On Monday, Indiana officially introduced Archie Miller as its new head coach. Here's what other local and national media members had to say about the hire.
· Gregg Doyel of The Indianapolis Star says don't worry IU fans, Archie Miller will get right to work. "The right guy has been hired," he wrote. "You don’t have to believe it because I’m telling you. You don’t have to believe it at all. You can be like some blowhards and tough guys and bemoan the good old days being ignored by Fred Glass, who they say went out and hired a younger Tom Crean. You can do that.
"But only if you weren’t watching Miller on Monday. Only if you weren’t listening."
· Eric Crawford of WDRB asks if the Miller hire can return IU back to its glory days. "He was hailed by many as, you guessed it, a 'home run,'" Crawford wrote. "He doesn’t quite bring the resume Crean brought. But resumes aren’t everything.
"Miller was outstanding in his introductory news conference. He embraced the expectations. He reprised the 'inside out' recruiting theme. He talked about leveraging the history. And there’s no doubt he’ll work at it. His work ethic at Dayton has been widely praised."
· Mike DeCourcy of Sporting News says Indiana made the perfect hire. "As introductory press conferences go, this was closer to a coaching clinic than a pep rally," he wrote. "That is the man Indiana hired when it chose Archie Miller as its next men's basketball coach. And that is exactly the man Indiana needs."
· Bob Kravitz of WTHR says Miller appears to be a "no nonsense" type of guy. "Somebody should have told Archie Miller he didn't have a game to coach Monday," he wrote. "The reason I say that is, he had his game face on throughout his introductory press conference at Assembly Hall, his face pinched, his words precise and to the point, all business and no nonsense. Even when Miller walked in the building to the raucous applause of fans that joined the press conference, he remained stoic, serious as a heart attack, a smile never threatening to crease his lips."
· Pete DiPrimio of The News-Sentinel says Archie looks like the right fit for IU. "Miller wasn't here on Monday afternoon to crack jokes and flash light-up-the-arena smiles," he wrote. "He was as serious and focused as you'd expect a guy to be who had just had the weight of the Hoosier Nation placed on his shoulders.
"That's OK. You don't make Final Fours and win national basketball championships with levity or showing your teeth."
· Tony Kornheiser of ESPN's "Pardon The Interruption" made a short note on Miller's seven-year contract: "That’s a long period of time at a school where there is more pressure than any other school in the country, other than Kentucky – or at least as much as any other school.”
· Sports Illustrated says Miller was the best hire IU could have made. "Miller, 38, is the top coach in the sport under the age of 40," they wrote. "He went 139-63 over six seasons at Dayton, including four consecutive trips to the NCAAs and one Elite Eight. His teams play with actuarial precision and guard like their per diem depends on it. And Miller, more bland than brash, managed to turn Dayton into a juggernaut with little drama or attention drawn to himself."
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