So this is a bizarre story: Arizona Wildcats associate head basketball coach James Whitford, who has spent the last six seasons coaching under Sean Miller at Xavier and UA, had reportedly agreed to become the new head coach for the Miami-Ohio RedHawks. The school even sent out a tweet confirming the rumors.
Then the tweet got deleted. Then everything turned weird.
It appears that negotiations literally fell apart in the final seconds, which then prompted Miami-Ohio to hire John Cooper from Tennessee State. Whitford is set to remain in Tucson and will continue to be a key recruiter for the Wildcats.
We still don't know what happened, and I doubt we ever do. Maybe a promise or two from the early steps of negotiating were not followed through on the contract, maybe Whitford realized he was happy in Tucson and didn't want to leave for a few more years. Maybe he wanted more money and the RedHawks said no.
Regardless, coach Whitford is staying in town, which is great news for the Arizona Wildcats and their basketball program.