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Report: Rival coaches don't expect Brandon Miller to return to Butler's bench

Jim O'Connor / USA Today Sports

Butler Bulldogs head coach Brandon Miller has been away from the team since Oct. 2, when he took an indefinite medical leave just a day before college basketball practices were set to begin. 

While nobody has been willing to speak on the record about Miller's medical condition out of respect for his privacy, The Indianapolis Star's Gregg Doyel reported that rival NCAA coaches don't expect Miller to return to the Bulldogs' sideline. 

Doyel pointed out that Miller's leave runs a federally-mandated 12 weeks and will end in late December. Unless Miller makes it clear to the school he will return by then, his federal protection will expire, and most likely so will his position as Butler's head coach. 

Further to that, the consensus Doyel gathers from other coaches is that if Miller isn't back this season he won't be back at all.

Butler's athletic director Barry Collier is reportedly still hopeful Miller will be back, but believes it could be up to six weeks before he can say anything about it with any certainty.

"We should have some direction by the end of the year or close to the beginning of 2015," he said. "But between now and then, things are unknown."

"Without staring at the verbiage of the law, I think that's true for all of us, frankly," Collier said. "When we submit for that leave, I think you're given those 12 weeks. On the one hand, I'm torn up by his health situation. We just need to let the time pass and I'm hopeful that he'll be back."

Interim coach Chris Holtmann, who has led the Bulldogs to an early 2-0 start, reportedly responded to Doyel's inquiry with a text message, saying only, "At this point I don't feel comfortable getting into specifics. Thanks for understanding."

- With h/t to CBT

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