Texas Longhorns General Manager Talks New Era of Men's Basketball

Once completing his on-court career, he joined the staff as a student assistant coach and moved to administrative roles until 2008. Ogden then became a full-time assistant and was a bench presence for the Longhorns until Barnes was fired in 2015. After time as an assistant at Tennessee with Barnes and Texas Tech with Beard, as well as the head coaching gig at UT Arlington, Ogden returned to Texas in 2021.

In an exclusive interview on the Burnt Orange Sports Network, Ogden overviewed what the program-building process has looked like over the past weeks once Miller was appointed.

“Because of the nature of the dates of the transfer portal and what it is, we’re diving all the way in and trying to put a team together in a matter of 20 days," Ogden said. "All the craziness that normally goes into a coaching change, well, multiply that because now you are at these deadlines of the House settlement and getting players and (the) portal. And, by the way, the NCAA tournament still going on. It was bananas."

In the current landscape of college athletics, a coaching change can mean a rebuild. Ogden experienced this in the transition from Terry to Miller.

The Longhorns have four returners -- Tramon Mark, Jordan Pope, Chendall Weaver and Nic Codie -- but Ogden explained it took work to get them to stay due to their unfamiliarity with the new coaching regime. Two players -- Dailyn Swain and Lassina Traore -- followed Miller from Xavier to Texas, but that was also not automatic because other schools were contending for them. Every part of roster accumulation is a project.

“Once we got those six on board, you at least had some form of retention that you could build around," Ogden said. "And then we just started adding and we are really excited about the group we’ve added because I think seven of our eight rotational guys have played and won NCAA Tournament games, which is huge. And then all of our transfers have multiple years, so at least now you could build a program.”

In addition to Swain and Traore, the additions of Camden Heide from Purdue, Matas Vokietaitis from Flordia Atlantic and Simeon Wilcher from St. John's has given Texas the 21st-ranked portal class, according to 247Sports. Texas also has the commitment of 4-star John Clark. And, there are still roster spots and time remaining.

Through hectic times, the stability brought by Miller to start this new era is an indication to Ogden of a bright basketball future in Austin.

“From a Texas fanbase, from a student fanbase, it’s all right there, wheeling in the right direction," Ogden said. "Now with the basketball program, we’ve got a guy that has a real plan and a vision for the way he wants to play. And that alone makes it an easier job to go identify players, when you know exactly what the head coach wants.”