Miller takes the job as Roughriders' Head Coach

[Vern Halen]

I disagree - Miller was there last year and so knows the attitude and spirit that Kent brought to the clubhouse. That attitude was a big part of the Riders win last year.

As far as being an assistant all his career, Austin was assistant all his career going into last season as well...

[Migs]

This has to be seen as a failure by Eric Tillman. He tried to find a high-profile external candidate with an offensive background and couldn't, so he settled for a holdover from last year's staff who has been nothing but an assistant through most of his career.

Miller was probably the best of the internal candidates because of his knowledge of the offence and success in working with Kerry Joseph, but he'll probably be seen as Tillman's second choice. It remains to be seen whether he'll duplicate the success of Dave Ritchie, who won a Grey Cup with the Lions in 1994 after being Tillman's second choice as head coach.

Wow that bolded part is absolute nonesense and totally misinformed information.

[Sir Purrcival]

I don't think it is complete nonsense. It is premature to make that statement to say the least but not complete nonsense. This was not Tillman's first choice or maybe even his second so there is some merit to the suggestion that this could be interpreted as a failure on Tillman's part. On the other hand, the "proof is in the pudding". Miller brings a continuity to the team having been there last year and part of Grey Cup winning teams at least twice. He is at least as worthy of getting a chance as anyone else. What I suspect will be lacking is some of Austin's fire and intensity. With KA, you always had the sense that if you screwed the pooch, you might be for it. This guy seems to be a lot quieter and unassuming. It remains to be seen if he can bring the same level of intensity to this team. It also means that Paul Lapolice is now OC and I seem to remember hearing more than a few negative comments about his skills in that area. So time will tell. If the Riders perform well this year, Tillman looks like a genius, if they suck, then he takes the heat for his choice of coach. Probably was gonna end up that way regardless of who he picked.

[Lionut]

Eric Tillman is the guy who chose Joe Paopao to be the HC in Ottawa, (nice guy, disastrous head coach) so his record isn't spotless.

What I find a bit unseemly is the fact that Tillman asked for permission to interview so many people, and then ultimately stayed in house. Often you will find teams "interviewing" coaches from other organizations with no real intention of offering them the job, but rather using the interview to pump them for information about their current clubs. (This goes on in the private sector all the time.) When you look at the extensive list of candidates to whom Tillman talked, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that he quite enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about the internal workings of pretty much every team in the league.

[David]

This has to be seen as a failure by Eric Tillman. He tried to find a high-profile external candidate with an offensive background and couldn't, so he settled for a holdover from last year's staff who has been nothing but an assistant through most of his career.

Miller was probably the best of the internal candidates because of his knowledge of the offence and success in working with Kerry Joseph, but he'll probably be seen as Tillman's second choice. It remains to be seen whether he'll duplicate the success of Dave Ritchie, who won a Grey Cup with the Lions in 1994 after being Tillman's second choice as head coach.

Wow that bolded part is absolute nonesense and totally misinformed information.

Why is the bolded part of his post "nonsense?" The list of head coaching jobs he's held reads like the book of Polish war heroes. He may turn out to be a fine Head Coach, who knows? But at 66 years-old and with no prior head coaching experience, he could hardly be classified as an "up-and-comer," and certainly leads to speculation that he wasn't the first choice of a progressive GM like Eric Tillman.

DH 8)

[DerekDD]

Eric Tillman is the guy who chose Joe Paopao to be the HC in Ottawa, (nice guy, disastrous head coach) so his record isn't spotless.

What I find a bit unseemly is the fact that Tillman asked for permission to interview so many people, and then ultimately stayed in house. Often you will find teams "interviewing" coaches from other organizations with no real intention of offering them the job, but rather using the interview to pump them for information about their current clubs. (This goes on in the private sector all the time.) When you look at the extensive list of candidates to whom Tillman talked, it is hard not to come to the conclusion that he quite enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about the internal workings of pretty much every team in the league.

You bet. Tillman was also scoping for future coaches and its the purrfect opportunity to do so. Tillman preferred Miller all along but he was just doing a thorough job of fact-finding. By the way, Austin has described Miller as his most ruthless coach so expect a very aggressive and high-powered Rider offence again this year. Theres a reason Austin chose Miller as his offensive coordinator in the first place.

Also don't expect the Riders to go soft because the fiery Austin left and Miller is quieter. Miller is just as intense and tough.

[WestCoastJoe]

MEET THE NEW BOSS -- SAME AS THE OLD BOSS?
Thursday, February 7, 2008

By Tim Switzer,Regina Leader-Post

When Mike Maynard became the head coach of the University of Redlands Bulldogs in 1988, his first call was to the man who had just left the job -- Ken Miller.

"I said, 'Ken, is there any way I can talk you into staying and co-ordinating the offence?' " Maynard said with a chuckle. "We found a way to work that out and worked together for 13 years."

At the time, Miller was pulling double duty at Redlands (located in the city of the same name on the outskirts of Los Angeles) as the head coach of the football and baseball teams. When recruiting players for two sports and coaching football in the fall and baseball in the spring got to be too much, Miller stepped down from the football team to concentrate on baseball.

Maynard, however, didn't want to let a football mind like Miller's just walk away.

"He has what I call mental horsepower," said Maynard. "He can figure things out and he keeps learning all the time. He was always watching tape and always studying. It never started or stopped for Ken in terms of learning. He just wanted to continue to get better and that's what he's done."

That same approach helped lead to Miller being named the new head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Wednesday.

Miller never really expected something like that to happen when he retired from Redlands in 2001. But just a year later, he started down the road when he joined the Toronto Argonauts as a quarterbacks coach.

"At that point, I didn't think that (ever getting a head-coaching position) would happen," said Miller. "But once we got things going in Toronto, in the back of my brain, certainly I thought there was a possibility.

"First I wanted to make sure I was a co-ordinator. Then this opportunity came up and it seems like a natural progression."

Miller grew up in The Dalles, Ore., and his coaching career began in 1966 as a graduate assistant with the Dickinson (N.D.) State Blue Hawks. After graduating, he moved home to Oregon and coached high school football for two years before relocating to southern California, where most of his football life was spent.

He was the head coach at Yucaipa High School from 1970 until 1976, after which he moved just a few miles west to join the Redlands staff and coach the offensive line on a part-time basis.

In 1984, he was hired as the Bulldogs full-time football coach and took control of the baseball program two years later.

Like Miller's coaching career, his family is spread across North America. He and his wife Maureen make their home in Regina year-round, but are keeping a North Carolina home as a getaway and the couple have children on both coasts. Michael and Melania live in the Greensboro, N.C., area, daughter Kail lives in Oregon and son Bob is the head coach of the Cuesta College Cougars baseball team in San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Bob grew up as a ball boy on the football field and eventually became one of his father's baseball players at Redlands.

"He can be tough," Bob Miller said from his office at Cuesta.

"He expects a lot out of his players. He expects a solid effort and he expects responsibility on and off the field. He's a demanding type individual. He isn't the screamer or hollering type, but you definitely know the expectations and you don't want to let the man down."

At Redlands, an NCAA Division III school, Ken Miller accumulated a 250-235-2 record as a baseball coach (161-102 in the conference) and led the Bulldogs to a Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in 1991.

He didn't fare quite as well as the football team's bench boss. In his four seasons, he was 10-29 (6-18 in the conference) and had his best season in 1984 when the Bulldogs were 5-5.

As the offensive co-ordinator it was a very different story. With Maynard, Miller helped the Bulldogs to seven SCIAC championships and two second-place finishes.

Four of those championships came during seasons in which the team's starting quarterback suffered a season-ending injury early in the year.

"Ken was always able to see people, situation or problems with a real positive vision," said Maynard. "He could turn a negative into a positive faster than anybody I knew."

That outlook also came in handy when the Bulldogs decided to overhaul their offensive scheme. After winning conference championships in 1990, 1991 and 1992 on a strong running game, Redlands started slipping and won just six games in 1993 and 1994 (the year in which Miller moved over to defensive co-ordinator). They fell even further to four wins in 1995.

It was during that time that Miller, who moved back to the offensive side of the ball in 1995, was the catalyst to turn the Bulldogs into a passing team.

The results? Conference championships in 1996, 1997, 1999 and 2000.

"We completely revamped from a whole different philosophical approach and Ken was the heart and soul of that change," said Maynard. "He's the one that made it successful and we're still running much of the offence he created back in the mid-'90s."

With those plays, the Bulldogs -- the defending SCIAC co-champions -- are still winning today with three conference championships since Miller's retirement.

Retirement was a funny word to associate with Miller as far as Maynard was concerned.

"I knew he still wanted to coach and that he still had a fire and a passion," Maynard said.

"I didn't think he would retire, but I knew he still had a lot of desire. He hungers for that competition -- the day-to-day rigour. I was not at all surprised when I heard he was going up to Toronto."

After a season as the Argos quarterbacks coach, Miller was in charge of the offensive line for three seasons and the defensive line in 2006.

His decision to take on the defensive line that season came because he felt there were stronger offensive minds to do the jobs on that side of the ball.

"I told the head coach, he had hired some guys and had them slotted into positions that I didn't think were quite right," he told the Leader-Post last year.

"I said, 'Let's look at this. Let's put guys in their areas of strength.' That made me the odd man, so they could just put me on defence because I have the experience there."

That kind of style and willingness to let others shine have drawn other coaches and players toward Miller through his years in sports.

"He had a personal warmth that drew people to him as a coach," said Maynard. "He cared about people. He's a man of great character and what he said matched up with what he did."

"That's hitting the nail on the head," Bob Miller said when told of Maynard's comments.

As a coach, the junior Miller has tried to emulate his father. Some observers have questioned whether Ken Miller is intense enough to be a head coach in the CFL and to get the most out of Roughriders players. That, said his son, won't be a problem.

"He's got his nose to the grindstone; he's not going to get outworked by anybody," said Bob Miller.

"Seeing his work ethic growing up, you want to make sure you get the job done right and not disappoint him."

66 years old.

Only Head Coaching experience was at University of Redlands from 1984-1988.

Relatively unknown.

Not first choice for Tillman?

A very daring, risky selection by Tillman.

I like it.

I don't think the age matters.

The relative lack of HC experience is a concern, and that it was so long ago. If he can do the job now, it becomes irrelevant about his previous HC experience.

Unknown. Irrelevant.

Not first choice? I don't think that is necessarily true. Tillman had to go through the motions of making a thorough search. He would be lynched otherwise. I expect Tillman thought it might be Miller all along. The continuity on the staff is good in this situation, but that is not the main reason for choosing Miller. I think he deserves significant credit for their offensive production.

No guarantees he can lead the Riders as Austin did. He may do very well. None of the other interviewees would be a better hire, IMHO. My vote is in: I like the decision.

[DerekDD]

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/ ... 02&k=64123

"Kenny (Miller) comes across sometimes as more soft-spoken than Kent,'' Tillman said. "Kent used to call Kenny 'ruthless' when it came to offensive game-planning. The other guys offensively would laugh because he's the last guy, if we have a chance, who wants to take the foot off the pedal.

"Offensive aggressiveness will not be an issue here. It may be in a quieter package, but he's a highly, highly competitive individual and that's something that was very important to us in this process.''

I love it!

[ziggy]

Can't say I am loosing any sleep thinking about the Riders coaching situation. The old one left for greener pastures (pun intended) and they promoted within their organization .The new guy will either be another Hero (Kent) or a Goat(Danny), seems there is no in between. At the end of the day I think this is of interest to Sask fans, but frankly I could care less. I also don't think Eric Tillman is a football genius either, but that just my opinion.