Nebraska Cornhuskers Basketball: Tim Miles Named Head Coach of Program

According to various sources, including Andy Katz at ESPN, Colorado State head coach Tim Miles is planning to leave the program that he took from the cellar of the Mountain West in 2007-08 to an appearance NCAA Tournament this past season, in order to take the vacant head-coaching job a the University of Nebraska.

The vacancy at Nebraska was left after former UTEP coach Doc Sadler was fired on March 9th, following six mediocre seasons.

Cornhusker fans are hoping that Miles can do the same thing to their program, which has struggled mightily in both the Big 12 and the Big Ten in recent years, that he did with the Colorado State program.

The 45-year old Miles, who grew up in South Dakota and is very active on Twitter (@CoachMiles), played basketball at the University of Mary in North Dakota.  Then he began a very successful head -coaching career in the NAIA and D2 ranks at Mayville State and Southwest Minnesota State, where he reached the Elite Eight of Division Two in his final season.

Miles was later hired at North Dakota State, where he was a key figure in the program's transition to Division One basketball, leading the team to a 20-8 record in his final year, only the third in the program's short Division One history.

In 2007, Miles took over a Colorado State team that was in shambles, only returning two players, and failed to win a conference game in his first season. After gradually improving the team, Miles led his team to a .500 record and a CBI appearance by his third season.  This was followed by an NIT appearance the next year, and this year's NCAA tournament appearance and 20-12 record.  This was Colorado State's first NCAA tournament appearance since 2003.

Miles will take over a Nebraska program that has not made the NCAA tournament since 1998, and is coming off a 12-18 record in their first year in the Big Ten.

With leading scorers Bo Spencer and Toney McCray both graduating, Miles will have a very steep uphill battle at Nebraska to be able to compete in the very strong Big Ten.  But, based on his prior success at a struggling program, Miles looks to be a slam-dunk choice to potentially rebuild this Cornhuskers program from scratch.