When Arizona scheduled a board meeting this afternoon to discuss Sean Miller’s contract, the widespread belief was that Miller would be an ex-coach by nightfall. Miller just held a news conference and said he plans to coach the Wildcats the rest of this season, beginning with tonight’s game against Stanford.
An angry Miller called the ESPN report of a taped phone conversation between him and the former agent runner Christian Dawkins involving a possible payment of $100,000 to then-recruit Deandre Ayton “inaccurate, false and defamatory.” Whoa, Nellie.
In his presser – he took no questions – Miller said he had never paid a player and that he’d never met Dawkins until after Ayton, now a Wildcat freshman, had committed to the school. He also said that the only time anyone ever mentioned paying a player, “I did not agree to it, it never happened and that player did not come to the University of Arizona.”
In an un-bylined report after Miller’s media session, ESPN offered this: “Miller and Dawkins had multiple conversations about Ayton, sources told ESPN. When Dawkins asked Miller if he should work with assistant coach Emanuel ‘Book’ Richardson to finalize their agreement, Miller told Dawkins he should deal directly with him when it came to money, the sources said.”
Then: “ESPN stands by its reporting on Miller and the FBI investigation.”
It isn’t as if the report of the phone call was the first mention of Arizona in this far-ranging case. Richardson was indicted by the Feds last fall and is facing trial; he has since been fired by Arizona. That the school is sticking with Miller – who didn’t coach Saturday’s game at Oregon and hasn’t overseen practice since – tells us his employer is now willing to believe his claims of innocence.
Arizona is standing by its coach. ESPN is standing by its reporting. And somewhere out there, there’s a tape of a phone call – or there isn’t.
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