Biography:

University of Dayton head basketball coach Ryan “Archie” Miller is regarded as one of the game’s brightest young coaches. At just 33, Miller led the Flyers to another successful campaign after reaching the 20-win plateau, advancing to the NIT and winning the 2011 Old Spice Classic.

Dayton finished the 2011-12 season 20-13 overall and earned a bid to the National Invitation Tournament for the third straight season.

Miller, 33, came to UD from the University of Arizona in 2011 where as Associate Head Coach he helped the Wildcats to a 30-8 season that ended with an Elite Eight berth.

Miller has a recent connection to two teams that just missed the 2011 Final Four. Prior to those years at Arizona, he was at Ohio State for two seasons.

The Beaver Falls, Pa. native was at Arizona the last two seasons, where his brother Sean is head coach. After going 16-15 in 2009-10, the Wildcats had the biggest turnaround of any top program in the country, improving by 14 wins to 30-8.

In just nine years in the coaching profession, Miller has been able to coach in the ACC, the Big Ten and the Pac 10 while working in the some of the nation’s most fertile recruiting grounds in the East, Midwest and West. His wide range of responsibilities at all of his coaching stops have allowed him to learn from three of the most-respected coaches in the country while developing contacts from coast-to-coast. Every one of these experiences have prepared him to be a Division I head coach.

“Archie Miller is the right guy for this time at the University of Dayton,” said UD Vice-President and Director of Athletics Tim Wabler. “He is someone who embraces of building on what has come before and getting us annually in the NCAA Tournament. He has a tremendous basketball pedigree and is well-respected at the highest levels of the game.

“He is a great fit for the University of Dayton, and it became clear as our search progressed that he was our man.”

Miller knows all about Dayton basketball.

“I have always had great respect for the Dayton Flyer basketball program, the University of Dayton, and the Dayton community, and even more respect for how they are so intertwined,” Miller said. “It is so special.

“I don’t take lightly for one second the opportunity or responsibility in front of me,” he added. Our program is one of the rare programs that stacks up with any in terms of the total package of athletics, academics and community support.”

Miller is regarded as a top recruiter – Arizona’s incoming recruits are a Top 10 class – and game strategist – he was the architect of Arizona’s upset of eighth-ranked Texas to get them to the Sweet 16. 

That really shouldn’t be a surprise. Basketball is the family business. Archie and Sean both played high school basketball for their father John at Blackhawk High School. John was one of the country’s top high school coaches when he retired in 2005, with 657 wins in a 35-year coaching career. Archie, Sean and their sister Lisa all played Division I college basketball.

Archie and Sean Miller are one of just four Division I head coaching brother combinations. Bill (New Hampshire) and Tom (Marshall) Herrion, Steve (Baylor) and Bryce (Valparaiso) Drew, and Joe Jones (Columbia) and James Jones (Yale) are the other three.

Archie was a four-year letterwinner at North Carolina State (1998-2002). A point guard with an excellent shooting touch, he is second at NC State in career FT% (.846, 165-195) and career 3-pt. FG% (.429, 218-509), and is third in career threes (218). As a senior, he helped lead the Wolfpack to the finals of the ACC championship game and was named to the all-tournament team. That season was coach Herb Sendek’s first NCAA team at NC State.

When his playing days were over, Miller began his coaching career at North Carolina State, serving as a coaching intern under Sendek in 2002-03. Miller then went to Western Kentucky as a full-time member of Darrin Horn’s staff for one season.

He returned to NC State, first as Director of Basketball Operations (2004-05), and then as a full-time assistant coach (2005-06). When Sendek went to Arizona State in 2006-07, Miller remained on his coaching staff before joining Thad Matta at Ohio State for two seasons (2007-09).

As a coach, he has been part of 20-plus win and NCAA seasons at NC State (2005-06), Ohio State (2008-09) and Arizona (2010-11).

Miller earned his bachelor's degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism from NC State in 2002. He and his wife Morgan have a seven-year-old daughter, Leah.

The 19th coach in Dayton history, Miller is just the sixth Flyer coach in the last 64 years.