Arizona Wildcats’ coach Sean Miller had some interesting things to say during the Pac-12’s media day about the FBI investigation that allegedly centers around one of his assistant coaches.
Despite the potential to be one of the best conferences in college basketball last season, the Pac-12 is at the center of an FBI investigation that involves the expected top two teams in 2017-18.
During Pac-12 media day, it was natural that someone brought up uncomfortable questions about everything that is currently happening in college basketball.
Arizona Wildcats’ coach Sean Miller did have something to say about it all.
Arizona coach Sean Miller addressing all questions regarding probe, including whether FBI spoke to him: “I’m gonna stand by my statement.” pic.twitter.com/RJm0H0Lx7Q
— Scott Reiss (@ScottKCTV5) October 12, 2017
The statement, which you can read in full here, basically attempts to take any of the blame for Emanuel “Book” Richardson’s actions that led to FBI involvement off of both himself and the school. This statement was also supported in a subsequent statement by the president of UA.
Unfortunately for Miller, the NCAA has already shown that failing to know anything does not mean that a coach or program gets away without any punishment, as we saw with Rick Pitino and the escort scandal.
While I do not believe Miller loses his job, I do believe that there will be some sanctions handed down by the NCAA to the school eventually.
Next: Everything we know about the FBI investigation so far
Standing by your statements is good, especially if they are true, but, even if they are true, there will be a dark cloud surrounding Arizona for years to come due to the actions of Richardson – and those clouds are already affecting the program as highly-rated recruits decide to steer away from the Wildcats’ program.