Mohegan — There are surely Connecticut Sun basketball fans asking, “Who is Curt Miller?" the man who was formally announced as the team’s new head coach Thursday morning.

They aren’t the only ones.

“Over the talk of this (coaching) search, we talked to a lot of basketball aficionados and experts in the industry,” Sun general manager Chris Sienko said. “One of those was (UConn women's basketball coach) Geno Auriemma. At that time, we were talking about some of our candidates. He mentioned Curt Miller.

“Curt Miller wasn’t even in our pool of candidates or on our radar at the time.”

Miller, 47, was introduced as Connecticut’s third head coach at a press conference at the Cabaret Theatre at Mohegan Sun. He was signed to a two-year contract with a team option for a third. He becomes the first openly gay male head coach in North American pro sports.

“When we started the search process, we were looking for specific qualities for the Sun’s next coach,” Mohegan Sun senior advisor Mitchell Etess said. “The more we talked to Curt Miller and spoke to people about Curt Miller, the more we realized he was the perfect fit and possessed all the qualities, on and off the court, that we were looking for.”

Miller inherits a team that has stockpiled young talent (the Sun have the third overall pick in this year’s draft), but has been cursed by an extraordinary number of injuries in addition to inexperience.

“Looking at the roster, in particular a young roster, is very enticing,” Miller said. “I told (management), ‘I know rebuilding. I walked into two programs that really needed to be rebuilt, and I shared with them that I don’t think this is a rebuilding situation.

“We’ll continue to build and enhance our roster, but there’s a lot of fun pieces to begin with.”

Miller is known for rebuilding programs. He built Bowling Green into a Mid-American Conference power and won five tournament titles. His 2006-07 Falcons were the first MAC team to reach the Sweet 16.

Miller went to Indiana in 2012 and took over a program that was 6-24. The Hoosiers won 11 games his first season. They set a program record with 14 straight wins to open the following season, tied a program record for wins (21) and advanced to the WNIT quarterfinals. He left after the 2014 season, citing health and family issues. He suffered a mild stroke during a January, 2012 game.

“Ironically, I had my stroke yelling at an official with a 30-point lead,” Miller said. “That will never change in me, that fire and passion.”

Los Angeles Sparks head coach Brian Agler hired Miller as an assistant last season. He said Miller is innovative and that the Sparks incorporated some of his system into theirs last season. Agler attended Thursday’s press conference as a show of support.

“I’m happy for Connecticut. I’m happy for Curt. I’m happy for our league because we’ve got another really good coach in our league,” Agler said.

Miller said his system features an up-tempo offense he helped develop as an associate head coach at Colorado State.

“We walked into a timeframe when Becky Hammon was the star guard,” Miller said. “I don’t believe I’m a head coach without that success at Colorado State. To this day, I still credit Becky Hammon for allowing me to become a head coach.

“We want to play an attacking style of offense. We want to be up-tempo, which is also fan-friendly. … And I’m very much a big proponent of 3-point shooting. So one of the things I think we’ll consistently look at it is we’ll try to enhance our overall 3-point shooting as a program.”

Miller said he knew he wanted to be a head coach at a young age. He developed a great respect for the women’s game because his older sister, Lori, was a star player at Girard (Pa.)High School.

Miller considers himself a film junkie, which once led to some odd sleeping arrangements.

“For about six or seven years, I slept in my walk-in closet because I didn’t want to disrupt people because I’d wake up in the middle of the night and watch more film,” Miller said. “I do sleep in a bed again.

“I was once told by my staff that I needed more hobbies and I thought I had all sorts of hobbies, but basketball is my hobby."

n.griffen@theday.com

Twitter: @MetalNED

What They're Saying About Curt Miller

“I just think he deals with players really well. He gets them to commit to a certain style of play. There’s a little bit of variety in his system of play. I think it makes players better and I think that is something that I’ve always been impressed with and I think that is something that is going to help him in the WNBA. He makes players better. The Sun have a young roster. He’s a great teacher and I think that is going to be a good match between him and the young players on the roster.”

— Geno Auriemma, UConn women's basketball coach 

“A big part of coaching is really selling what you are doing and believing in what you are doing and knowing how to coach it. And he definitely can do that.”

— Brian Agler, Los Angeles Sparks coach

“Curt Miller-coached teams are always very strong and efficient offensively. When you think of coach Miller, you think of his ability to get good shots for his players."

— Doug Bruno, DePaul women's basketball head coach