Percy 'Master P' Miller is challenging the status quo in college hoops — and a new generation is embracing it

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Percy 'Master P' Miller is challenging the status quo in college hoops — and a new generation is embracing it originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The world of college athletics is changing. Everyday the landscape seems to be advancing towards a shell of its former self. Players are paid. The transfer portal changed recruiting and there is no putting the toothpaste back in the tube.

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We're here and just like college football had to make the leap, college hoops are next up.  

However, there is still resistance to some of that change. The next aspect of restructure needs to come is at the top. Change is affecting athletes, staffers, operations, revenue generation, but the one thing that largely has not changed is the types of coaches.

We no longer live in a world where the Coach K’s and Tom Izzo’s of the world are the only paths to take. In a landscape where fans, players, alumni, boosters and programs are all expected to embrace the change, the one thing that struggles to advance is atypical coaching candidates.

The changing world needs new and innovative solutions to fix today's challenges. Long gone are the days of the coach being left to only run practice and make in-game decisions. Coaches are now being asked to wear more hats, so to speak. A coach needs to be a coach, a fundraiser, an out-of-the-box thinker, a problem solver and a promoter of a brand.

This concept has revealed itself with several established coaches who have been all too willing to resist the changing world. Many of those coaches still hold their positions, despite their refusal to adapt. This is the very reason Nick Saban walked away from coaching at Alabama when he did. It might be time for more traditionally minded coaches to follow in Saban’s footsteps and allow for coaches who are willing to adapt.

Percy Miller checks almost every box except ‘conventional’

Conventional is the exact concept that most programs should be running away from. Percy Miller took on the dual role as president of basketball operations and assistant coach in New Orleans. Anyone who has been around music knows his background. But Master P is not Coach P. He got to this point by taking the road few have traveled. 

Miller made it to the NBA at a time when talent was much thicker than it is now. 

After moving on from his playing days, the coach aspect of his teachings started to come out. He won three AAU national titles as a coach with several well-known NBA talents. From there, he landed the job in NOLA to fix a program that hit rock bottom. Fixed games, lack of awareness and pride were there. Miller spend last summer in gyms across the nation finding talent. He build the UNO roster from scratch and found success in months.  

Coach P is not conventional and that is the underlying point. Conventional doesn’t work in the new world of college athletics as it once did. Conventional approaches get people fired in this new world. Look at the college basketball landscape right now. 

Bobby Hurley at Arizona State bashed his players months before he was out the door in Tempe. “We failed, I’m failing,” Hurley said after a loss this season. "I can’t get through to the team, I don’t know what else I can say. It's hard to see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel."

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Once again, you keep beating down the old style of coaching on players and they'll stop listening. These players have money now. They're not afraid to lose playing time or hit the portal. It's time for coaches to meet players on their level. Otherwise, find out the hard way at the next stop. 

Another one is Jerome Tang at Kansas State. "These dudes do not deserve to wear this uniform," Tang said after a loss. "There will be very few of them in it next year. I'm embarrassed for the university. I'm embarrassed for our fans and our student section. It is just ridiculous."

Tang was also fired before the season ended. How many times are schools willing to fail with the wrong coaches in place and set them back years before they act to find a player's coach? 

This is not your father's college basketball anymore

The questions that need to be asked are can the coach recruit? Can he relate with the players and does he have basketball experience with a deep understanding of the game? Can he raise money? Can he retain players and find the players other teams are missing? 

Miller checks every single one of those boxes. But will there be a Power Four program to see that? 

Miller is a father-figure, coach, businessman, award-winning and 100 million record selling recording artist, but most people in the country will have a hard time seeing Miller as anything other than former rapper Master P. In reality, he's been coaching most of his adult life. We're just now finding out what he can do.  

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However, outside of college athletics, we as a culture celebrate those who step outside their primary field and find success in other areas. No one had an issue with Mark Cuban being a business owner in the tech space and then becoming a successful NBA owner. No one had an issue when a news reporter named Oprah Winfrey became the biggest thing in daytime television. No one had an issue when Andy Weir, a software engineer, wrote two of the best scifi novels to become big Hollywood movies in recent memory.

Miller’s success as an entrepreneur and rap artist should have zero bearing on his likelihood of success in the world of college basketball.

For three very applicable reasons. Miller played college basketball at Houston and in the NBA for the Charlotte Hornets and Toronto Raptors. He's currently a Division I basketball coach and front office executive who brought 12 more wins than the year before he arrived. Numbers don't lie. 

Coach P would have the 'Prime Effect' for college basketball

Miller told TMZ that several head coaching opportunities at larger programs have come up in conversations. What can he do outside of coaching?   

Miller is a problem solver and that is immediately apparent. He is hands-on and has a vested interest in the motivation and well-being of players under him. He also sees how teams spend their budget and has plans to implement a different philosophy that should lead to incredible recruiting success.

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If that is not enough, there is likely not a single player or player’s parents that do not know who Percy Miller is right now. It's the same aspects that make Deion Sanders a great recruiter or make Penny Hardaway a huge draw for players. Miller is in the same boat. The idea of Coach P at a Power Four program or a historically great basketball power should become much easier to understand.

For any struggling program, who knows they need to move on from their existing coach, why not? College basketball needs an infusion of optimism or a new approach. The ball is in your court. Miller should not be a candidate those teams pass over in favor of doing the same thing that worked 20 years ago and is not likely to be as successful now. We're in new times and should adjust accordingly. 

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