Daniel Paul Muller (born February 21, 1976) is an American

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

coach, formerly the men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

head coach at his alma mater

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

Biography

Muller was born in

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( , ) is a city in and the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette, on the other side of the Wabash River, is home to Purdue University, whi ...

to parents Cliff and Tricia. He attended Lafayette Central Catholic High School, graduating in 1994. After high school, Muller attended

. On the

Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball The Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball team represents Illinois State University, located in Normal, Illinois, in NCAA Division I basketball competition. They are currently led by head coach Ryan Pedon and play their home games at CEFCU A ...

team, Muller played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

from 1994 to 1998 under head coach

Kevin Stallings Kevin E. Stallings (born October 1, 1960) is a former American basketball coach, who formerly served as the head coach at Illinois State University, Vanderbilt University and the University of Pittsburgh. He was an assistant coach at Purdue Univ ...

.Vanderbilt Commodores Men's Basketball
/ref> In his sophomore season, the team finished second in the MVC regular season, and fell to

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

in the semifinals of the conference tournament. They earned a bid to the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

(NIT), where they advanced to the quarterfinals before falling to

Tulane Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

. During Muller's final two seasons, the Redbirds won back-to-back MVC regular-season and tournament titles, appearing in the

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

NCAA Division I Tournaments. In the 1998 tournament, Muller scored the game-winning basket in a first round overtime win against

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

. Muller finished his career with 1,445 points and made 128 consecutive starts, which remains a school record. He was a two-time Missouri Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year (1996 & 1997) and earned the MVC Tournament MOP in his senior season (1998). Muller also excelled academically, becoming a Bone Scholar (ISU's highest academic honor) and a two-time GTE Academic All-American. He graduated in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in organizational leadership. After college, Muller played basketball internationally for two seasons: in Argentina (1999) for Team La Rioja Andino, and Belgium (2000) for Siemens Ghent. In 2001, Muller was hired by his former ISU coach Kevin Stallings as an assistant at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

. He spent 12 years with the

Commodores Commodores are an American funk and soul band, which were at their peak in the late 1970s through the mid 1980s. The members of the group met as mostly freshmen at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in 1968, and signed with Motown in ...

, helping lead the program to seven 20-win seasons and six NCAA tournament appearances. In 2006, he also took over as Vanderbilt's recruiting coordinator, and built some of the highest-rated recruiting classes in school history. In 2012, Muller was hired as the head coach at his alma mater, Illinois State. In his first season, the team posted a 18–15 record and finished 6th in the MVC standings. In 2013-14, they earned a bid to the

College Basketball Invitational The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a men's college basketball tournament created in 2007 by The Gazelle Group. The inaugural tournament occurred after the conclusion of the 2007–08 men's college basketball regular season. The CBI s ...

(CBI), where they advanced to the semifinals before losing to

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

. During the 2014-15 season, the Redbirds finished with a 22–13 record, and made it to the second round of the

NIT tournament The National Invitational Tournament (NIT) is a men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Played at regional sites and traditionally at Madison Square Garden (Final Four) in New York City ...

. Muller's most successful season with the team came in 2016–17, as they went nearly undefeated in conference play (17–1) and finished with a school-record 28 wins (28–7). However, they were unable to secure an automatic NCAA tournament bid, as they fell to No. 21

Wichita State Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

in the MVC Tournament Final. Muller was named MVC Coach of the Year following the season. In April 2018, Muller agreed to a 5–year contract extension to remain as head coach of the Redbirds. Despite the extension, the team was unable to sustain their previous success under Muller, as they suffered consecutive losing seasons in 2019–20 and 2020–21 for the first time since 2005–06 and 2006–07. He returned for the 2021–22 season, but the Redbirds struggled to a 11–15 overall record and 4–9 mark in MVC play by mid-February. On February 13, 2022, ISU announced that Muller would be dismissed as head coach following the season, but that he would stay in his position for the remainder of the 2021–22 season at his players' request. However, the next day, he announced that he was stepping down effective immediately, as he was concerned his presence with the team would become a distraction. Muller received a $1 million buyout for the remaining two years on his contract. Following his departure, associate head coach Brian Jones was named as the interim HC for the rest of the season.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Illinois State profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muller, Dan 1976 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Argentina American expatriate basketball people in Belgium American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from Indiana Basketball players from Indiana College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Gent Hawks players Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball coaches Illinois State Redbirds men's basketball players Shooting guards Small forwards Sportspeople from Lafayette, Indiana University of Florida alumni Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball coaches