James Miller

[Jonnyeagle]

STILLWATER — It appears Steve Lutz has filled the top assistant coaching position on his Oklahoma State basketball staff.

Mississippi State assistant James Miller is headed to Stillwater to be Lutz’s associate head coach, according to a report Tuesday from 247Sports.com. The move comes just five days after Lutz was officially announced as the Cowboys’ new head man.

Regarded as an emerging talent and a strong recruiter, Miller held the same position for Chris Jans at Mississippi State last season, which was Miller’s second with the Bulldogs. Prior to that, Miller was Jans’ associate head coach for four seasons at New Mexico State.

Miller has also worked for current Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland in stops at Arkansas State and North Texas. Miller spent a season at Omaha, following a six-year stint at New Mexico Junior College — the last three as head coach. 

LINK:  https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/college/cowboys/2024/04/09/oklahoma-state-basketball-hires-james-miller-assistant-coach-osu-cowboys-steve-lutz/73270591007/

 

[Ross Hodgeson]

No offense but why this guy?  He was on a loosing program at OSU...

[untlynchka1]

29 minutes ago, Ross Hodgeson said:

No offense but why this guy?  He was on a loosing program at OSU...

No, he was at miss state. He is going to Okie state for next season. 

[GMG_Dallas]

43 minutes ago, Ross Hodgeson said:

No offense but why this guy?  He was on a loosing program at OSU...

Former McCasland assistant here with us and has been successful everywhere he's been (except Oklahoma State). 

I should clarify, Oklahoma State wasn't successful but that seems to be a recurring theme lately. 

Edited Saturday at 10:28 PM by GMG_Dallas

[emmitt01]

35 minutes ago, untlynchka1 said:

No, he was at miss state. He is going to Okie state for next season. 

That article is a year old

[GMGGWBG]

Mississippi State is usually known for a stout defense.  They beat us.

[wardly]

2 hours ago, Jonnyeagle said:

STILLWATER — It appears Steve Lutz has filled the top assistant coaching position on his Oklahoma State basketball staff.

Mississippi State assistant James Miller is headed to Stillwater to be Lutz’s associate head coach, according to a report Tuesday from 247Sports.com. The move comes just five days after Lutz was officially announced as the Cowboys’ new head man.

Regarded as an emerging talent and a strong recruiter, Miller held the same position for Chris Jans at Mississippi State last season, which was Miller’s second with the Bulldogs. Prior to that, Miller was Jans’ associate head coach for four seasons at New Mexico State.

Miller has also worked for current Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland in stops at Arkansas State and North Texas. Miller spent a season at Omaha, following a six-year stint at New Mexico Junior College — the last three as head coach. 

LINK:  https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/college/cowboys/2024/04/09/oklahoma-state-basketball-hires-james-miller-assistant-coach-osu-cowboys-steve-lutz/73270591007/

 

Looks good on paper.

[GMGGWBG]

How long of a leash would you be willing to give him if you were the AD or, as a fan, give him before you start calling for him to be fired?

[wardly]

15 hours ago, GMGGWBG said:

How long of a leash would you be willing to give him if you were the AD or, as a fan, give him before you start calling for him to be fired?

two years

[NorthTexasWeLove]

15 hours ago, GMGGWBG said:

How long of a leash would you be willing to give him if you were the AD or, as a fan, give him before you start calling for him to be fired?

A lot goes into considering leash and what not....

I will tell you this, our athletic director better not hand out a 5 year contract under the current rules unless we're hiring a surefire candidate. Even then, I'd be hesitatant. 

[Green Lantern]

16 hours ago, GMGGWBG said:

How long of a leash would you be willing to give him if you were the AD or, as a fan, give him before you start calling for him to be fired?

Not a knock on this guy but maybe 2 years. After Benford, almost zero tolerance for unproven head coaches looking shaky. He’d be a gamble that I don’t think we need to take.
 

We hired a sitting head coach and paid a buyout for with Mac. We shouldn’t be looking at less than that after a decade of success. 

[MeanGreen22]

3 minutes ago, Green Lantern said:

Not a knock on this guy but maybe 2 years. After Benford, almost zero tolerance for unproven head coaches looking shaky. He’d be a gamble that I don’t think we need to take.

Miller has a similar resume as Ross just didn’t coach in JUCO quite a long. Looking at the current candidate pool, I think a 2 year for him could be the best option. Maybe it works and it’s great! If not, you can quickly hit the nuke button and hope the next cycle is more favorable

[Green Lantern]

3 minutes ago, MeanGreen22 said:

Miller has a similar resume as Ross just didn’t coach in JUCO quite a long. Looking at the current candidate pool, I think a 2 year for him could be the best option. Maybe it works and it’s great! If not, you can quickly hit the nuke button and hope the next cycle is more favorable

My question is when you say “looking at the candidate pool”. Who is on that list specifically? The names listed from that Coaching Changes Twitter account? How do they know? Out of the “candidates” they list, Scott Cross is the only one that makes any sense in our current situation. Seems like just lazily throwing out a few names with either ties to the area or to Jared.

It’s all conjecture at this point and search appears to be close to the vest.

For plan a A, B, and C we need to be thinking bigger than a guy like Miller. He might be great but we’re not in a position to gamble.

[MeanGreen22]

32 minutes ago, Green Lantern said:

My question is when you say “looking at the candidate pool”. Who is on that list specifically?

No one’s list in particular. Just looking around college basketball and there isn’t any surefire “yes, that guy” other than Scott Cross. There isn’t a 2017 Grant McCasland nor a 2023 Ross Hodge. I’m looking specifically for coaches with HC experience and familiarity with Texas. Maybe the school isn’t? Is Texas ties as important as it used to be bc of the portal? If not, maybe Richie Riley as South Alabama? 

[keith]

29 minutes ago, MeanGreen22 said:

No one’s list in particular. Just looking around college basketball and there isn’t any surefire “yes, that guy” other than Scott Cross. There isn’t a 2017 Grant McCasland nor a 2023 Ross Hodge. I’m looking specifically for coaches with HC experience and familiarity with Texas. Maybe the school isn’t? Is Texas ties as important as it used to be bc of the portal? If not, maybe Richie Riley as South Alabama? 

It should be about as important as familiarity with West Virginia is with UWV or WVU or whatever they go by.  In other words, it's not important at all.

Edited Sunday at 05:02 PM by keith

[Green Lantern]

20 minutes ago, MeanGreen22 said:

No one’s list in particular. Just looking around college basketball and there isn’t any surefire “yes, that guy” other than Scott Cross. There isn’t a 2017 Grant McCasland nor a 2023 Ross Hodge. I’m looking specifically for coaches with HC experience and familiarity with Texas. Maybe the school isn’t? Is Texas ties as important as it used to be bc of the portal? If not, maybe Richie Riley as South Alabama? 

Honestly, I think the "Texas Ties" stuff has always been ridiculous in both football and basketball.  The reality is the Texas  HS coaches don't advocate for UNT and/or give us recommendations and access to their top talent anyway. I know this as I'm friends with several coaches in DFW 6A programs in both basketball and football.  They'll flat tell you this. 

Portal and NIL has also forever shaped how you recruit and build rosters now anyway. In basketball, no reason for us to recruit HS talent, develop, and platform them to catch a massive NIL payday up the ladder the second they show a hint of success.

Just hire the best talent available to coach.  If they're worth their salt, they'll figure out recruiting/talent acquisition just like they figured their last place out.

[GMG_Dallas]

2 hours ago, Green Lantern said:

Not a knock on this guy but maybe 2 years. After Benford, almost zero tolerance for unproven head coaches looking shaky. He’d be a gamble that I don’t think we need to take.
 

We hired a sitting head coach and paid a buyout for with Mac. We shouldn’t be looking at less than that after a decade of success. 

Colorado State just promoted a 36 year old who served 1 year as the associate HC and has never been a HC.

James Miller has some HC experience and experience with McCasland as an assistant. If we want continuity in our current system that's given us a decade of success, who else is out there?

Since I've seen some mention Scott Cross, I'll say it: I really hope we don't go that route. Nothing about him strikes me as homerun hire. He's been a HC for 18 seasons and these are his accomplishments:

Championships

1 Southland tournament (2008)

1 Sun Belt tournament (2025)

1 Southland West Division (2012)

2 Sun Belt regular season (2017, 2025)

He was barely above .500 in his conference games at UTA and is barely above .500 in conference at Troy. I understand neither has a rich history but neither do we. We shouldn't be paying a buyout for an "established" .500 coach.

Edited Sunday at 05:46 PM by GMG_Dallas

[wardly]

Most recent basketball coaching contracts I have read about are for 6 years.

[UNTLifer]

On 3/29/2025 at 4:44 PM, Ross Hodgeson said:

No offense but why this guy?  He was on a loosing program at OSU...

Loosing sucks, but no worries, he wasn't picked.

[Ross Hodgeson]

56 minutes ago, UNTLifer said:

Loosing sucks, but no worries, he wasn't picked.

This is why I love you guys.   Ya'll never miss an opportunity to kick someone in the nutz lol.  Makes me feel appreciated!

[UNTLifer]

29 minutes ago, Ross Hodgeson said:

This is why I love you guys.   Ya'll never miss an opportunity to kick someone in the nutz lol.  Makes me feel appreciated!

Are you leaving for WVU as well or are you going to be stuck with that unfortunate screen name?