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The Butler Bulldogs - who hired coach Brandon Miller in early July last year after former coach Brad Stevens took a job with the Boston Celtics - have more tumult in their coaching continuity.
The Indianapolis Star and others report than Miller, age 35, will take a medical leave of absence.
Breaking news on the #Butler beat: Head coach Brandon Miller taking a leave of absence for medical reasons.
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) October 2, 2014
Assistant coach Chris Holtman will serve as interim coach during Miller's absence.
The Bulldogs struggled to a 14-17 record overall and a 4-14 Big East last season, lost all seven games in the month of February (but bookended that streak with road wins at Seton Hall before and a road win at DePaul after), lost five one-possession games... a tough year for the program that had risen from the Horizon League to the Big East.
Butler was going to struggle again this year - with one Big East quality point guard (arguably) and a weak backcourt outside of Kellen Dunham - but the team welcomes back wing Roosevelt Jones and brought in a number of talented big men to contend with the rest of the high-parity Big East.
Interim coach Chris Holtmann was the head coach at Gardner-Webb University of the Big South conference for three years, with a 44-54 record - 21-13 in his last year before choosing to join Brandon Miller's staff at Butler.
Butler, like the rest of the Big East, starts official practice this week; Butler's first day of practice is on Saturday.