"You have to be able to embrace competition": Texas HC Sean Miller gets real on why he chose to coach in the SEC after leaving Xavier

After completing his second stint at Xavier, Sean Miller was announced as the new head coach of Texas ahead of the 2025-26 season. He revealed the reason for choosing the Longhorns as the next chapter in his career on Thursday during his conversation with analyst Jon Rothstein on CBS.

Miller moves from coaching in the Big East to battling in the highly competitive SEC Conference. The SEC had a record 14 teams in the NCAA Tournament last season, but this is a competition Miller is ready to embrace and part of why he made the move.

The SEC was quite appealing to Miller, and he believes there is no better place to be right now.

“The SEC is very appealing because again," Miller said. "There's a lot of people that can agree or disagree. You're asking me; I'm on your podcast, so I'm giving you my opinion. In 2025, I don't know if there's a better place to be than the Southeastern Conference."

He justified the reason behind naming the SEC as the best place to be right now.

“And it's not just because of basketball; it's because of the greatness of football; it's about how they've embraced the future, maybe as well or before anybody else did," he added. "So I'm excited about it. There's some amazing coaches in this league.

“Florida won a national championship, there are Hall of Fame coaches that are in the Hall of Fame, and there are Hall of Fame coaches that are going to be in the Hall of Fame. To be able to go against them again, you know when you want to be the best. You know, if that's how you're wired to compete for the top spot, you have to be able to embrace competition."

Miller was announced as the head coach in March after the program fired its previous head coach, Rodney Terry.

Sean Miller reveals reason for leaving Xavier

During the same conversation, Sean Miller revealed the reason behind jumping on the Texas ship despite once promising not to leave Xavier if they were in the Big East.

“There's only one Texas, and when I had this opportunity, like everybody in their profession, when you're given a great opportunity with a great challenge, and those two things meet, you know sometimes it's hard to look at in any other way other than, this is something that I have to do, I want to do, and you never look back,” Miller said. [3:40 - 3:55]

Interestingly, Texas was beaten in the first round of March Madness by Miller’s Xavier, and now he is tasked with taking the Longhorns well above that stage.