Archie Miller was named as the 21st head coach in Rhode Island history on March 18, 2022.
Miller came to Kingston with a storied pedigree in the Atlantic 10. He won two conference titles and had four NCAA Championship appearances in six seasons at Dayton. With a record of 206-121 over the course of 10 seasons as a head coach with the Flyers and Indiana, Miller averaged more than 20 wins per year and had six national postseason appearances before arriving in Rhode Island.
Nationally ranked during three of his six seasons at Dayton, Miller won A-10 titles in 2016 and 2017, earning conference Coach of the Year honors in the latter. He led the Flyers to four straight NCAA appearances from 2014-17, including a run to the Elite 8 in 2014. Miller also reached the NIT with Dayton in 2012 and with Indiana in 2019, when the Hoosiers reached the quarterfinals.
Miller has six 20-win campaigns in his 10 years as a head coach and was a 2015 finalist for the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award.
In four seasons at Indiana (2017-21) Miller had a record of 67-58. He made an immediate impact through recruiting, bringing nine Indiana natives in his first three classes, including Indiana Mr. Basketball winners Romeo Langford (2018), Trayce Jackson-Davis (2019) and Anthony Leal (2020). Langford and Jackson-Davis were named McDonald’s All-Americans and Khristian Lander earned All-American honors from MaxPreps in 2020. The 2020 recruiting class was ranked 13th in the country
In 2019-20, Miller led the Hoosiers to a 20-12 mark and was poised to return to the NCAA Tournament before the COVID-19 Pandemic hit. The Hoosiers also finished with a winning record against nationally ranked teams with five victories including wins over Florida State, Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State and Iowa, which was tied for 7th most in the country. IU also improved to 26th in the country in adjusted defense according to KenPom. The team also posted a 3.398 grade point average in the spring semester.
IU also led the Big Ten in free throw attempts and defensive rebounding percentage. Freshman Trayce Jackson-Davis was named third team All-Big Ten by the coaches and media and also selected to the All-Freshman team and was just one of four freshman nationally to lead his team in scoring, rebounds, field goal percentage, free throws made and free throws attempted and blocked shots. In the Big Ten, Jackson-Davis was the top freshman scorer overall and led first-year players in field goal percentage and blocked shots.
In addition, Langford, who was a lottery pick by the Boston Celtics and Juwan Morgan who earned a contract with the Utah Jazz, both began their NBA careers.
In 2018-19, the Hoosiers earned their first national ranking under Miller and were rated as high as 21st in the country in early January. IU earned nationally ranked wins over Michigan State (twice), Marquette (Gavitt Games) and Wisconsin and notched triumphs against Louisville and Butler (Crossroads Classic).
IU finished with 19 wins and won two post season games in the NIT. Morgan and Langford would go on to earn All-Big Ten honors and Langford was named to the USBWA All-District team. Morgan would finish his career 24th on the IU all-time scoring list and also finished eighth in career blocks and 10th in career rebounds. The Hoosiers also improved to 32nd in adjusted defense after finishing 65th in 2017-18. IU also finished 36th in the country in blocked shots.
In his first season at IU, Miller saw the Hoosiers improve dramatically. After seeing IU allow 76 points per game on 45.9 percent shooting and 41.7 percent accuracy from 3-point range in the month of November, IU limited teams to 65.4 points on 41.3 percent shooting from the floor and 33.1 percent from long distance in the month of February.
He saw junior forward Juwan Morgan emerge as the most improved player in the Big Ten adding more than 10 points per game scoring in Big Ten play during the 2017-18 season. Morgan earned second-team All-Big Ten honors and was named All-District by the USBWA and NABC in 2018. Senior Rob Johnson averaged a career-best 14.0 points per game earned honorable mention All-Big-Ten honors his senior year.
Miller is a tireless recruiter, noted developer of talent, and a gifted tactician whose teams are known for their stout defense and efficient offense. His 2018 recruiting class at IU was ranked 7th in the nation after a successful haul of players from the Big Ten footprint.
A native of Beaver Falls, Pa., Miller spent six seasons as head coach at Dayton, where he won Atlantic 10 Conference regular season championships in 2016 and 2017.
He guided the Flyers to a 139-63 record (69.8) and a 68-34 mark (66.7) in the Atlantic 10. He took Dayton to the NCAA Tournament each of the last four years with the Flyers advancing to the Elite Eight in the 2014 Tournament. UD was nationally ranked in three of Miller’s six seasons (2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16).
During their elite eight run, UD topped Ohio State (60-59), Syracuse (55-53) and Stanford (82-72) before falling to Florida (62-52) in the regional finals. In 2015, they defeated Boise State (56-55) and Providence (66-53) and were eliminated by Oklahoma (72-66) in the Sweet Sixteen. In 2016, they were defeated by Final Four participant Syracuse (70-51) in the second round and by Wichita State (64-58) in their first tournament game this season.
Miller is one of five active coaches who had at least five NCAA wins in his first four seasons. The others are Mark Few, Thad Matta, Shaka Smart and Roy Williams. With three NCAA wins in 2014 and another two in 2015, Dayton was one of just six teams to have at least five NCAA tournament wins in those two years. The others were Arizona, UConn, Kentucky, Michigan State and Wisconsin.
For his efforts during the 2016-17 season, he was named Atlantic 10 and NABC District Coach of the Year. He led UD to perform at a championship level despite playing a 2016-17 campaign where the team’s top six scorers missed a total of 32 games during the year due to injury. He also was a finalist for the 2015 Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year Award.
He comes from a family of coaches with his father, John, having guided Archie and his brother Sean at Blackhawk High School in Beaver Falls. His brother Sean has been the head coach at the University of Arizona and also was the head coach at Xavier University. John was one of the country’s top high school coaches when he retired in 2005, with 657 wins in a 35-year coaching career. Archie, Sean and their sister Lisa all played Division I college basketball.
Miller is regarded as a top recruiter – Arizona’s 2011 recruits were a Top 10 class – and game strategist – he was the architect of the Wildcats upset of eighth-ranked Texas to get them to the Sweet 16. He was reunited with his brother during the summer of 2015 on the coaching staff of USA Basketball’s U19 World Championship. When Sean was elevated to the team’s head coach, he turned to his brother to help USA basketball win the gold at the 2015 FIBA U19 World Championship that was held June 27-July 5 in Heraklion, Crete, Greece.
He was a four-year letterwinner at North Carolina State from 1998-2002. A point guard, he is currently third at NC State in career FT% (.846, 165-195), sixth in career 3-pt. FG% (.429, 218-509), and fourth in career threes (218). As a senior, he helped lead the Wolfpack to the finals of the ACC championship game and was named to the all-tournament team. That season was coach Herb Sendek’s first NCAA team at NC State.
As an assistant, Miller coached in the Big Ten, Pac-12 and ACC, where he honed his craft under some of the most respected coaches in the country. He began his coaching career at NC State, serving as a coaching intern under Sendek in 2002-03. Miller then went to Western Kentucky as a full-time member of Darrin Horn’s staff for one season. He returned to NC State, first as Director of Basketball Operations (2004-05), and then as a full-time assistant coach (2005-06). When Sendek went to Arizona State in 2006-07, Miller remained on his coaching staff before joining Thad Matta at Ohio State for two seasons (2007-09). As a coach, he has been part of 20-plus win and NCAA seasons at NC State (2005-06), Ohio State (2008-09), Arizona (2010-11), and Dayton (2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17).
In April, 2015, he joined his father and brother in the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame. Other greats in the Beaver County Hall include Mike Ditka, Tony Dorsett, Terry Francona, Pete and Press Maravich, Joe Namath, Babe Parilli and Norm Van Lier.
Miller earned his bachelor’s degree in Parks, Recreation and Tourism from NC State in 2002. He is married to the former Morgan Nicole Cruse and they have a daughter, Leah.
Austin Carroll enters his fourth season at Rhode Island in 2022-23. He was retained by Archie Miller after spending the three previous years as a member of David Cox' . He joined the program as an assistant coach on Sept. 3, 2019.
Carroll and Miller worked together on Sean Miller's Team USA U19 staff that won the gold medal at the 2015 FIBA World Championships in Greece. In addition to player developing and scouting, he will recruit primarily in the New England area for the Rams.
Carroll came to the Rams after spending the last five seasons on the Arizona staff. During the 2018-19 season, he was promoted to assistant coach after serving as the assistant director of operations for the previous two years, and spent two years as a graduate assistant with the program.
At Arizona, Carroll oversaw video scouting efforts and was responsible for the organization, breakdown, scouting and presentation of game film. He also handled player edits for individual players' use, created recruiting videos and film for coaches' evaluation. The Massachusetts native also helped oversee the program's progress in the classroom.
During his first five seasons with the Wildcats, Arizona was 135-41 with four NCAA Championship appearances and three Pac-12 tournament titles. Arizona reached the Elite 8 in 2015 and the Sweet 16 in 2017.
Carroll is the son of former Rhode Island assistant coach John Carroll.
Christen Cunningham enters his second season at Rhode Island in 2023-24. He first joined Archie Miller's staff as the program’s director of player development in July of 2022. In the summer of 2023, he was promoted to assistant coach.
Cunningham came to Rhode Island from Louisville, where he was a graduate assistant from 2020-22. During his time on staff, he also served as interim director of basketball operations.
Cunningham was a team captain for the Cardinals in 2018-19 as a graduate transfer, averaging 10.1 points and 4.9 assists per game while leading the team to a 20-win season and an NCAA Championship appearance. His 160 assists that year were the most for a Louisville guard in six seasons, and the 11th most in a single season in program history.
The Georgetown, Ky. native was a three-year starter and team captain at Samford before transferring to Louisville. He set Samford’s all-time assist record with 514 and was fifth in the nation with a school-record 225 assists in 2016-17. Cunningham also finished his career 13th on the school’s scoring list with 1,283 career points.
Before beginning his coaching career, Cunningham spent the 2019-20 season playing professionally in the Croatian Premier League and Adriatic Basketball Association.
During his prep career, Cunningham was a first-team Herald-Leader all-city selection as a junior at Henry Clay High School in Lexington, Ky., when he averaged 12.1 points per game. He transferred to Cordia High School in Hazard, Ky., for his senior season, averaging 18.7 points and 5.3 rebounds while leading his team to a 23-9 record. Cunningham played in the 2014 Kentucky-Indiana High School All-Star Game.
Cunningham earned a bachelor’s degree in public administration from Samford in 2018 and a master’s degree in sport administration from Louisville in 2019.
Kenny Johnson is entering his first season at Rhode Island in the 2022-23 season. He was named as an assistant coach by Archie Miller in April of 2022.
Johnson is considered one of the of the top assistant coaches in the country. He joins the staff at Rhode Island after spending the last two years as the head coach and athletic director of nationally ranked National Christian Academy High School in Maryland. Before that he was an assistant coach at LaSalle University (2018-2020), the University of Louisville (2014-2017), Indiana University (2012-2014) and Towson University (2011-2012). He has coached numerous NBA Players including but not limited to Terry Rozier, Montrezl Harrell, Damion Lee, Jordan Nwora, Donovan Mitchell, Victor Oladipo, Cody Zeller, Noah Vonleh, Josh Hart and Jerami Grant.
Johnson is known as a top recruiter on a national level and an elite talent developer. After surveying more than 60 collegiate coaches, an ESPN Insider named Johnson as the nation's 10th best recruiting assistant coach in a 2016 listing.
While at the University of Louisville, Johnson was named Associate HC and helped the program accumulate a record of 75-26, including an Elite 8 run in 2015 and a second-round appearance in 2017. While at Indiana University the program had a combined record of 46-22, while winning the Big Ten Championship, earning a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and reaching the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2013. While at Indiana, Johnson also helped the Hoosiers produce two top 20 recruiting classes, including a top five class in 2013. While an assistant coach at Towson University Johnson helped to assemble a top five mid-major recruiting class. He began his coaching career in 2002 as the associate head coach at Eleanor Roosevelt High School while eventually becoming the associate head coach at Paul IV Catholic High School for four years (2007-11).
While a high school coach, Johnson also served six plus years as a director and head of travel and logistics for the nationally recognized Nike Team Takeover AAU organization and was the head coach of its 16 and under age group during that stint. The program produced over 53 Division I players and 4 future NBA players during his stint there.
Johnson attended Oxon Hill (Md.) High School, where his playing career was cut short due to several knee injuries in his second year of varsity basketball. As a senior at Oxon Hill in 1994, he was named Science and Technology Student of the Year.
He earned his bachelor's degree in Cell, Molecular Biology and Genetics in 1999 at Maryland, where he was a Benjamin Banneker Scholarship recipient. He worked as a protein chemist/molecular biologist at Human Genome Sciences in Rockville, Md. after graduation.
A native of Oxon Hill, Md., Johnson, is currently engaged to his fiancé Montoya and has three sons, Amare, Mekai and Kash and one daughter Akylah.
Ben Sander enters his second year with Rhode Island in the 2023-24 season. He came to the school as Archie Miller's Chief of Staff in April of 2022. In the summer of 2023, he was promoted, adding the title of assistant coach.
Sander spent five seasons at Indiana before coming to Kingston. He worked his way up on the staff, serving as Mike Woodson's director of operations in 2021-22. Sander first arrived in Indiana with Miller as the program's Team and Recruitment Analyst (2017-21). He came to IU after serving as a graduate assistant manager for Miller at Dayton for two years (2015-17).
Before his time at Dayton, Sander was a student manager for Sean Miller's team at Arizona from 2011-15. He served as the head manager in his final two seasons. During his time at Arizona, the Wildcats went 117-29, advanced to the Sweet Sixteen three times, the Elite Eight twice, and won back-to-back Pac-12 Championships.
A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Sander received his Bachelor’s degree in Sports & Society from Arizona in May of 2015. He earned a master's degree in Educational Leadership and Administration from Dayton in December 2017.
Duane Woodward enters his first season at Rhode Island for the 2022-23 season. He was named as an assistant coach by Archie Miller in April of 2022.
A Queens, N.Y., native who has been successful as a collegiate coach and professional basketball player, Woodward came to Rhode Island after four seasons as an assisant coach for Kevin Willard at Seton Hall. Woodward helped the Pirates go 76-47 during his time there, making the NCAA Championship field twice in three possible chances, doing so in 2019 and 2022. The 2019-20 squad finished third in the Big East and was in line for a bid before COVID caused the postseason to be canceled.
Woodward worked with the guards and wings and was a recruiter for the Pirates. He was the primary recruiter for 6-5 shooting guard Jaquan Sanders, who chose Seton Hall over the likes of Pitt, Connecticut, Creighton and St. John’s. In his first campaign with Seton Hall, Woodward helped The Hall to a fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, which tied a program record. Working with the team's wings, Woodward helped develop Myles Cale in his sophomore campaign to become the team's second-leading scorer.
Woodward's impact was felt even more in his second year of 2019-20, when he assisted Willard in leading The Hall to one of the program's best-ever seasons, which included a 21-9 record, a national ranking as high as No. 8 and a share of the BIG EAST regular season championship, the program's first since 1993. Woodward's work with wing Jared Rhoden was evident as Rhoden made a huge jump in his sophomore year to lead the team in rebounding and finish fourth in the BIG EAST in conference-only three-point shooting.
In his third season, Woodward continued to work with Rhoden, who increased his scoring average by six points per game and earned first-team All-Met honors and was named to the BIG EAST Championship All-Tournament team.
Woodward had a successful four-year run at Monmouth as an assistant coach, helping the Hawks to two of the program’s most successful seasons ever that resulted in MAAC regular season championships. In 2015-16, Monmouth went 28-8 with wins over UCLA, USC, Notre Dame, Georgetown and Rutgers, earned an automatic bid into the NIT and advanced to the tournament’s second round. In 2016-17, the Hawks went 27-7 and again earned an NIT auto bid.
Woodward was a major factor in recruiting, scouting and player development at Monmouth. Primarily working with the guards, he helped develop Micah Seaborn into the 2016 MAAC Rookie of the Year and then into an All-MAAC first teamer in 2017. Woodward also had a hand in developing two-time MAAC Player of the Year and Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention Justin Robinson, one of only two 2,000-point scorers in Monmouth history. And Woodward played a role in helping Deion Hammond to a unanimous selection to the MAAC All-Rookie team in 2018.
Woodward got his collegiate coaching start with stints at SUNY Maritime (assistant coach, 2012-13), Queens College (assistant coach, 2013) and Fordham (assistant video coordinator, 2013-14). He also had tremendous success as an AAU coach with the New York Panthers for five years, serving as the head coach of the 16U juniors and assistant coach of the 17U seniors, alongside the program’s director Gary Charles.
Woodward had a long and successful playing career in Europe over the course of 13 years, playing in 10 different countries. During his tenure in the Cyprus League for AEL Limassol, Woodward helped lead AEL to back-to-back championships in 2003 and 2004 and was named Eurobasket.com All-Cyprus League Player of the Year and All-Cyprus League First Team, as well as the 2004 Eurobasket.com All-FIBA EuropeLeague Player of the Year. Woodward was also named to the 2008 Eurobasket.com Cyprus League All-Imports Team, and was a two-time All Star during his tenure in Europe.
Woodward is no stranger to the BIG EAST Conference, having played his collegiate ball at Boston College from 1994-98. Woodward was a four-year starter for the Eagles and helped the team to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances and first-round wins from 1996-97. In ’97, Woodward and the Eagles won a share of the BIG EAST regular season championship and then went on to win the BIG EAST Tournament title. Woodward was named to the BIG EAST All-Tournament team after posting 13 points and seven assists in the title game win over Villanova. He capped his collegiate career by earning second-team All-BIG EAST honors in 1998, when he averaged 15.6 points, 5.1 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game.
Woodward is a member of Coaches For Action, which brought together 21 BIG EAST assistant men's basketball coaches together on a shared mission to use the platform of athletics to educate and bring awareness to social injustices.
He is a 1998 graduate of Boston College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in marketing.
Chandler Graves joined the Rhode Island staff as the director of basketball operations in August of 2023.
He came to Rhode Island from Northern Illinois, where he spent the 2022-23 season as a graduate assistant video coordinator for head coach Rashon Burno. Before that, Graves spent a season at UC Santa Barbara under head coach Joe Pasternack, assisting in all aspects of the Gauchos program, including video and player development.
In coming to Rhode Island, Graves is working with head coach Archie Miller for the second time in his career. He was a student manager for two seasons with Miller at Indiana, where Graves also interned for one year with Indiana Director of Athletic Performance Clif Marshall.
A native of Connersville, Ind., Graves also interned at DistinXion, A Zeller Family Program, under former Notre Dame basketball standout Luke Zeller.
Graves earned his bachelor’s degree from Indiana in Sport Marketing and Management. He also has his master’s degree from UC Santa Barbara in Education.