When Indiana fans see former head coach Archie Miller roaming the sidelines for Rhode Island next season, they may recognize some familiar faces on the bench.
Miller was hired to be Rhode Island’s head coach on March 18, just over a year after being fired by IU.
Of course Miller himself was the head coach at Indiana for four seasons, but in the last couple days he has made a couple additions to his new staff with recent ties to the IU program.
One of Miller’s assistant coaches will be former Tom Crean assistant Kenny Johnson according to multiple reports.
Johnson joined head coach Tom Crean’s staff on May 1, 2012, after spending the previous season as an assistant coach at Towson University. A native of Oxon Hill, Md., he served as associate head coach at Paul VI High School in Fairfax, Virginia for four years prior to joining the Towson staff.
Johnson left IU for Louisville in 2014, and lost his job there in 2018 in the fallout from the alleged bribery scheme behind Brian Bowen’s recruitment. He resurfaced at LaSalle but was fired in 2020 after being named in a NCAA’s notice of allegations to Louisville.
Johnson is thought of as a very good recruiter who used his network to work his way from the AAU coaching ranks to high major college basketball. His hiring by Miller likely signals Johnson has been cleared of wrongdoing in the NCAA’s investigation.
Leveraging his East Coast ties, Johnson helped Crean landed several players including Noah Vonleh, Robert Johnson, Stanford Robinson and Troy Williams.
Miller is also hiring IU Director of Operations Benny Sander according to Jeff Goodman of Stadium.
Sander just completed his fifth season at Indiana and first as the team’s Director of Operations after being retained by Mike Woodson. He spent the prior four years as a Team and Recruitment Analyst under Miller at Indiana. He came to IU after serving as a Graduate Assistant Manager at the University of Dayton for two years, also under Miller.
With Sanders’ departure and the promotion of Brian Walsh to assistant coach, IU currently has openings at the Director of Operations and Director of Recruiting roles on Woodson’s staff.
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