New IU coach Archie Miller Credits Thad Matta

Archie Miller, after 6 successful years as head coach at Dayton, was introduced Monday as the new head coach at Indiana. Before becoming U.D. head coach, Miller's travels as an assistant brought him to Ohio State from 2007-2009, under Thad Matta. During his remarks in Bloomington, Miller singled out Matta as being one of his greatest coaching influences.

"Thad Matta, down the road at Ohio State, he's a dear friend, he took me in and he changed my perception of what coaching is all about and it's about our players," Miller said. "He's the very, very best in convincing you to how to invest your time in (the players) rather than anything else because if they are enjoying themselves and their experience is going well then you're going to get great productivity back."

Miller made that comment during his opening remarks but Matta's influence came up again later in the press conference when the new IU coach was asked which coaches he worked with had the greatest impact.

"Coach Matta changed my complexion of what college basketball was all about," Miller said. "It used to be all about, 'hey, I'm going to scout all these plays and I'm going to get these guys ready to go,' but his approach was 'you need to spend all that time, not on the plays, you need to spend that time on the players. That was different, and I loved it."

Miller comes to Indiana after leading Dayton to four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances. He gets a 7-year contract worth an average of $3.35 million per season. You can see his full remarks here.


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