Archie Miller better know what he's getting into at Indiana
New Indiana head coach Archie Miller was revered for his accomplishments at Dayton. The 38-year-old has guided the Flyers to four straight NCAA tournament appearances and even reached the Elite Eight in 2014.
But those are the type of achievements that get you fired at Indiana.
The Hoosiers were a perennial college basketball power years ago under Bobby Knight and their goals seem to remain on that level. Indiana athletic director Fred Glass made the school's expectations clear in his press release about the Miller hiring.
"The more I learned about him, the more convinced I became that he is the coach we need to meet our high expectations for many years to come," Glass said.
The question is, how realistic are those expectations?
Since the 1993-94 season, Indiana has made it past the second round of the NCAA tournament just four times and past the Sweet 16 once. The recently fired Tom Crean owns three of those aforementioned appearances beyond Round 2, and it still wasn't enough to save his job.
Crean has arguably been the most successful coach since Knight and his accolades in the Big Ten are right up there with those in the conference.
*BIG TEN OUTRIGHT TITLES IN PAST NINE YEARS*
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) March 16, 2017
Tom Crean: 2
John Beilein: 1
Tom Izzo: 1
Thad Matta: 1
Matt Painter: 1
Bo Ryan: 1
Even though the program enjoyed more success recently, Crean's accomplishments at Indiana certainly don't rival what coaches like John Calipari or Mike Krzyzewski have accomplished at Kentucky and Duke, respectively. So should the Hoosiers still be viewed on the same level as the other powerhouses in college basketball?
It certainly appears as though the administration in Bloomington feels it should be, but potential recruits don't seem to agree. Only one player on the ESPN 100 for 2017, No. 77 four-star forward Justin Smith, has committed to Indiana.
Perhaps Crean peaked at Indiana and he went as far as he could with the program, but the fact remains that he did more with the Hoosiers than anyone else in the past 20 years.
Miller is now walking into a situation where the demands are Final Fours every year and, no matter how good of a coach he is, it's going to be tough to meet those expectations.