As the University of Arizona searches for a new men’s basketball coach, it will seek one that can sustain the success that has defined the program since the mid-1980s.
And that includes financial success.
The university fired Sean Miller on April 7 on the heels of an NCAA investigation that charged the school with five Level I violations. The notice of allegations released in March said Miller did not show that he “promoted an atmosphere for compliance and monitored his staff.”
The men’s basketball program is a significant revenue generator for Arizona’s athletic department. It pulled in more than $22 million in the 2018-19 fiscal year, the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education, and after expenses, made a profit of $12,053,624.
According to Cronkite News research, that profit is greater than that made by 65 of the 68 teams that participated in this season’s NCAA Tournament during the same 2018-19 time period. (The Wildcats weren’t eligible this year because of a self-imposed one-year postseason ban as a result of the NCAA investigation.) Their profit was at least five times more than any other Pac-12 school during the same stretch.
