GREENSBORO, N.C. – UNC Greensboro head men's basketball coach
Wes Miller was named as the No. 1 coach on ESPN's distinguished Top 40 Under 40 coaches' list released Wednesday morning.
The list selected by various ESPN reporters ranked the best coaches (a combination of head coaches and current assistant coaches) under the age of 40 according to both achievements and potential.
Under Miller, the Spartans have become one of the elite programs in the country. They have won 104 games over the last four years, which is the second most of any North Carolina Division I program. It's a stretch that includes the program's first NCAA tournament appearance in 17 years (2018), a No. 1 seed in the National Invitation Tournament and school record 29 victories (2019).
UNCG and Duke are the only two North Carolina programs that enter the 2020-21 season with four consecutive 20-win seasons.
The Spartans won 23 games this past season. The season started by defeating crosstown foe North Carolina A&T in front of a record-breaking crowd at the Greensboro Coliseum. They had plenty to highlight during a fantastic season that featured road wins over Georgetown of the Big East and America East regular-season champion Vermont.
The Spartans also earned triumphs over Horizon League champion Northern Kentucky and Big South regular season champion Radford.
Those victories occurred during a brilliant stretch in which UNCG won 11 of 13 games during its non-conference schedule. UNCG also enjoyed a hot stretch during conference play in which it captured 11 of 12 games.
Combining defensive tenacity, rebounding ferocity, and tough-minded fierceness, the Spartans led the SoCon in field goal percentage defense (42.2), blocked shots per game (4.3), steals (9.3) and offensive rebounds (12.9). They were also second in the conference scoring defense (63.1) and scoring margin.
The Spartans led the nation in turnover margin (+6.4), while ranking sixth in turnovers forced per contest (18.03), total steals (299) and steals per game (9.3).
Three years after playing on a North Carolina team that captured the 2005 national title, Miller started his coaching career as an assistant at Elon in his mid-20s, and the No. 1 coach on ESPN's list hasn't looked back. After accepting the head-coaching job at UNC Greensboro as a 27-year-old, Miller emerged as one of the top young coaches in college basketball.
