BEN MILLER

Assistant Coach, 1996-2003

Basketball Bears add Ben Miller to coaching staff
Story Posted: June 9, 2004 - 2:17 PM Central

The addition of Ben Miller from the men’s basketball staff at the University of Kansas to the staff of head coach Barry Hinson at SMS as an assistant coach completes the coaching alignment of the SMS staff as Hinson and the Bears prepare for the 2004-05 season.

Miller’s appointment is subject to the approval of the SMS Board of Governors at the next regular board meeting. He replaces Ric Wesley, who resigned from the SMS staff April 20 to become head coach at Grand Valley State in Michigan. Miller will have practice and game coaching responsibilities as well as recruiting assignments. He will start work at SMS in late June. He and his wife, Heather, have two children.

A veteran of nine years at Kansas, Miller joined the KU staff on a full-time basis as an administrative assistant in 1995 under then-head coach Roy Williams. Miller was elevated to an assistant coach position in 1998 when Matt Doherty left Kansas to become head coach at Notre Dame. Miller stayed on the staff in 2003 when Bill Self became the Jayhawks’ head coach and Miller was named director of basketball operations. His duties in his time at Kansas have included game and practice coaching, recruiting, video coordinator, working with Kansas basketball camps and clinics and overseeing the academic progress and strength and conditioning work of student-athletes.

Miller is the son of long-time Division I coach Eldon Miller, whose 36-year career included head coaching posts at Wittenberg, Western Michigan, Ohio State and Northern Iowa. Ben Miller was a basketball player and team captain at Luther College in Iowa, graduating from Luther in 1991 with a degree in psychology. He completed his master’s degree at UNI in 1992 in health and physical education. Miller went to Kansas in 1992 to work on a doctorate in sport psychology, and, during his three years in that program, he assisted with the Roy Williams Basketball Camp and the KU junior varsity team.

“Ben is a wonderful addition to our staff and we’re thrilled with having him join us with the expertise he brings to SMS in a number of areas,” observed Hinson. “He’s learned from some of the best coaches out there, and he’s ideally suited for our university and our program. I’ve known Ben for a number of years and he’s a quality young man and an excellent basketball coach. He’s anxious to get in here and get started and we’re anxious, and very fortunate, to have him with us.”

“I’m really excited for the opportunity to work with coach Hinson, for whom I have a great deal of respect,” said Miller. “I’ve known him a number of years through coach Self, coach Holladay and coach Williams. Coach Hinson is one of the best in the business and he’s just a great person on top of that. He and his staff have done a great job recruiting at SMS and they’ve got a talented group of players coming back for next year. They’ve got tremendous tradition at SMS and a great deal of community support in Springfield. Making the choice to leave was a difficult decision because I do love the University of Kansas. I’ve known and worked with some great people here in coach Williams and coach Self and others. The hardest part is leaving the players. I know I’ll be rooting for KU every time they play next season unless they happen to wind up against SMS somewhere along the way. In another way, though, it wasn’t a hard decision because of the opportunity SMS is giving me to come in and work with the Bears’ program. I’m looking forward to getting started.”

“Ben and his family have been an integral part of Kansas basketball over the last several years,” Self said. “He loves the University of Kansas and has done a tremendous job with the program over time and this past year has been a huge asset to myself personally. I believe that Ben has all the components to become an excellent coach and eventual head coach. Ben now has an opportunity to go to a place where he can not only be on the floor but on the recruiting front as well. He and Barry Hinson will be a great team. We wish Ben all the best and understand that this is a great move for his career.”

SMS finished 19-14 in the 2003-04 season and upset Creighton and Southern Illinois in the first two rounds of the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. In the tournament finals, SMS dropped a double overtime decision to second-seeded Northern Iowa in the bid for the league’s automatic spot into the NCAA tournament.