Sean Miller, the coach at Arizona, would be a good choice to replace Sidney Lowe as N.C. State Wolfpack head basketball coach.

After the experiment of hiring an alum in Lowe, there probably aren’t any appropriate former Wolfpack players State would want to try. Monte Towe, the current associate coach at State, would give some continuity in case some players are considering jumping ship. But Towe only did fair as a head coach for five years at New Orleans going 70-78. Plus, you’d think most State supporters would want to start fresh.

With Miller, although only 42, you get a proven head coach who did very well at Xavier, taking them to four NCAA berths in five years and compiling a 120-47 mark there. In addition, as coach of Arizona for the past two years, he has brought the Wildcats program back to national prominence. His first recruiting class was ranked 12th nationally and this season he led Arizona to the regular season conference championship and an NCAA berth with a 27-7 record. In so doing, he was named coach of the year in the Pac-10.

In addition, Miller has a fairly substantial connection to N.C. State. He was an assistant to Herb Sendek at N.C. State for five years from 1996 to 2001. Miller was a point guard in college at Pittsburgh too. I’m partial to point guards as head coaches but, then again, Lowe was a point guard.

It’s a shame the Lowe experiment didn’t work out but, after five years, it just didn’t. Names being bandied about include Rick Barnes of Texas. Wolfpack fans might enjoy that hate-Carolina mentality that many believe he has or had when he coached at Clemson. But Barnes probably wouldn’t accept the position and I’m not sure he would be a better choice than a young up-and-comer like Miller.