PEMBROKE - Athletic department officials at the University of
North Carolina at Pembroke announced the hiring of former Kansas
and Missouri State staffer Ben Miller as its 15th men's basketball
head coach.
Miller comes to Pembroke following a four-year stint (2004-08) as
both an assistant coach and associate head coach for Missouri State
where he helped lead the Bears to a cumulative 80-49 record,
including a trio of postseason National Invitation Tournament
appearances, under skipper Barry Hinson.
"I am honored and excited to be a Brave," Miller said. "I want to
thank athletic director Dan Kenney and Chancellor Meadors for
giving me this wonderful opportunity. UNC Pembroke is a special
place with great people and I look forward to the challenge of
building a basketball program that this University and community
can be proud of."
Miller was selected after an intensive month-long search by a
five-member search committee that included Senior Woman’s
Administrator Robin Langley, Faculty Athletics Representative Dr.
Jeff Frederick and the Director of the UNCP Office of Major and
Planned Gifts, Wendell Staton. UNCP graduate Abdul Ghafar, the
director of the Angel Elite Sports Club, as well as UNCP graduate
and Board Of Trustees member Paul Willoughby, also served on the
panel.
"Our goal was to find somebody with high competency as a basketball
coach. We have found that in Ben Miller," Kenney said. "We are
pleased to welcome him, his wife, Heather, and his two children,
Betsie and Charlie, to the UNCP family."
Missouri State registered 22 wins in each of the 2005-06 and
2006-07 seasons, while tallying a second place finish in the
Missouri Valley Conference in 2005-06 and a third place finish in
the latter. The 2005-06 campaign included a pair of wins, as well
as a quarterfinal loss to Louisville, in the NIT tournament, while
the Bears also boasted a 74.2 points per game scoring average. This
past season, MSU turned in a 17-16 clip which included wins over
NCAA Tournament participants Drake and Winthrop.
Prior to his stint at MSU, Miller served nine seasons on the
coaching staff at Kansas under two different head coaches,
including current Jayhawks' skipper Bill Self. Miller joined the KU
staff on a full time basis in 1995 under then-head coach Roy
Williams as an administrative assistant and was elevated to an
assistant coach position in 1998 when Matt Doherty departed
Lawrence, Kan., to become head coach at Notre Dame. He remained on
the KU staff as director of game operations when Self took over the
reigns of the program in 2003.
His duties over his lengthy tenure with the Jayhawks included game
and practice coaching, recruiting, video coordinator duties and
working with Kansas basketball camps and clinics. He was also
charged with the arduous duties of overseeing the academic progress
and strength and conditioning work of Kansas student-athletes. He
also assisted with the KU junior varsity squad.
Kansas appeared in 10 NCAA tournaments during Miller's time in
Lawrence, including three Final Four appearances, two regional
final (Elite Eight) showings and one Sweet 16 appearance. Along the
way, the Jayhawks compiled a 258-59 win-loss record and won six Big
8/Big 12 titles and four conference tournament championships.
During that same time frame, KU achieved nine listings in the final
Top 25 polls, including six top five rankings.
During his storied 18-year coaching career, Miller has been
involved in the grooming of 16 all-conference players and 30
academic all-conference honorees. Those numbers also include eight
all-Americans, five conference players of the year and six
conference freshman/newcomer of the year laurels.
A basketball player and team captain at Luther College in Decorah,
Iowa, Miller graduated from Luther in 1991 with a bachelor's degree
in psychology before graduating from Northern Iowa with a master's
degree in physical education. Miller began his doctorate work in
sport psychology at Kansas in 1992 where he worked three years in
an assistantship program.
Miller and his wife, Heather, have two children, Charlie and
Betsie. Heather is a native of New Mexico and is a Luther graduate
as well. Miller is the son of long-time Division I head coach Eldon
Miller who compiled a 568-419 record in his 36-year coaching career
that included stops at Wittenberg (OH), Western Michigan, Ohio
State and Northern Iowa.
BEN MILLER'S COACHING CAREER
1995-2008 (18 Seasons)
1995-99: University of Kansas, Administrative Assistant
Four NCAA Appearances, 1995 Final Four, 1996 Elite Eight, 1997
Sweet 16, 4 Big 8/Big 12 Conference Titles
1999-04: University of Kansas, Assistant Coach
Five NCAA Appearances, 2002 Final Four, 2003 Final Four, 2004 Elite
Eight, Two Big 12 Conference Titles
2004-07: Missouri State University, Assistant Coach
2005 NIT Tournament, 2006 NIT Tournament, 2007 NIT Tournament
2007-08: Missouri State University, Associate Head Coach
Defeated NCAA Tournament Participants Drake, Winthrop
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH ROY WILLIAMS
"I am ecstatic for Ben and also for UNC Pembroke. I think it is a
great match. Ben Miller worked with me for several years and is
just one of the most confident, organized and ethical people I have
ever been around in my life. I couldn't be happier for him in
getting his chance to be a head coach. He's got a challenging
situation, but he has great people there to work with. I am
extremely happy for both groups and I am glad he is closer here
because I really do enjoy him a great deal."
"I think he has many strengths - his organizational skills and his
people skills really jump out at you and the enthusiasm that he has
for the sport. The sincerity when he works with the players is
always so evident. All of those things come to mind even before I
start talking about his basketball ability and his technical
approach to the game. It should be that way though because Ben is
so much more a people person than he is just X's and O's."
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