North Carolina showed head coach Hubert Davis the door Tuesday and Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, should check in with Sean Miller.
Surely Miller is in for the long haul in the ATX, but how about we make sure’s all good on the homefront, right, CDC?
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Isn’t that a kick in the shorts? Texas basketball finally finds its groove and then a blue-blood job opens up — not that there is any indication the Tar Heels are stalking Miller to replace Davis, who lost his job five days after the Tar Heels blew a 19-point lead and lost to 11th-seeded VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, its second consecutive early tourney exit.
Texas head coach Sean Miller reacts during the second half in the second round of the NCAA Tournament against Gonzaga, Saturday, March 21, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (Amanda Loman/Associated Press)
MORE CED: Unlikely basketball heroes stepped up vs. Gonzaga
Texas head coach Sean Miller reacts during the second half in the first round of the NCAA college basketball tournament against BYU, Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Portland, Ore. (Amanda Loman/Associated Press)
Meanwhile, Miller has resurrected the Longhorns (21-14) from their comatose finish in the regular season and has the 512 buzzing about a chance to play in an Elite Eight if Texas can take down No. 2 Purdue on Thursday in the coach’s ninth Sweet 16 appearance in 21 tourney appearances.
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Of course he also was the head coach when the Horns were going through their struggles and he owns his role in those tough times. But he deserves credit for keying this turnaround.
And now the Carolina job is vacant.
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No one is saying Miller is taking the first train for Tobacco Road. At 57 years old, he’s probably on his last head coaching stop. He feels like someone who will be in Austin for the next decade or so. That said, if the phone rings and there’s a 919 area code on the screen, he has to take that call. Carolina is a destination job and unquestionably a basketball school, something Texas will never be.
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Carolina is a college basketball blue blood with six national championships and a lineage that includes Hall of Fame players like Michael Jordan and James Worthy. The standard is high and not even Davis, who played there himself and led the program to its last national title game appearance in 2022, was immune from the Turk.
Texas Athletic Director Chris Del Conte watches the Longhorns play in the second inning of the NCAA Tournament Austin Regional game against the Houston Christian Huskies at UFCU Disch-Falk Field in Austin, May 30, 2025. (Sara Diggins / Austin American-Statesman)
He was believed to be safe after leading the Heels to a 24-8 record and a regular-season win over archrival Duke, but two first-round losses in the Big Dance is a basketball death sentence in Chapel Hill.
So what does that have to do with Miller? Probably nothing. The school usually stays within in the powder blue family when it comes to basketball with the last three coaches having played there, but the new hire could come from elsewhere. Florida’s Todd Golden. Iowa State’s TJ Otzelberger, Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd and Alabama’s Nate Oats are some early names being mentioned.
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A look at Sean Miller’s numbers
Davis, who will receive a payout of more than $5 million on his way out the door, was making a modest $3.75 million a year, which ranked only 28th nationally, according to USA TODAY’s coaching database at the end of last season. Miller signed a six-year, $31.8 million deal after Del Conte tabbed him to replace Rodney Terry after last season. Miller makes $4.8 million this year and his salary will go up $200,000 each year through 2031. If he were to leave for another job between now and March 31, his new employer would have to pony up a $6 million buyout.
From all indications, the bag makes Miller is a happy camper in Austin though he would love some Longhorns basketball lovers to dig deeper and help make this program more competitive in the marketplace.
CDC knows the take-no-prisoners approach is the key to a winning athletic department. He’s the same shrewd closer who staked out a cemetery in Snook, just south of College Station, to snag Texas A&M baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle one day after the Aggies finished as the College World Series runners-up.
Texas Longhorns head coach Sean Miller watches the game during the first half of Lone Star Showdown, Jan. 17, 2026 at the Moody Center in Austin. Texas A&M won the game 74-70. (Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman)
He has built a monster coaching roster that’s captured four Learfield Directors Cups in the last five years and with head coaches like Schlossnagle, Miller, football’s Steve Sarkisian and women’s basketball’s Vic Schaefer all stalking their first national titles, the hunger is there to be great.
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This feels like the burgeoning of a new golden era in Texas sports, but for it to match what we witnessed in the early-to-mid 2000s — when the Horns won two College World Series titles under Augie Garrido, a football crown under Mack Brown and appeared in both the men’s and women’s Final Fours in 2003 — championships will have to happen in the major sports.
Winning is everything and in the present era, these schools will do anything to land a coach capable of taking a program to the next level.
Texas has one in Miller.
