I don't completely understand the poo pooing of this hire. Maybe expectations were too high regarding who Texas was going to be able to bring in? Sometimes there's a candidate that's such a perfect fit that there's no question they're the one. Chris Beard was that kind of hire. Folks like Roy Williams at North Carolina, Bill Self at Kansas, Calipari at Kentucky, Pitino at Louisville.
But usually there are flaws with hires. How many people considered great basketball coaches were can't misses when they were hired? Hurley certainly wasn't. Oates wasn't (is he considered a "great" coach at this point without a ring? Dunno). Scheyer at Duke was a big risk. Indiana can't get their coaching hire right since Knight left decades ago.
Look at UT's history. Abe Lemons wasn't a can't miss. Bob Wetlich was an assistant under Knight. Tom Penders was hired for a fun style coming from Rhode Island. Rick Barnes had some minor success at Providence and Clemson, but had already earned a reputation as not being able to win in the tournament - a rep he still enjoys today. Smart had a spectacular single season at VCU. Beard was as close to a sure thing as we've ever hired, but he's a UT grad in special circumstances. That's akin to UNC being able to hire Roy Williams from Kansas. Rodney Terry became the head coach because of circumstances more than career metrics.
I'd argue Sean Miller has a better coaching resume than any head coach ever hired at Texas other than maybe Chris Beard, due to Beard having the national championship appearance. But in terms of numbers of Sweet 16s before coming to Texas, we've never had anyone of this caliber.
I'm genuinely excited about this hire. I already know I'm going to be frustrated by his defense, because defense is more important to me than it is Miller, but oh well. He's going to run an explosive and exciting offense. He knows how to get people open for their shots. He has a vision for what he wants his basketball team to look like and he'll recruit to that vision. I've seen too many coaches get enamored with the talent they can bring to Austin rather than recruiting the talent that fits the scheme they're going to employ. That won't be Miller's issue.
Miller has shown he's a very good coach. We'll see what he can do at 56. But I feel like he's hungry and wants a chance to compete at the highest level, and he didn't feel like he was going to get that chance at Xavier. And if he doesn't work out we'll move on and go get someone else. By then I imagine the college athletics landscape will have made some seismic shifts, so who knows what college basketball looks like at that point.
But in the meantime I feel like it's an outstanding hire. It's not perfect, but very few hires are. If he has some early success with the exciting style of offense he runs and the level of financial support Texas basketball receives, I don't see any reason we can't return to the Texas basketball heydays of TJ Ford/Durant/Augustin/et al..
BTW, saying Texas basketball is a top 15 NIL school is hilarious to me. We have some very deep pockets who are emotionally connected to the success of the basketball program. It's not Phil Knight level of support for Oregon football, but it's very deep. And it's basketball specific.