DETROIT -- Xavier's Sean Miller boarded a private plane sent by Arizona officials early Sunday and flew to Albuquerque, N.M., to meet with athletic director Jim Livengood about coaching the Wildcats, sources have told CBSSports.com.
Whether Arizona asked Xavier for permission to speak with Miller is unclear, and also moot. Requesting permission to speak with another schools' coach is mostly a courtesy in this business, almost never a necessity. To wit, sources have told CBSSports.com that people working on behalf of Arizona have contacted various high-major coaches all season in informal ways, in some cases as early as November.
According to sources, Miller has been told he could receive a package at Arizona worth more than $15 million spread over seven years. Still, there is no guarantee he'll take the job, the sources said, because he's comfortable at Xavier and positioned to have a team that should win another Atlantic 10 title next season.
Miller has been at Xavier five seasons.
He's made four NCAA tournaments, including one Elite Eight.
Arizona has already been publicly rejected in its search to replace Lute Olson by USC's Tim Floyd. Some other candidates the school has informally pursued to varying degrees are Mark Few (Gonzaga), Jamie Dixon (Pittsburgh), John Calipari (Kentucky), Jeff Capel (Oklahoma), Bruce Pearl (Tennessee) and Tom Izzo (Michigan State).
(Here's a link to the plane Miller boarded, according to a source close to the Arizona program.)
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When you're covering an event, you don't have time to root for someone. Parrish roots for the same thing every journalist roots for: whatever gets his story done best and quickest. We have no team allegiances in what we cover.