Brandon Miller, former Ohio State assistant, to be next Butler head coach

In a bit of a surprise, former Ohio State assistant Brandon Miller becomes the latest in a long, notable line of assistants to work under Thad Matta to become a Division 1 men's head basketball coach. Miller, who left Ohio State (and the industry) to spend more time with his family, had been considered not exactly the most probable candidate for the gig, with his taking time away thought to be one of the reason's why Michigan assistant (and former Butler assistant) LaVall Jordan was widely being reported as the frontrunner to succeed Brad Stevens.

Miller, a former Butler player under Matta, helped lead the team to a Sweet 16 appearance as a player in 2003. After that, Miller was hired as a video intern at Xavier (again under Matta) and then followed the coach to Ohio State to become the team's Director of Basketball Operations for two seasons and video coordinator for one. After returning to Butler to work under Stevens, Miller returned to Ohio State for multiple years as a Buckeyes assistant before taking the sabbatical from the coaching ranks. Miller returned to coaching in a limited capacity with Illinois (and fellow former Matta disciple, John Groce) before leaving for an assistant job with Butler this past April.

The new Bulldogs head man joins Groce, Arizona's Sean Miller, and Charlotte's Alan Major in the ever growing Thad Matta coaching tree. Butler athletic director (and former head coach) Barry Collier had indicated that the Bulldogs would hire a Butler man to succeed Stevens, who'd left to become the head coach of the NBA's Boston Celtics, and sure enough in Miller they get just that.