Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
Via Titus Wilkinson of The Spear
Tim Miles has turned San Jose State men’s basketball from Hamburger Helper to filet mignon.
Unfortunately, he served it to a fan base that didn’t have the appetite for it.
For what could be the last time.
He inherited a program that went 20-93 in its previous four seasons, had never won a post season game and within two years, after beating Colorado State 63-46 on Tuesday night, clinched its 18th win. The program’s most in a single season since 1981.
Miles is a million dollar man who’s getting minimum wage fan support.
So what’s keeping from leaving San Jose to accept an embarrassment of riches from a Power 5 program this spring?
When asked about having a shamefully low 2,347 fans show up, Miles said, “I think we really need to do that post season. Lets have a good reflection post season. Tonight I want to enjoy this.”
The Spartans draw the second-lowest amount of fans per game in the Mountain West at 2,181. Nearly a 2,000 person separation between SJSU and Wyoming who’s third-lowest. Except the Cowboys are last in the conference while SJSU is on the precipice of finishing top five and clinching a bye in the Mountain West Tournament.
So when this off-season comes around, who can blame Miles if he decides to transition from figuratively being the million dollar man to actually being a million dollar man.
There’s a program an hour an hour up north who’d be happy to knock him upside the head with a seven-figure contract in Cal Berkeley.
The Golden Bears would be elated for Miles to replace current head coach Mark Fox who’s likely to be fired after Cal’s 3-26 season while posting a low attendance number of 2,155 fans per game.
They need a guy like Miles who’s shown he can rebuild programs at every level in college basketball.
The man nicknamed himself ‘Coach F.E.M.A.’ One of the rare instances where a self-given nickname isn’t cringeworthy and applaudable.
When asked was about the reports linking him to Cal, Miles’ face didn’t sour or harden. It remained upbeat.
“I’ve had no contact with any other program,” he said, “I’m completely focused on our team.”
Sharing that his son Gabe texted him about it asking him it’s true.
To which he replied, “I’m like, ‘I don’t know. No one’s talking to me kid.”
However, money talks.
At when it comes to budgets, mums the word from SJSU. For now at least.
The Spartans still practice in a basketball gym used for P.E. classes. Donors can’t donate quite like those at some Power Five schools that might be reaching out. In today’s college sports landscape, donors are essential now more than ever to offer lucrative NIL deals.
SJSU also still flys commercial.
Can’t fault lack of donor and fan support in the past. But now they deserve first class treatment.
Problem is, they’ll likely be losing the man who piloted them to this historic season:
Omari Moore.
Moore was one of three Spartans honored during the pregame ceremony for SJSU’s senior night and while he does have an option to return, there’s little chance he does. If so, its a shame no one saw him ripping threes in the second-half to seal a win.
“One of the greatest players that San Jose State has ever seen,” Miles hailed him after the game.
Moore remained loyal to the soil that offered him is only scholarship four years ago and he became a face of something that will go down in college basketball lore.
Miles jokingly said after the win, “I think he even has an option to comeback if he wants to so he can really do it big.”
Just like Miles, no one can fault Moore for moving on and enjoying the fruits of his labor elsewhere next season.
The sentiment from Moore is that he’s ready to depart from SJSU:
The biggest blunder of the barren wasteland that is Provident Credit Union Event Center is that there’s no student section. Even with all the hype leading up to the game and how SJSU is in position to run the table in the Mountain West Tournament and compete in the NIT.
A non-existent student section is a faux pas that’s parallel to breaking wind in a tightly crammed elevator.
For a team this good and this historic, that just can’t be the case.
Maybe SJSU isn’t build to harbor an energy that can hit in the same league as UNM’s The Pit, SDUS’s Viejas Arena or CSU’s Moby Arena, amongst other schools.
As a student, I wonder how many of my classmates can even spell “NIT.”
If Miles decides to leave there’s no guarantee he can work his ‘Hamburger Helper to filet mignon’ magic at the next school.
However, I can guarantee that the student section won’t contain just one lonely duck.