Familiar Territory: Sean Miller Returning to Old Stomping Grounds at Xavier

Sean Miller, rehired by Xavier after controversial stint with Arizona, boasts an opportunity - however unlikely because of previous success - to achieve something rare in the major-college coaching community. The Musketeers reeled Miller back in despite a trend where resurrected mentors failed to come anywhere close to duplicating success during previous tenure. Although eight of them posted losing marks during initial stint, Ronnie Arrow (South Alabama), Jim McCafferty (Loyola LA) and Ritchie McKay (Liberty) are the only three of the 40 mentors a total of 42 times in this "Comeback Club" category over the last 60-plus years to compile a higher winning percentage the second time around.

Miller's most realistic goal probably is to align with Lou Carnesecca (St. John's) and Lake Kelly (Austin Peay State) as the only coaches to win NCAA playoff games in two different stints with the same school. Miller, The Citadel's Ed Conroy, Butler's Thad Matta and Murray State's Steve Prohm join the following alphabetical list of coaches returning to their former major-college stomping grounds if their tenures weren't interrupted solely by World War II:

NOTES: VBK also had two stints at Hofstra, but Hofstra wasn't at the major-college level his first stint there. . . . OCU de-emphasized its program to the NAIA level after Lemons returned. . . . ORU wasn't always at the Division I level for either of Trickey's stints.