Internationally recognized as one of the top coaches and teachers in the
game, Coach Miller has built the University of Missouri into one of the most
feared and respected collegiate teams in the nation. As the dean of the Big
12 Conference Softball coaches, Miller has been a part of over 70% of all
games ever played at the University of Missouri. With an overall career
record of 678-382, Coach Miller has developed 49 All-American players over
the years.
Miller is currently a member of USA Softball's National Team Coaching staff
through the 2004 games in Athens, Greece. He also serves the sport of
softball by chairing the NCAA Softball Rules Committee and was a member of
the NFCA All-American Committee from 2000-2001. During the summer of 2001,
Miller served as Head Coach for the USA Red National Team that won the Gold
Medal at the first ever US Cup in Hawaii. He also served as Assistant Coach
for the USA Red team that competed in the US Softball Shootout and the
Canada Cup.
Coach Miller has conducted camps and clinics all over the United States and
the World. Coach Miller is former member of the NCAA Softball Committee,
the 1996 Olympic Selection Committee, and was on the National Team coaching
staff for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.
In 1997 he was selected as the Big 12 Conference and Midwest Regional
"Coach of the Year" while leading the Tigers to the Big 12 Championship and
the NCAA Regional Tournament. He has taken two teams to the Women's College
World Series and seven teams to NCAA Regionals.
Miller's speciality has always been his ability to develop great pitchers,
including former Tiger pitching standouts All-American Barb Wright,
All-American Karen Snelgrove and Olympic finalist Kacey Marshall. Throughout
the 18 years he's been involved with a collegiate program, Miller has
developed 15 All-Americans (6 pitchers), including six from Mizzou. He has
also had 29 Academic All-Americans (6 pitchers) on his teams and five
National Strength Coaches All-Americans (1 pitcher).
This success has made Miller one of the most respected collegiate softball
coaches in the nation. He recently served in the USA National Team Olympic
coaching pool for the 1997-2000 quadrinium. In 1998, Miller was selected as
the Head Coach of the USA Softball alternate team. This team played against
the U.S. Pan Am and Olympic Teams during the Coca-Cola USA Softball American
Challenge Series during the summer of 1999. The team represented the USA in
the 1999 Canada Cup and took third place. He served on the NCAA Women's
Softball Committee from 1991-1997 and was a member of the USA Softball
National Team Selection Committee that chose players and coaches for the
1996 Gold Medal winning U.S. Olympic Softball Team (1993-1996). He is
currently on the NCAA Rules Committee and the National Fastpitch Coaches
Association All-American Committee.
In 14 years, Miller has brought the Tiger softball program back to national
prominence. Rebuilding the MU program from the ground up, Miller first
brought Missouri back onto the national softball scene during the 1990
season. For the first time since 1985, the Tigers cracked the NCAA Coaches
Top 20 Poll. MU was ranked as high as 12th and closed the year ranked 20th
with a 30-14 mark. In 1991, Miller led Missouri to its first NCAA College
World Series appearance since he was an assistant with the Tigers in 1983.
Overall, MU ended the season with a 39-14 record and a fifth-place finish
at the NCAA World Series, the highest finish ever for the softball Tigers
under the current NCAA championship format.
Recognized by his peers for bringing the Missouri softball program back to
the success it enjoyed during the early 1980s, Miller was selected the 1990
and 1991 Big Eight "Coach of the Year." In addition to leading MU to the
1991 Women's College World Series, Miller guided the Tigers to a first-place
finish in the Big Eight's regular season race with a 5-1 mark and a
second-place finish at the Big Eight Tournament.
In 1992, Miller again helped lead the Tigers to a higher level of
performance as the Tigers finished the season with an overall record of
41-14 the program's best since 1981. In 1993, though having to rebuild after
losing six starters to graduation, the Tigers were once again recognized
nationally, appearing in the NCAA Top 20 poll three times throughout the
season.
And, in 1994, his Tigers made a late run that landed them in the NCAA
Tournament, where they won the Midwest Regional and made their third WCWS
appearance, placing seventh. During the season, Miller earned his 400th
career victory with a win over conference-rival Oklahoma, and was the
National Softball Coaches Association Midwest Region "Coach-of-the-Year" as
well as "Male Coach of the Year" for the state of Missouri.
In 1995, Miller and his Tigers once again sought and found post-season
play. While Missouri dropped two games in the NCAA regionals at Northridge,
Calif, the Tigers ended the season with a team record 47 wins and 19 losses.
The team finished fourth in the Big Eight (regular season) and ninth in the
NCAA.
In 1997, Miller and his Tigers not only stayed ranked in the top 25 all
year, but also won the 1997 Big 12 regular season and Big 12 Tournament
Titles. The Tigers ended the season with a 47-16 record and Miller was named
the Big 12 "Coach-of-the-Year" and the NFCA Midwest Region
"Coach-of-the-Year."
Certainly no stranger to the MU program, Miller was the Tigers' assistant
coach during the 1982-84 seasons. It was during the 1982-83 seasons that
Missouri was one of the nation's top 20 teams, and had been the last times
MU went to the NCAA College World Series, finishing ninth in 1982 and
seventh in 1983, prior to Miller's return as head coach. The Tigers also won
the Big Eight Tournament in 1983.
In 1985, Miller left MU to become the head coach at Oklahoma City
University in Oklahoma City, Okla. Just one year later, in 1986, Miller led
his team to a second-place finish at the NAIA National Tournament. Returning
to prominence again in 1987, his team finished fourth at the NAIA
Championships.
Establishing himself as one of the top coaches in the district while at
OCU, his peers named him the 1986 and 1987 District IX "Coach of the Year."
He was also selected the Southwest Regional "Coach of the Year" in 1987.
Miller served on the National Softball Coaches Association (NSCA) Board of
Directors from 1986-1990. During that time, he was also the editor of
Softball Digest and the NSCA's Chairman of its Publication and Education
committee. In addition, he was Chair of the NCAA Midwest Regional Softball
Committee from 1991-1997.
Recognized on the international scene since his return to Missouri, Coach
Miller has conducted camps and clinics all over the United States and the
world. Most recently, he traveled to Holland in December 2000, to serve as a
chief clinician in a softball school. In 1991, Miller was selected by Major
League Baseball to conduct softball clinics in Holland, Czechoslovakia and
Italy. Both softball and baseball clinics were held simultaneously in the
three countries. He returned to Czechoslovakia for a two-week intensive
clinic in August of '94, which included coaches from Bulgaria, Croatia,
Russia, Austria, Denmark, Moldavia and Czechoslovakia. He conducted an
Olympic solidarity coaching school in Kuala Lampur, Malaysia in 1995.
Previously, Miller had established himself among the international softball
community when he served as the pitching coach for the Netherlands Antilles
during the 1990 Women's World Championships and the 1987 Pan American Games.
In 1994, Miller was a Team Leader for the USA National Team when they played
at the Pan Am Qualifyer in Guatamala City, Guatamala. His work with the USA
National Team continued in the summer of 1997 as he served as an Assistant
Coach for the U.S. National Team that played and won a gold medal at the Pan
Am and World Championship Qualifier in Medellin, Columbia. In 1997, he also
served as a coach at the USA Softball National Team Camp held to select
players for the USA Softball National Team.
Miller received his bachelor of science degree in psychology and sociology
from Illinois State in 1978. He pursued graduate studies at Purdue and
received his master's degree in counseling psychology in 1979.
He is married to Lacy Lee Baker, executive director of the National
Fastpitch Coaches Association. The couple have a daughter, Nicole Lee
Miller, who will turn 11 in March.
