Three things Sean Miller must do in his first offseason at Texas

The band-aid has officially been ripped off and the Rodney Terry era in Texas is officially over.

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Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte, moving as swiftly as ever, took little time to make his decision. Though the AD, alongside his closest advisors, had spent the four days since Texas’ First Four loss to review their options, the firing of Terry and the hiring of Sean Miller happened seemingly within hours of each other.

Miller was the coach at the other end of the scorer’s table on Wednesday, in his second stint at Xavier after spending 12 seasons at Arizona and creating the Wildcats entire 2010’s run of success. Irony can sometimes be a cruel mistress, and it seems like the man who solidified the firing of Terry will also be the one taking his place.

Miller will have his hands full in Austin. The Longhorns will be losing their best player, Tre Johnson, to the NBA Draft, and three of its other four starters are exhausting their eligibility. With a ton of major decisions ahead of him, IT has identified three things Miller has to do to ensure a smooth transition in Austin.

1. Retain Chendall Weaver

It’s hard to remember a player in burnt orange who has had a bigger discrepancy between their stats and the impact you can see on the court than Chendall Weaver. Outside of moving Tramon Mark to point guard, Weaver’s return seemed to be the biggest factor in Texas winning two SEC tournament games and sneaking into the field of 68.

Weaver is one of just three rotation players with remaining eligibility, but his return feels far more important than that of Jordan Pope or Devon Pryor. Miller will lose some players to the portal, potentially guys like Pryor, Nic Codie or Jamie Vinson, so he’ll need to prioritize retaining Weaver for his senior season.

Weaver’s bounce, hustle and consistent tenacity make him an extremely valuable asset on any team looking to compete, and creating a relationship with Weaver should be priority No. 1 for Miller.

2. Find a true point guard in the Portal

Keenan Womack and I have spoken extensively on the IT YouTube channel about the failures of Terry’s roster-building in the 2024-25 season, but no problem hurt the team more than the lack of an effective point guard.

Mark was a decent facilitator, but the duo of Pope and Julian Larry failed to initiate the offense effectively in the halfcourt, and the skill sets of Mark, Pope and Johnson overlapped far too much. Larry’s 2.9 assists per game somehow led the team.

Miller needs to find a floor-raiser at the point if he wishes to have any sort of short-term success in the SEC. Dayvion McKnight, his point guard at Xavier this year, would’ve been a solid option, but he’ll be out of eligibility. The portal is the easiest place to find this, and Miller needs to tap into the mid-major pipeline to find Texas’ own version of Walter Clayton Jr. or Mark Sears.

3. Use recruiting to build for the future

Would it surprise you to know that Terry had just one signed recruit in the 2025 class? John Clark is the lone signee, a sign of Terry’s struggles in building a foundation for the future.

Clark could be gone, but if he’s not Miller has a good start with someone who can potentially play year one in the SEC given his 6-foot-9 frame. But if Clark is the only recruit brought into town out of the high school ranks, especially when coaching movement gives prospects more license than ever to get out of their letters of intent, then Miller will receive some serious question marks in 2025-26.

Texas needs to bring several high school prep players to work behind the scenes, and the portal has to include players with multiple years of eligibility left so that there’s a picture visible not just for 2025-26 but for the seasons to come as well.. You’d hope that Dailyn Swain would find his way to Austin.

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This has to be an offseason that not only gets Miller the types of players he prefers, but also assets who can provide Texas with multiple years of SEC-level basketball starting next fall in the Moody Center.