In a stunning development, Indiana University head women’s basketball coach Curt Miller announced Friday morning he has resigned, effective immediately, after just two seasons on the job.
In a letter sent to IU athletics director Fred Glass, Miller cited health and family reasons for stepping down. Associate head coach Curtis Loyd will serve as interim head coach, according to IU, which also said Miller “will take until the end of the month to fully transition out of the University.”
A news report in Indiana said Miller and Glass met with the Hoosiers team this morning.
Miller’s departure comes near the end of the summer evaluation period for NCAA Division I head coaches. Loyd was hired in May after serving as associate head coach at Minnesota under former coach Pam Borton.
The IU release said the program also would be overseen by a committee of administrators and other athletics department personnel during the interim period.
“Curt Miller did an incredible job coaching this team, bringing us farther, faster than anyone could have reasonably expected,” Glass said in a statement. “He leaves the program in a very strong position and poised for much greater success. I respect his decision to resign, and I wish him well. The search for a permanent successor has already begun.”
Indiana assistants Kevin Eckert and Brandi Poole came with Miller from Bowling Green, where he won 258 games in 11 seasons and coached a Sweet 16 team.
Miller, the Region 6 WBCA Division I coach of the year in 2013-14, was 32-32 at IU, including a 21-13 record last year. The Hoosiers reached the NWIT quarterfinals and earned the program’s first national ranking in 20 years.
More importantly, Miller was building a solid recruiting base. Freshman guard Larryn Brooks led IU in scoring, and Miller was set to welcome Illinois guard Tyra Buss, who scored more than 4,800 points in her career, the second-most ever for a female high school player nationally.
Miller did not specify the health or family reasons that prompted his resignation. In late January 2012, he suffered a mild stroke during a Bowling Green game. He returned to his coaching duties a couple of weeks later.
“As you know, this was a most difficult decision, but the right one for me and my family at this time,” Miller wrote in his letter to Glass Friday morning.
On his Twitter feed, Miller also sent out the following message:
Thank You Hoosier Nation
— Curt Miller (@CurtMillerIUWBB) July 25, 2014
Some other Twitter reaction from the women’s basketball community and the Indiana team:
Indiana women’s basketball coach Curt Miller resigns: http://t.co/x4xWxVqgCB #iuwbb pic.twitter.com/GEUKdeeRZj” our thoughts are with curt!
— Lin Dunn (@Coach_Dunn) July 25, 2014
Wishing Curt Miller well ! We will miss you the BIG! Prayers from Purdue WBB
— Purdue Women’s Bball (@PurdueWBB) July 25, 2014
Please turn your thoughts & prayers towards my friend Curt Miller & his family at Indiana University. He is a great coach but better person.
— Jonathan Tsipis (@GWCoachTsip) July 25, 2014
New coaches promise a lot. IU’s Curt Miller delivered. Nobody thought IU would ever b relevant. They r cause of Curt.
— Mary Murphy (@realmarymurphy) July 25, 2014
Couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. Nothing changes, love this team and fan base. #iuwbb #HoosierNation
— Larryn Brooks (@Larryn_Brooks) July 25, 2014
Wendy Parker is a sportswriter and web editor who has covered women's basketball since the early 1990s. She is a correspondent for Basketball Times and formerly covered women's and college sports, soccer and the Olympics at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She is the author of "Beyond Title IX: The Cultural Laments of Women's Sports," available on Amazon, and the creator of Sports Biblio, a blog about sports books and history.
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