Connecticut Sun get their man; Miller signs 2-year deal

Uncasville, CT -- It is now official: the Connecticut Sun have announced Curt Miller will be the next head coach of the team. The three-month search is over for the Sun, who were looking to replace Anne Donovan after she resigned in October.

"I'm humbled, I'm excited and certainly very proud to be the next coach for the Connecticut Sun," Miller said. "You have to understand that I fell in love with the game of basketball at an early age. Today is like a dream."

Miller was most recently an assistant this past season with the Los Angeles Sparks, and has a long record of coaching at the college level. Miller spent 11 seasons as the head coach at Bowling Green, where he won eight Mid-American Conference Championships in a row and appeared in five NCAA Tournaments.

Miller then left Bowling Green to become the head coach at Indiana in 2012. He spent two years with the Hoosiers before resigning due to health concerns. Miller says while he enjoyed his coaching stops at the college level, he knew immediately the professional game was where he wanted to be.

"I'm very proud of the 24 years I spent in collegiate basketball, and the last 13 being a head coach," Miller said. "I love my time in college, but I can't tell you how much fun I had this past season as an assistant coach with the Sparks, and learned quickly how much I love the WNBA."

"This opportunity is a dream come true. It takes me back to a time of my childhood dreams of accumulating talent, and putting together a very talented roster. I am humbled, excited and proud to be the next Connecticut Sun head coach."

The Sun will look for Miller to get the team into the playoffs in 2016, as Connecticut is the only team in the league that has not made a playoff appearance in at least one of the past three postseasons. The Sun roster does have some promising talent in players like Kelsey Bone and Alex Bentley, and the team will be getting back Chiney Ogwumike, who missed the 2015 season after getting knee surgery.

"Looking at the roster, the young roster was very encouraging," Miller said. "There are a lot of pieces in place. I know rebuilding. I walked into two college programs that really needed rebuilding. I shared with (Sun management) that I don't think this is a rebuilding situation. There are a lot of pieces in place, but with any organization or professional sports team, you're always looking to enhance."

Miller helped turn around both programs at Bowling Green and Indiana as the head coach. He inheriting a 6-24 Hoosier team in 2012, that he would lead to a program-record 14 straight wins and 21 wins overall in 2014. It was Miller's unique style of coaching that people expect will translate to the professional game.

"My offensive style has been around a pro-style game and pick-and-roll basketball," Miller said. "We want to ply an attacking style of offense. We want to be uptempo, which is also fan-friendly. I'm very much a big proponent of 3-point shooting, so I think I bring an exciting style to the Connecticut Sun."

Miller's pro-style of offense is something Sun General Manager Chris Sienko thinks fans will notice right away.

"Curt's offense is probably a little different than what we've had in the past, but I like that," Sienko said. "I like the run-and-gun style. I like the way he talks about what it is, and our athletes are really going to have to fit that mold. I think once fans start to see how the team has changed and evolved from what they remember from previous years, I think they're really going to like the style of play."

Miller's contract is a two-year contract with a team option for a third.