HEAD COACH WOMEN'S SOFTBALL
MISSISSIPPI STATE UNIVERSITY
still have memorable moments. You still have kids that you live and
die for everyday in practice and every game that they go out there and
play."
The enthusiastic mentor, who turns 49 on May 25, has had his share of
successes over the years. His is a resumé that includes a handful of
conference and region coaching honors, as well as team successes
from Women's College World Series and top 10 appearances, and
international experiences in several countries, as well as on U.S. soil.
But, when it is all said and done, Miller still remains humble, each day
arriving in his office well before many of his colleagues to plan out the
day's, and sometimes the week's, agenda. And, each day, he leaves
well later than anyone else to make certain the day's work has been
completed.
"In whatever you do, you¹re only going to get out what you put in,"
Miller said. "That's a key to understand and we want kids with that kind
of work ethic and that kind of dedication."
Entering his 22nd season as a Division I head coach, Miller, whose
career victory total currently ranks 15th among active coaches in the
NCAA, will carry a 743-445 record into his second year at Mississippi
State a job that he took the reigns of towards the end of July, 2002.
Since then, he has become comfortable with a team that, he knows,
will give him some more of those memorable moments he so
cherishes.
"I think that there is tremendous potential here at Mississippi State,"
Miller said. "You have an administration that is supportive and wants
you to be successful and provides you with the resources so that you
can be successful.
"I think there are some tremendous athletes overall in the south. If
you look at the states in which the SEC encompasses, they haven't had
a lot of experience playing fastpitch softball, but they are getting more
and more."
Unlike some of his counterparts in other sections of the United States,
Miller -- born Charles Jay on May 25, 1956, in Aurora, Ill. -- was a ball
fan of a different type growing up. With the Aurora Seal Masters --
winners of the first two-ever world titles in men's fastpitch softball --
training nearby, the young Miller often found himself emulating a star
pitcher throwing out of a circle, rather than off of a mound.
His experiences as a fastpitch player on the men's major level towards
the end of his high school and throughout his college careers,
unexpectedly, helped move him into the coaching world when he was
completing his master's work at Purdue. Although deadset on a career
in the psychology or couseling world, Miller found himself taking on
pitching coach (and later head coach) duties for the Purdue women's
club team in the late 70's.
"I never really thought about coaching," he said. "The faculty sponsor
of Purdue's women's club team asked me if I would come out and help
him with the pitchers because I told him that I had played a lot and so I
did. That was in August. In October, he resigned and the players asked
me if I would be their coach.
"So, that's really how I got started in coaching. I enjoyed that a lot
more than working in the counseling center, so I sort of changed
careers at the last minute."
Just more than two years following his informal introduction to the
coaching world, Miller took on his first full-time coaching duties as an
assistant at Missouri where, years later, he would eventually make a
big name for himself. While in Columbia, where he served primarily as
the pitching coach, Missouri rattled off an impressive 107-51 overall
record during the stretch -- a mark which included one conference
championship, two NCAA Regional appearances and an appearance in
the 1983 Women's College World Series.
He received his first head coaching stint in 1984 as skipper of
now-NAIA powerhouse Oklahoma City who, at the time, had aspirations
of competing at the Division I level and harvesting recruits that
state-powerhouses Oklahoma and Oklahoma State would grow to
envy. Miller coached the Stars one season at the Division I level,
before starting Oklahoma City's dominance in the NAIA with a pair of
top five finishes (2nd in 1986, 4th in 1987) in his final two seasons with
the team, both of which produced District IX Coach of the Year. His
team's 1987 achievements earned him Southwest Regional Coach
Coach of the Year honors.
"In March, during the first year that I was there, they announced that
they were going to change to the NAIA the following year," said Miller
of the surprise move. "I coached there for three years and we were
very successful. We fiinished second in the nation and fourth in the
nation my last two years there, and then I had an opportunity to go
back to Missouri."
Although his coaching career in the Sooner state had officially come to
a close when he accepted the offer to become Missouri's sixth head
coach in 1987, Miller was still reaping the benefits of the hard work in
his career. While in Oklahoma City, the site of the Amateur Softball
Association's Hall of Fame, he developed close contacts while working
with the ASA that allowed him to draw his first international experience
as a pitching coach for Netherlands Antilles in the 1987 Pan Am Games
in Indianapolis.
Months later, he returned to Columbia, Mo., to find a program much
different than when he left three years prior. While Mizzou had
accumulated a .677 winning percentage during Miller's stay as an
assistant coach, the program had struggled since, going 89-72 (.553)
from 1984-1987, including a 14-18 mark the season prior to Miller's
rehiring.
"It was really an opportunity to build, or to rebuild the program there,"
said Miller of the opportunity to return to his roots, of sorts. "That's
what we worked on doing. We went out and worked hard and tried to
bring some players in that could compete at the top level and we got
back to the World Series in four years."
However, the Tigers flirted with greatness immediately, capturing
either second or third in the Big Eight over the next three years,
before reeling off a 39-14 record in 1991 en route to both the
conference regular season and tournament championships, as well as
a fifth place finish in the Women's College World Series. The
transformation struck gold for Miller as well, as he was decorated with
his second-straight Big Eight Coach of the Year laurels.
Miller continued his work towards greatness the following season as
he led Mizzou to its second 40-win season since taking over the
program (44-18 in 1988) and its best season since 1981, then churned
out a 31-18 clip the following season, despite losing six starters to
graduation. In 1994, the Tigers finished seventh at the WCWS after
filing a 40-23 record, then turned in a school-record 47 wins the
following season on the way to their second-straight trip to the NCAA
postseason.
Two years later, 10 years to the date following his being named
Missouri's skipper, Mizzou went the distance in the conference and
conference tournament for the fourth time in school history, achieving
the program's best record since 1983 (47-16) and securing its fourth
postseason appearance under his direction. The run earned Miller his
third conference coaching honor and his first such accolade in the Big
12.
"The awards mean that you have good players," he said. "It is a
reflection on the team and the kind of work and effort and commitment
that your players put in and the dedication that they have to your
program. I think that is where those awards come from."
Over the next four years, his Missouri teams finished each season
with no less than 30 victories, making its fifth appearance in the NCAA
Regionals with a 41-21 clip in 1999. Having reeled off a 556-309 record
in 15 seasons as head coach of the Black and Gold, he parted ways
with Columbia following the 2002 campaign to take over the reigns of
the Maroon and White.
Mixed in with his collegiate success, Miller was achieving
international success as well during the 90's. He was appointed to his
first stint with USA Softball from 1992-96, serving on the National Team
selection committee that would, ultimately, be in charge of choosing
the inaugural USA Softball team to compete in 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Since then, he has served in various capacities with the organization,
including head coaching stints of the USA Red squad that captured
Gold in the 2001 U.S. Cup and the USA Elite team that took home
runner-up honors at the 2002 Canada Cup.
"It has helped tremendously because you are working with the best
coaches in the world and the best coaches in the United States
obviously," he said. "It enabled me to exchange ideas, to talk about
what works and what doesn't work. That's a continual process. You do
that each time."
In addition to his coaching prowess, Miller is a leading authority on
softball technology, having written more than 30 articles for
professional publication. He most recently authored a chapter entitled
"Offensive Strategy" for The Softball Coaching Bible, published by
Human Kinetics Press in 2002.
In addition, he has developed four softball skills videotapes currently
marketed internationally. He is also considered one of the top softball
clinicians in the world, having conducted more than 100 camps and
clinics in the United States, Netherlands Antilles, Italy, Czech Republic,
Holland, France and Malaysia.
Miller began his educational career at the University of Grenoble in
Grenoble, France, completing his international studies program there
before obtaining his Bachelor's of Science Degree in Psychology and
Sociology from Illinois State in Normal, Ill., in 1978. He completed his
Master's Degree in Education with an emphasis in counseling and
personnel services at Purdue University in 1979. He also received an
ABD in Couseling Psychology while in West Lafayette, Ind.
Miller and wife Lacy Lee Baker, Executive Director of the National
Fastpitch Coaches Association, have one daughter, Nicole (3-30-91).