Coach, family will face adjustments in the desert
Sean Miller's sons, (from left) Austin, 13; Braden, 7, and Cameron, 11, wait for their parents after Miller's news conference at McKale on Tuesday.
Amy Miller put on her game face as reporters’ tape recorders were thrust in her direction after her husband was introduced as the Arizona basketball coach.
She and Sean Miller were looking forward to moving to Tucson, she said, smiling.
Sitting an arm’s length away, 7-year-old Braden Miller was a little more forthright.
“I’m excited, but my mom was crying when we found out,” he said, displaying the unfiltered honesty of the young.
Then, his tongue working the front of his mouth, Braden added, “I’m losing two teeth.”
She conceded that her eyes were still puffy from crying and that moving far from her Pittsburgh-based family and good friends in Cincinnati would be difficult.
“It’s a hard decision. We’ve never been past Wisconsin, really,” she said. “But I’m just looking at this (move) as getting a bigger family.”
Sean Miller said he expects to tour the campus and Tucson with his wife and three sons.
“Right now we’re flying by the seat of our pants,” he said, joking about the things that needed to be done as a family.
The Millers got a glimpse of the bigger family as Wildcat boosters, basketball players and athletic department workers welcomed them Tuesday.
Austin, 13; Cameron, 11; and Braden appeared unfazed by the attention.
Cameron said he was looking forward to meeting new people, Austin said he wanted to go recruiting with his father and Braden said he really liked cactus.
Then the boys grabbed a basketball and took to the Lute and Bobbi Olson Court at McKale Center, where Cameron and Austin promptly sank jump shots.
The apple apparently doesn’t fall far from the tree in the Miller family.