Sean Miller will be promoting assistant James Whitford to associate head coach - "I would assume James would take over because he's been with me the longest and he does an excellent job," Miller said - and hiring what he said will be an assistant coach from outside the program.
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No longer will Sean Miller be able to look across the room or bench to talk with his brother, a closeness that came in especially handy in the hectic months after their arrival in Tucson.
"We just finished two whirlwind years and you would expect you could (relax) this spring," Archie Miller said. "It was so serious, and so fast, you can look at the first 18 months as being something of a blur."
At the same time, Archie Miller said his two years at Arizona were his most memorable coaching experience - even after he spent time working with Darrin Horn at Western Kentucky, Herb Sendek at ASU and Thad Matta at Ohio State.
"A guy asked me, 'What's your biggest basketball moment?' and it wasn't a moment but the experience of a year at Arizona," Archie Miller said. "Watching Sean lay the foundation, watching the recruiting methods and spending time with the players and watching that all carry over. To finish where we finished this year was one of the most gratifying experiences of my career."
The Wildcats success was also a clincher of sorts for Dayton AD Tim Wabler, who said he long ago had Archie on his "short list" of candidates in case ex-Flyers coach Brian Gregory left, which he did last week for Georgia Tech.
"Whenever you see success that quickly in a turnaround, it certainly gets your attention," Wabler said. "He's been under three other coaches: Thad Matta, Herb Sendek and Darrin Horn. So all those things matter. He's coming form some very good coaching staffs."
Sean Miller said his brother particularly grew while spending the past four seasons at Ohio State and Arizona.
"And the greatest compliment I can say is he's very well-rounded," Sean Miller said.
"He's not one of those guys who's just a basketball coach who doesn't understand the dynamics of the program and the community."
Wabler said he also liked the fact that Miller had strong regional connections, from his years at Western Kentucky and Ohio State, as well having some Eastern ties from his days as a player and assistant at North Carolina State - and the national connections he developed at UA.
Archie never played or coached at Dayton's chief rival, Xavier, where Sean Miller had a successful five-year run before coming to Arizona. Archie joked about it at his press conference Sunday, telling the locals that Sean was actually "not a bad guy," and clearly knew the turf he was getting into at Dayton.
"He had a real good handle on it right away and that made him an easier pick," said Wabler, who first interviewed Archie for four hours in Houston on Wednesday. "We met in Cincinnati (on Saturday) to iron out a couple of things. We wanted to make sure Dayton was what he thought it was."
The two sides came to an agreement late Saturday evening, exactly a week after Archie returned with the Wildcats from the West Regional final in Anaheim, Calif.
"You never really know when it's going to happen," Sean Miller said. "But it's a sign that we have a good program. The more success you have, the more things like this will happen. But you hate to lose Arch."
