After six seasons, Paul Mills is leaving Oral Roberts to become the head coach at Wichita State.
“I’m just so grateful for the opportunity here — so grateful to the city of Tulsa, to (athletic director) Tim Johnson and the president, and to our players,” Mills told the Tulsa World on Tuesday night. “I told the players how grateful I am for their commitment.”
Mills met with his team late in the afternoon to inform them of his departure, a meeting he described as somber. Johnson was present along with university president Billy Wilson when Mills confirmed he accepted the Wichita State offer.
On Wednesday morning, Wichita State announced the hire. Mills will be formally introduced Thursday afternoon.
“My family and I are extremely excited about being a part of Wichita State University,” Mills said in a university news release. “The rich history, winning tradition and unbelievable community support will keep us working on behalf of the GREATEST fans in all of college basketball. We can’t wait!”
The Summit League coach of the year, Mills compiled a 106-84 record and went to the NCAA Tournament twice. He had six years left on his contract after receiving an extension in 2021 following ORU’s memorable Sweet Sixteen run as a No. 15 seed that upset Ohio State and Florida and became the tournament Cinderella.
This year, ORU won a program-best 30 games, set attendance records and went 21-0 against Summit League opponents as the only team in the country to go unbeaten in conference play. The season ended last week with a 74-51 loss to Duke in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, a defeat that concluded a 17-game win streak.
Mills brought in Max Abmas, one of the top players in program history, and the team’s success under Mills led to money being donated for the $15 million Mike Carter Athletic Center, a state-of-the-art practice facility opening next month.
Asked this week about the possibility of Mills being linked to coaching vacancies, Johnson said: “I’m not necessarily stressed about it, but we don’t want to be reactionary. We want to be prepared for any road we might have to go down.
“We want Paul Mills to know how much we love him. He definitely knows that. We want him to be the coach here for 20 more years.”
Wichita State, which plays in the American Athletic Conference as a league rival to ORU crosstown rival Tulsa, parted ways two weeks ago with Isaac Brown, who went 48-34 in three seasons. Mills is believed to have been in the mix at Texas Tech, but the process at Wichita State moved faster and produced an offer.
The Shockers are a non-football school with a storied basketball program that has made 16 NCAA Tournament appearances and twice played in the Final Four, most recently in 2013 under Gregg Marshall. That was a goal for Mills at ORU.
“I tell all these guys when you recruit them, when you bring them in, we’re trying to get a team that’s good enough to play in a Final Four,” Mills said last week. “You’ve seen it in Wichita State, VCU, Loyola Chicago just a few years ago; everybody is aware of George Mason. But you are trying to build a program that’s good enough to be in a Final Four.”
A 50-year-old originally from Houston, Mills spent 14 seasons as a Baylor assistant before being hired at ORU in 2017 as a replacement for Scott Sutton. Since Day 1, Mills was open about his faith, an ideal fit at the Christian university.
“We are going to put a good product on the court,” Mills said at his introductory news conference. “And as we put this good product on the court, people are going to pay attention to it. Men are going to see this good product and we are going to praise our father who is in heaven.”
Photos: ORU's season ends with 74-51 loss to Duke in NCAA Tournament first round