By Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Spear Reporter | Photo via SJSU Athletics
Tim Miles paused and pondered: ‘What moment with Omari Moore would I frame in my office?’
Eventually, Miles landed on Moore right after he notched a 26-point double-double to lead SJSU to its first-ever Mountain West Tournament win last season. His performance hushed critics who felt he didn’t deserve the 2022-23 Mountain West Player of the Year award. “It’s an easy one to visualize,” said Miles, the 2022-23 Mountain West Coach of the Year.
But with Moore now in the pros, Miles will no longer see that post-win smile. Something flashed often as Moore shepherded SJSU to its most successful season of all time. As Miles enters his third year at SJSU, can he keep the program’s unheralded upswing in motion? Or will Moore’s absence and the program’s currently invisible NIL presence clip his wings?
“You either adapt or die,” said Miles, who’s cultivated a slew of rebuilds.
‘The NIL Leap‘
During this last recruiting cycle, Miles realized SJSU’s lack of NIL was inescapable and felt recruitment calls were, “almost completely transactional.” Dollars washed over the fact Miles guided SJSU to its first 20-win season since 1981 and first postseason win of all time.
“There had to be a certain dollar amount that you had to arrive at to attract the guy because almost everywhere else – at least in our league – he was going to be able to find an NIL deal,” Miles said.
With SJSU’s Blue and Gold NIL collective still in its infancy, Miles persuaded recruits to not “think small.”
Which meant pivoting to SJSU where they can eventually sign a pro contract that might be “three times, 10 times” the size of an NIL deal offered by a competing school.
But like clockwork, Miles’ rebuttal zipped over recruits heads like an airmailed chest pass.
“That mentality only goes so far for people. It’s hard to turn down real money,” Miles said.
Such a predicament is why outsiders scratched their heads at Miles, a former Big 10 Coach of the Year, heading westward to take over SJSU: a program that had just one winning season since 1993-94.
The perpetual struggles largely stemmed from not landing talented recruits because of outdated facilities and an operating budget that couldn’t afford chartered flights.
Miles says now “NIL money has quickly kind of leaped in front of those things.”
According to the Las Vegas Sun, Mountain West foes New Mexico and Nevada boast NIL Collectives worth north of $1 million and UNLV clocked in last summer between “$500,000 to $600,000.”
Nonetheless, SJSU rose 52 spots from 170 to 118 in 247 Sports’ recruiting class rankings. Largely because of the Spartans lone transfer portal addition Adrame Diongue, a sophomore and former four-star center at Washington State.
The Omari Moore void
Just like Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, Miles must prove he can succeed without his best player. Considering what Moore meant to SJSU, comparing him to Tom Brady isn’t entirely crazy.
In 2021-22, Miles’ first year with Moore, he led SJSU in points (13.2), rebounds (5.5) and assists (4.6) and led the Spartans to eight wins, the program’s most since 2016-17. Moore could’ve parlayed it into transferring to a bigger and better program. Instead, he opted to return to SJSU, the only school to offer him out of high school.
The result was almost single-handedly guiding SJSU to its best season and first double-digit win conference campaign since 1994. Clinching it on Moore’s miraculous buzzer-beating chase down block at Air Force to help SJSU overcome a 20-point halftime deficit. Not too bad, right? Well it gets better because he paired it with a 33-point performance.
Moore finished his iconic season by leading SJSU in points (17.4) and assists (4.8) and departed fifth all-time in scoring (1,312) and fifth in assists (429).
Credit goes to Miles’ predecessor Jean Prioleau for landing Moore. With that said, Miles deserves kudos for retaining and developing him.
Third-year leap
But the void goes beyond Moore.
SJSU enters this season without three members of last year’s starting five. A personification of steadiness, the Spartans were one of a handful of teams to use the same starting five all year long.
The other two are forward grad-transfer Sage Tolbert and center Ibrahima Diallo (transferred to UCF). The pair helped SJSU climb from the 330th in rebound margin in 2021-22, to finishing sixth nationwide last year.
Now Diongue needs to fill in for Diallo and exhibit the ferocity down low that made him a top-45 recruit two years ago. Not the freshman who averaged less than two points and boards per game in the PAC-12.
However, a bigger focus should be placed on junior point guard Alvaro Cardenas, three-point marksmen junior Tibet Gorener and senior Trey Anderson and junior scoring guard Myron “MJ” Amey. The remaining recruits from Miles’s first recruiting class three years ago.
With Moore no longer by his side, Cardenas will have to shoot more while being more efficient simultaneously. Last year, Cardenas was the only Spartan besides Moore, who averaged double figures. But he did so on a 36.2 shooting percentage.
Gorener and Anderson, both former highly touted recruits who transferred to SJSU from Power Five schools, need to display more consistency from deep. While Anderson started all 18 conference games last year, he made just 12 three-pointers. Gorener, meanwhile, had only multiple threes in back-to-back conference games once.
As for Amey, a nagging injury last season barred him from revealing if he was a consistent scorer.
Should they rise to the challenge, Miles shows he can recruit and develop talent he didn’t inherit. Something that gives undeniable proof to donors SJSU men’s basketball is a worthwhile investment.
Is Tim Miles the aberration?
Outside of Stuart Inman in 1966, no SJSU men’s basketball head coach ended with a .500 record. Matter of fact, since 1938, no SJSU head coach has fulfilled the same duty at a different school for at least two years.
Is Miles the next head coach to be figuratively wheeled out of SJSU on a stretcher, blanketed by a white bedsheet? History says yes. SJSU’s lack of resources and NIL to help replace Moore’s production may also point toward yes.
However, when speaking to Miles, it’s easy to see how Moore evolved from no-star recruit into an SJSU Mount Rushmore figure. Miles’ passion and optimism is palpable – if not infectious. Such confidence can only come from someone who’s led rebuilds at every rung the NCAA has to offer. Which is why it’s also easy to look past the fact Miles came to SJSU a few years after being fired from Nebraska.
So is he perfect? No. But would SJSU thrive with – more likely obtain – someone who is? Also, likely no.
Someone like Miles, who’s overcome setbacks and thrives in difficult scenarios, is why he may be the aberration. Whether he is or isn’t may hinge upon this season.
“The tiniest acorn planted grows the mightiest oak,” Miles began. “I feel like we have some mighty oak collectives out there right now. But we’re still the tiny acorn, right? So it’s going to take time, it’s going to take some TLC [tender, love and care], it’s going to take some water, it’s gonna take a lot of cash for us to get there, but we can grow into that big oak. There’s no doubt.”