Indiana FIRES Archie Miller after just 4 seasons. Bullet dodged by NC State?

Former NC State point guard, Archie Miller, who was in the running for the NC State job 4 years ago, has been canned by Indiana University after just 4 seasons.

BREAKING: Indiana has parted ways with Archie Miller, sources told @Stadium.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 15, 2021

Miller started turning heads when he was a Dayton, taking them to four NCAA Tournaments and winning 2 A-10 regular-season championships. At that time he was regarded as one of the top up-and-comers and NC State took a hard look at him after firing Mark Gottfried. However, it seemed as if he wasn’t as interested as some expected him to be, and Debbie Yow had her heart set on Kevin Keatts.

In hindsight, it looks like NC State dodged a bullet.

Over the past 4 seasons, Archie led Indiana to a 67-58 record, and this year they finished 12-15, good for 10th in the Big Ten. Next year most of the team was going to be back with only one 4-star recruit coming in.

So what went wrong for Archie Miller? Why did Indiana give up on him so quickly?

Did they think his heart was still in Raleigh because of that zoom call (sports illustrated article)?

Or was it the fact that they closed out this season losing 6 straight?

Or was it the fact that he never had a winning record in conference play?

Or was it all of this plus the fact that he seemed to be struggling on the recruiting trail?

No matter what the final straw was, it’s sad to see a former Wolfpacker get fired. At the same time, however, you have to be kind of glad this wasn’t going down here at NC State.

That said, let’s look at how the final 3 NC State candidates have fared over their past 4 years…

Archie Miller (IU)
67-58 record (54%)
Zero NCAA Tournaments

Kevin Keatts (NC State)
78-46 record (63%)
1 NCAA Tournament
2 NIT

Will Wade (LSU)
79-38 record (68%)
2 NCAA Tournaments
1 NIT

PS. Will Wade also got hit with recruiting violations.

So yeah, Archie’s resume looks pretty bad. Keatts is clean but a little behind Wade, while Wade is dirty and slightly ahead of Keatts.

Make of this what you may, but it seems like NC State dodged a bullet by passing on Archie.