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How Kenny Payne’s Season Compares With Other First-Year Coaches

By Peyton Powell

LOUISVILLE, KY - JANUARY 03: Head coach Kenny Payne of the Louisville Cardinals is seen during the game against against the Syracuse Orange at KFC YUM! Center on January 3, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images)
LOUISVILLE, KY - JANUARY 03: Head coach Kenny Payne of the Louisville Cardinals is seen during the game against against the Syracuse Orange at KFC YUM! Center on January 3, 2023 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Michael Hickey/Getty Images) /
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Sean Miller (Xavier)

After winning the 2018 Big East regular season title and earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Xavier University Head Coach Chris Mack left the program to accept a head coaching position at the University of Louisville. Xavier hired Travis Steele, who was eventually fired in March 2022 after missing the NCAA Tournament for a fourth consecutive year.

The Xavier Musketeers quickly landed longtime college basketball coach Sean Miller, who served as the Xavier men’s basketball coach from 2004-2009 before leaving to become the head coach of the Arizona Wildcats for the next 13 seasons.

Primarily due to NCAA allegations of academic misconduct and a bribery scheme during his tenure with the Wildcats, Miller was fired by the University of Arizona in 2021 and took a one-year hiatus from college basketball coaching before returning to Xavier University in 2022 for his second stint with the program.

Despite the recent struggles of the Xavier men’s basketball program and the serious allegations he faced over the past few years, Sean Miller has brought the Musketeers’ basketball program back to life.

Xavier is 21-9 overall this season and currently sits in second place in the Big East standings. They have already secured wins against Providence, Marquette, UConn, and Creighton. Joe Lunardi currently projects the Musketeers to be a 5 seed in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Sean Miller’s success in his first season with Xavier is yet another example of a program experiencing an immediate turnaround by hiring a coach that has already proven himself and has many years of head coaching experience under their belt.

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