Oral Roberts coach tapped as next men’s head basketball coach

was relieved of his duties.

BY TRINITY RAMM Sports@thesunflower.com

Former Oral Roberts men’s basketball head coach Paul Mills will become the 27th head men’s basketball coach at Wichita State, as announced by Wichita State Athletics on March 22. Mills and athletic director Kevin Saal will officially announce

MILLS

Mills as head coach at a ceremony on March 23 at 3:30 p.m. in Charles Koch Arena. The event is free to attend. Mills led Oral Roberts to two NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournaments. The Golden Eagles made a Cinderella run in 2021 to the Sweet Sixteen as a No. 15 seed, taking down No. 2 Ohio State and No. 7 Florida.

During the 2022-23 campaign, Oral Roberts went 30-5 overall and 18-0 in Summit League play. They were the No. 12 seed in the East

Region and lost in the first round to No. 5 Duke.

In his six seasons at Oral Roberts, Mills went 106-83 overall.

Before he came to Oral Roberts in 2017, Mills spent 14 years on Scott Drew’s coaching staff at Baylor as an assistant.

Wichita State used Parker Executive Search, the same search firm that hired Saal last summer, to help fill the position for a $60,000 fee. Mills was hired 11 days after former head coach Isaac Brown

In an email from the athletic department, Saal thanked Brown for his “contribution to Wichita State Men’s Basketball.”

Wichita State still has to pay Brown the remaining $4 million of his contract, meaning he would receive $108,000 every month until April 2026 if not hired at another school.

This is in addition to the $5,478,846 that the athletic department still owes former athletic director Darren Boatright, former baseball head coach Eric Wedge and former men’s head basketball coach Gregg Marshall.

Brown has been with the program since 2014 when he was hired as an assistant coach under Marshall.

In November 2020, Brown was named interim head coach after Marshall resigned and was signed to a five-year deal in February 2021.