Keeping It Heel
Fansided

UNC Basketball: Wes Miller hired as head coach of Cincinnati Bearcats

By Blake Cockrum

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 22: Head coach Wes Miller of the UNC-Greensboro Spartans looks on during a college basketball game against the Georgetown Hoyas at the Verizon Center on December 22, 2016 in Washington, DC. The Hoyas won 78-56. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 22: Head coach Wes Miller of the UNC-Greensboro Spartans looks on during a college basketball game against the Georgetown Hoyas at the Verizon Center on December 22, 2016 in Washington, DC. The Hoyas won 78-56. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

Former UNC basketball standout Wes Miller has accepted the Cincinnati Bearcats’ vacant head coaching position.

Shortly after it was reported that UNC-Greensboro head coach Wes Miller was emerging as a “serious candidate” for the Cincinnati Bearcats’ head coaching position, the former Tar Heel sharpshooter and two-time SoCon Head Coach of the Year accepted the job.

Miller, 38, was the head coach of his hometown Spartans for 10 seasons, compiling a record of 185-135. He won no less than 21 games in each of the last five seasons, and his teams had four first-place finishes in the Southern Conference over the past decade.

He’s taken UNC-Greensboro to the NCAA Tournament on two occasions, the most recent being during the 2021-22 season. The 13th-seeded Spartans lost to the No. 4 Florida State Seminoles in the Round of 64, but put up a heck of a fight in a game that wasn’t decided until the waning minutes in the second half.

https://twitter.com/GoBearcatsMBB/status/1382492819651182593

Miller, who has been talked about in a number of recent head coaching searches, was a finalist for the North Carolina job just last week. That was prior to the hiring of UNC assistant coach Hubert Davis, who ultimately won the job over a number of highly qualified candidates, including Miller and a handful of other former Tar Heels.

Cincinnati made nine straight NCAA Tournament appearances under former head coach Mick Cronin, who left the Bearcats in 2019 for the same position at UCLA. But after a 12-11 campaign this season under John Brannen, including an 8-6 mark in American Athletic Conference play, Cincinnati athletic director John Cunningham decided it was time for a change. Now, less than a week later, Cunningham and the Bearcats have their man.

Terms of the agreement are yet to be released, but expect it to be a long-term deal worth a substantial pay increase from his former post in Greensboro.

Next. Tar Heels going after Creighton transfer?. dark

For all the latest on Wes Miller, and the UNC basketball program, check back with Keeping It Heel.

Home/UNC Basketball