Colorado Basketball Coach Fired : Colleges: Tom Miller is removed after compiling a 33-78 record in four years with Buffaloes, including 10-17 this season.

University of Colorado officials announced Wednesday night that Tom Miller has been fired as head coach of the Buffaloes’ basketball team. The word came shortly after the Buffs clinched a last-place finish in the Big Eight Conference.

The firing was announced by Athletic Director Bill Marolt after Colorado’s 96-82 loss to Nebraska in Lincoln, the regular-season finale for the Buffs.

Marolt said the final year of Miller’s five-year contract will be honored and a search for a successor will start immediately.

“I respect Tom Miller as a coach and as an individual, and for his dedication to the program,” Marolt said in a prepared statement. “However, a change in the head coaching position at this time is in the best interests of the program.

“We need to take a new direction toward that goal,” he said.

Marolt said the action is effective at the end of the season, so Miller will coach the team in the Big Eight Conference tournament next week.

Marolt said he reached his decision earlier this week, but delayed the announcement until after the Nebraska game at Miller’s request. Miller had wanted to coach the team’s last regular-season game before telling players of his termination.

“I can’t argue with the decision, because it’s their’s to make and not mine,” Miller said in a statement, “but I think the way the decision was handled once it was made, and the way it was announced, was without class.”

“I am disappointed in this and I hope that the people making this decision never get treated this way,” he said.

Colorado President Gordon Gee said the change should be good for both Miller and the team.

“Tom Miller is a man of outstanding integrity and commitment. I am certain he will be back in the coaching ranks soon,” Gee said.

Colorado has finished last in the Big Eight five straight times, the past four under Miller.

Miller, 41, became Colorado’s 14th head coach in 1986, after posting a 71-85 record in six years at Cornell, including the school’s first winning season in 20 years.

He compiled a 33-78 record in four years at Colorado, including 10-17 this season. He is 10-46 in Big Eight games and 104-163 for his career.