Arizona head coach Sean Miller and UA athletic director Greg Byrne held a press conference on Monday morning, debunking any concerns that speculated over Miller's unhappiness in Tucson and any rift with Byrne following Miller's flirtation with the Maryland Terrapins.
To do such, Miller asked the media, with all the calmness and savvy he did with Johnny Carson at 14-years-old, if they'd ever considered leaving their jobs.
"Do you ever have, in your own career, maybe an opportunity that at least causes you to pause and consider? I think all of us would say at one point or another, 'yes.' That's what this weekend was for me.
"By doing that, it also really strengthened the belief of the place you're really at. I paused and considered for 40 hours."
Then he said he's here for the long-haul.
Miller wanted to point out two flaws in the reports coming out of the woodwork over that period.
Firstly, he refuted the idea that he and Byrne were having communication issues or disagreements over his contract, his staff's pay and other operations (specifically, using charter flights, which the pair said they had been discussing for maybe a year at this point). Both Miller and Byrne said they'd been involved in conversations about those issues ever since the loss to UConn in the Elite Eight.
Secondly, Miller wanted to point out that it was never an issue of his wife's unhappiness in Tucson. A poorly-timed Tweet by Amy Miller said she was fighting allergies in the desert and wanted to go back east, but Miller joked that it was simply coincidence. And he also reported that her allergies aren't so bad.
"She's not walking around with a mask on," he joked.
Byrne said that since Day 1, Sean Miller has been his man despite Miller being hired by former AD Jim Livengood. And personally, Byrne pointed out that he came to Arizona for the same reason as did Miller — a rabid fan base that showed immense concern during the two-day period where they worried over their coach leaving.
Do they care? Byrne said yes.
"That's not an issue," Byrne said.
The contract announcement, Byrne said, was to reaffirm what they'd been discussing for a while, not a day-made stunt to put out a fire that had been burning for some time.
In addition, Byrne said he talked to Miller seven, eight, maybe nine times during the limbo period.
Asked by a television person afterward whether he was mad at the media for the false reports, including a ESPN980 report that he was a done deal to head to Maryland, Miller remained calm.
Nope. They were doing their jobs, and speculation was all part of that, Miller said. He wanted to talk about Jason Terry's nine 3-pointers in Dallas' win over the Los Angeles Lakers yesterday.
"I'm more anxious to move on."
So in the end, it appeared to be a matter of reinforcement of making the right decision two years ago to leave Xavier for Arizona. And in the end, Miller proved his loyalty to not only Arizona fans, but all his returning players and four incoming freshmen.