No Limit: Can Rap Mogul Master P Really Become An Elite Basketball Coach

You are Arizona State athletics head Graham Rossini, much of a forward-thinking sports executive than a classical field administrator. The Sun Devils hoops squad person conscionable staggered done different middling season, missing nan NCAA tourney for a 3rd consecutive year. You’ve conscionable fired coach Bobby Hurley, but nan vacancy isn’t what anyone successful nan athletics would telephone coveted – not compared to a blue-blood programme for illustration Duke aliases Kentucky, aliases moreover nan cross-state rival Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball, standard-bearer of nan aged Pac-10.

You could prosecute different hardwood leader for illustration Hurley, a Duke Blue Devils men’s hoops supervillain whose winning pedigree arsenic a subordinate surfaced only successful flashes complete 11 uneven years connected nan sideline. You could move to a tv retread, personification angling for a return to nan chair and a larger stage. You could springiness immoderate young striver a large break. Or you could do thing other wholly – thing large and bold: You could springiness Percy Robert Miller a shot.

Miller is nary kin to Sean, nan longtime Arizona coach now operating nan sideline astatine nan University of Texas, aliases Reggie, nan legendary long-distance shooter turned long-winded broadcaster. He is Master P – nan camo-clad, Southern drawling, Grammy-winning emcee who put nan New Orleans rap segment connected nan representation astatine nan move of nan century. The gambler who parlayed a $10,000 aesculapian malpractice colony from his grandfather’s decease into No Limit Records, 1 of nan astir consequential independent labels successful hip-hop. The hustler who pressed his ain CDs, sold them from his car and went platinum galore times over. The entrepreneur who utilized nan commercialized occurrence of smash hits for illustration Bout It, Bout It, Make ‘Em Say Uhh! and I Got nan Hook-Up! arsenic nan instauration for a sprawling business empire that astatine 1 constituent included a film-making division, a recreation agency and No Limit Communications – a cellphone subsidiary inspired by I Got nan Hook-Up! that spawned 2 much discs for Miller to transportation from nan trunk.

Now, earlier scoffing astatine nan thought of turning your sputtering hoops programme complete to a feline who famously drove a vessel connected to a packed court, you whitethorn wonder: is he moreover available? In what will surely travel arsenic a newsflash to many, nan 55-year-old announced past twelvemonth that he was retiring from euphony to go an adjunct coach and nan president of hoops operations astatine nan University of New Orleans, a bottom-tier Division I program. After helping nan Privateers notch 15 wins – a marked turnaround for a squad hardly a twelvemonth removed from a points-shaving scandal – Miller is fresh to level up.

Miller began stirring nan cookware successful February, telling TMZ that he was drafting liking from respective programs for caput coaching and wide head positions. With Hurley’s coaching spot hardly cooled, Miller told nan Sporting News this week that he was astir willing successful nan Arizona State vacancy – which, to beryllium clear, hasn’t been reciprocated truthful far. “Times are changing,” Miller told TMZ. “People don’t want nan accepted coaches immoderate more. They want coaches who are going to deliberation extracurricular nan box.” Don’t fto his overconfidence put you off. Miller’s hoops resume is really a batch longer than it looks.

In betwixt building his rap empire, Miller pursued an NBA career, his seven-year odyssey done various insignificant leagues culminating successful preseason tryouts pinch Charlotte, Toronto, Denver and Sacramento. (Miller was slated to play assemblage hoops astatine Houston until a superior knee wounded forced a pivot into entertainment.) His talent compared to astir rapper turned hoopers was cemented successful nan 2008 NBA All-Star personage game, wherever he scored 17 points against nan likes of Common (better astatine acting for illustration a hooper, spot Just Wright) and Deion Sanders. His jumper is still wet. Miller helped his boy Romeo – AKA Lil Romeo, a 5ft 11in rapper turned constituent defender whose only existent scouting buzz came from his personage dada – onshore a coveted danasiwa astatine USC, wherever he logged conscionable 19 minutes crossed 2 seasons.

If immoderate portion of that past condemnation seems for illustration it should instantly disqualify Miller from coaching Arizona State, consider: he only finagled that spot astatine conference-rival USC for Romeo aft helping nan Trojans onshore DeMar DeRozan, nan top-rated precocious schoolhouse imaginable Miller coached successful AAU. Lance Stephenson and Brandon Jennings came done nan aforesaid program, and each 3 went connected to NBA stardom. Miller’s younger boy Mercy – a 6ft 4in defender – is simply a highly regarded sophomore contributor connected a University of Houston squad looking to avenge last year’s nationalist last loss. In December, Mercy scored a career-high 15 points successful a blowout win complete New Orleans pinch Coach Percy watching from nan Privateers bench, pridefulness and vexation knotting his face. Another son, Hercy, transferred to play for dada again aft injury-riddled stops astatine Tennessee State, Louisville and Utah State. In betwixt managing nan P Miller Ballers, his AAU squad’s actual name, Miller launched a sports agency that represented nan prima NFL moving backmost Ricky Williams and NBA champion Jason Terry.

With Miller, you’re not conscionable getting a coach. You’re getting personification who knows from acquisition what it’s for illustration to commencement retired mediocre and Black, abruptly beryllium overwhelmed by life-changing wealthiness arsenic a young man and past thrust into an awkward domiciled arsenic caput of household. (Miller had his full family connected nan No Limit payroll astatine 1 point.) You’re getting a hype man, fresh to jolt a fanbase excessively numbed by caller results to revel successful its bygone estimation as nan nation’s No 1 statement school. And you’re getting a maestro marketer who sees nan vision, 1 who won’t rotation his eyes astatine transportation decks reimagining Arizona State arsenic a “lifestyle brand” but alternatively dives consecutive into building retired nan brainstorm. (Imagine nan camo gear!) The Xs and Os? That’s what a unit is for, and Miller would astir apt person his prime of eager deputies, not slightest a cadre of talented Black assistants who whitethorn different beryllium passed complete astatine this level.

In nan era of name, image and likeness, coaching has go a fundraising game, and Miller has already been lauded for making nan astir of nan Privateers’ comparatively meager slush fund. Put his fiscal prudence together pinch his entrepreneurial tone and world celebrity, and you person a imaginable 2nd coming of Coach Prime, nan University of Colorado rainmaker whose seismic impact Arizona State has already felt wrong its ain conference. “What I for illustration astir it is he brought much students to [Colorado],” Miller told TMZ. “If I usage nan hoops squad to thief get much students into nan school, past that’s erstwhile I consciousness for illustration we’d person made it. It’s not conscionable astir wins and losses.”

That’s not to opportunity Miller would needfully beryllium a slam-dunk hire. Many thought erstwhile NBA All-Star Penny Hardaway could reconstruct nan University of Memphis to nan heights it reached erstwhile he was a standout player, but nan results person been maddeningly inconsistent astatine best. And Coach Prime, of course, was a prima successful assemblage and nan pros and spent 3 seasons cutting his teeth astatine Jackson State earlier jumping to Colorado. But successful immoderate ways, Miller’s deficiency of top-level acquisition could make him little of a bet – and perchance easier to fresh nether nan Sun Devils’ fund cap. Like Sanders, you could motion him to a humble statement to commencement and fto his results find whether he’s worthy more. And if it doesn’t activity out? Hey, you’re nary worse for deterioration – nan shot squad is pointed successful nan correct direction, and nan women’s hoops and tennis teams person been revitalized nether intrepid caller leadership.

So why not return a flyer connected Miller? He’s sewage game, swag and nan benignant of power to make Arizona State a nationalist phenomenon. You could walk nan remainder of your profession wishing you’d taken nan chance, aliases you could conscionable beryllium bout it bout it.