‘I could not be more excited:’ Wes Miller’s vision for 49ers

CHARLOTTE ATHLETICS

Charlotte basketball coach Wes Miller met fans and supporters at his introductory press conference March 25, 2026, at Halton Arena. Miller, who grew up in North Carolina and coached at UNC Greensboro, joined the 49ers after five seasons at Cincinnati.

A new era has begun for Charlotte basketball. 

The 49ers welcomed new coach Wes Miller to Halton Arena Wednesday, and in front of fans, donors, alumni and media, Miller — who had notes in hand — went off the cuff.

“I am completely overwhelmed by this,” he said, “by all of you guys showing up. I don’t know if I had an expectation, but if I did, it wasn’t this. I’m sitting here thinking about this crowd right here for a press conference, and the next thing I’m thinking about is how we’re going to get Halton Arena full, if we can do this for a press conference.”

Miller said he is pumped to be Charlotte’s coach. His mother lives here and growing up, he attended Charlotte Country Day.

“[I am] fired up more than I’ve ever been to be the head coach at Charlotte,” Miller said. “Like, I could not be more excited. And I don't know how to express that well enough today, but it’s not an energy that’s going to dissipate here in a day or a week or a month. It’s a real, genuine energy that I think I can carry day after day, year after year.”

Why Charlotte?

After spending the last five seasons at Cincinnati, Miller found himself in an unusual spot. He was jobless and looking at where he could coach next. After the first Zoom conversation with UNC Charlotte Chancellor Sharon Gaber, Miller said he was surprised by the passion, enthusiasm alignment of her vision and athletics director Kevin White. 

“I keep hearing this term about UNC Charlotte as a university and sleeping giant,” Miller said, “I keep hearing sleeping giant. And I did the Zoom with Chancellor Gaber, and I got off the Zoom; her energy blew me away. For the leader of the university to have that level of energy, it just absolutely came through the screen first and foremost, and her vision blew me away. And then I could tell from the many conversations that I had with Kevin, the alignment of that energy and vision. So, I hung up the phone and I went, ‘There's no sleeping giant, there’s a giant that’s waking up.’” 

Miller added that he wanted to go where the university leadership values athletics, men’s basketball specifically. 

“What I was so excited about with the opportunity here is that Chancellor Gaber and Kevin see men’s basketball as one of the many facets of the university that can be a part of that ascension and a part of that rise,” he said. “And I wanted to be somewhere where it was aligned from the leadership all the way down with the role and the importance of athletics and of men’s basketball, to a university.”

How to put Charlotte on the basketball map

Fans and alumni are probably tired of hearing it, but the 49ers have not made the NCAA tournament since 2005 when Miller was winning the national title as a player at North Carolina. 

Miller is energized to change that narrative. 

“This program was in the NCAA tournament year after year,” Miller said. “It was nationally competitive, and so there’s a great tradition. I was born in 1983, so ‘77 is a little before my time with the Final Four. But whether it's Cornbread Maxwell and the Final Four, Jeff Mullins, Melvin Watkins, Bobby Lutz and countless players.

“Jobey Thomas was my favorite. He probably doesn’t even know me, but when I was a kid in Charlotte, Jobey Thomas was like a hero to me. There’s countless players, there’s history and there’s tradition here, and there are not many places in college basketball [like it]. It’s always been important to me to be able to coach places like that.”

Although the NCAA tournament is still going on, Miller said the plan is to hit the ground running.

“It's early now, but we'll get to work on that right away,” he said. “First and foremost, to meet with the current players and make sure to get a sense for them. I’ve been watching a lot of film on them. [I have] certainly watched them on TV a handful of times throughout the year. So, player meetings with these guys, and then after that, it’s getting the staff assembled as quickly as possible. We’ve already done a couple things. They’ll be announced here soon, but I’d like to have a staff in place as soon as possible so we can get things off the ground.”

Miller considers North Carolina as the basketball state and some of the best players and coaches have connections to it. Having built the UNC Greensboro program into a championship caliber team, he understands the value in local recruiting. 

He plans on doing the same in Charlotte.

“We built first from the radius of this, where we’re in Greensboro within this state,” Miller said of his approach. “We'll do the exact same thing here at Charlotte. It’ll start our recruiting efforts with the current players, but then when we start to build out our recruiting strategy, let’s start with North Carolina. This state is, I think you could ask any college coach in America, any scout in America, it’s one of the best states for talent, for coaching, high school coaching, grassroots coaching in America. I feel confident in that, because I’ve been here and been a part of it for a long time.”

This article corrects Wes Miller's previous coaching job before Charlotte.

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