Ralph Miller

For other uses, see: Ralph Miller (disambiguation).

Ralph H. Miller (March 9, 1919 – May 15, 2001) was a college men's basketball coach. The Chanute, Kansas native coached at Wichita State University (1951-1964), the University of Iowa (1964-1970) and Oregon State University (1970-1989), compiling a 657-382 (.632) overall record in 38 seasons combined. Millers NCAA basketball teams won five conference titles. He was college basketball's coach of the year twice and currently has the 30th most wins on the all time win list for college coaches. He was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach on May 3, 1988.

In addition to his wins he was known for devising a system of full-court pressure defense that revolutionized the game in the 1950s. Miller was the first coach to have his players press full-court after every possession.

Early Life

Ralph "Cappy" Miller was born in Chanute, Kansas. During high school, Ralph set the state record in the low hurdles in 1937. He was all-state three consecutive years in football and basketball. By 1940, he was beating '32 gold medalist Jim Baush in seven of 10 events in the decathlon. While attending Kansas University, Ralph was an all conference basketball player and a standout football player. In the Fall of 1937 he took a psychology class while at Kansas and met a woman named Emily Jean Milam. They were married five years later.

The year before they said their vows, Miller was asked to coach boys basketball at Mount Oread High School in Lawrence. The team consisted primarily of professors' sons. During World War II Miller enlisted in the U. S. Air Force and held desk jobs in Florida, Texas and California. After the war was over, Miller became an assistant director of recreation and oversaw a swimming pool and playground in Redlands, California. In 1949 a friend called him and offered him a head coaching job at East High School in Kansas. In three years at East High, Miller's teams finished second, third and first in the state using his system of execution and pressure basketball. In 1951, the president of Wichita State University offered him a job as Head Coach.

College Coach

Wichita State

Miller spent 13 years at Wichita State (WSU), winning 220 games, earning three National Invitation Tournament berths and a spot in the NCAA Tournament in 1964. During his 13-year stint at WSU, Ralph Miller became the coach with the most wins in Shocker basketball history. In the spring of 1964 Miller left WSU to become the head coach at the University of Iowa.

Iowa

In the six seasons Miller coached at Iowa he won 95 games and lost only 51 games for a winning percentage of (.651). The Hawkeyes averaged more than 100 points a game in 1970 and went undefeated in the Big Ten Conference en route to an NCAA Tournament berth. However, the weather in Iowa in 1970 forced Ralph to consider a state with a more moderate climate. This led him to take his family from Iowa and take the head coaching job at Oregon State University.

Oregon State

In Ralph Millers first four years at Oregon State he had a 58-46 (.557) record. Things were not going as planned for Miller and he and his family contemplated moving back to Kansas. The Millers toughed it out and stayed at Oregon State. Miller had only two losing seasons in 19 years at OSU, but even by his perfectionist standards the 1980-81 Beavers were extraordinary. The veteran team revolved around Steve Johnson, a mobile 6-foot-10 center with a wide body and a soft touch around the basket. His eye-popping 74.6 shooting percentage, an NCAA record, was a function of not only his talent but a disciplined offense that OSU ran with such precision that it established a school record for shooting (56.4).

The 1980-81 Beavers were so focused and businesslike that they couldn't always enjoy their achievements as much as the screaming fans who packed Gill Coliseum every night. Miller was viewed as a disciplinarian and demanded focus from his players. This led to an almost robotic and emotionless team in 1980. Heading into the season finale against Arizona State, the Beavers were 26-0 and had earned a first-round bye in the NCAA's West Regional at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. By then, OSU seemed invincible. The players believed it, and even opposing players seemed to believe it. In those rare close games, the Beavers found a way to win - and the opponent found a way to lose. The Sun Devils shocked the basketball world by blistering the Beavers 87-67 at Gill, shattering the perfect season. Up next was Kansas State, which had won its first-round NCAA game over San Francisco. The game was tied with the clock ticking away when Rolando Blackman, of Kansas State, made a game winning shot to send the Beavers home 54-52.

This was Millers last best hope to win a national championship. He would coach eight more years, finishing with 657 wins in 38 seasons. In 1989, at the age of 70, Ralph Miller decided to retire from the game of basketball.

Career Highlights

• Associated Press National Coach of the Year, 1981, 1982
• Conference championships, 1964, 1968, 1970, 1980, 1981, 1982
• NCAA tournaments, 1964, 1970
• Pac-10 Coach of the Year, 1975, 1981

Death

Before Ralph Miller died on May 15th, 2001 he lived in Black Butte Ranch, Oregon with his wife. They moved to Black Butte in 1989, right after Miller retired from the game of basketball. Up until his death the Hall of Fame basketball coach would sit for most of the day in his favorite reclining chair in the dining room of his home, and look out across the stunning view of Black Butte and watch golfers play the 12th fairway at Big Meadows Golf Course.

Legacy

Ralph Miller left a lasting mark on college basketball with his win-loss record but his coaching system has been preserved forever on his top selling basketball dvd, Ralph Miller’s Pressure Basketball System. Numerous Division 1 coaches in today's college basketball landscape use his pressure basketball system and fast break theories. Miller had just three losing seasons during his 38-year coaching career. He won four Pac-10 titles at OSU and made eight NCAA tournament appearances in 19 seasons from 1971-89. His 1981 Beavers' team was ranked #1 for nine weeks. While at Iowa he won two Big Ten titles in six seasons. While at Wichita State he won one Missouri Valley Conference title in 13 seasons. Miller was a two-time AP Coach of the Year, and was named NIT/Kodak Man of the Year in 1988. He was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988 and is currently 30th on the all time wins list for college coaches.

Miller recruited black athletes at Wichita State long before it became fashionable at many of the major southern universities. His 1980-81 team that was favored to win the national title started four black players.

Dave Stallworth A 6'7" forward/center from Wichita State University, Stallworth played eight seasons (1965-1967; 1969-1975) in the National Basketball Association as a member of the New York Knicks and Baltimore/Capital Bullets. He averaged 9.3 points per game in his career and won a league championship with New York in 1970

and Gary Payton. Payton was the second overall pick in the 1990 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, and spent his first 12½ seasons with the SonicsOn September 6, 2006, the 38-year old Payton re-signed with the defending champion Miami Heat on a one-year, $1.2 million contract. During the subsequent 2006-07 NBA season, Payton continued to climb up several NBA all-time lists: he moved from 17th to 8th in all-time NBA games played, passed John Havlicek and Robert Parish to move into 7th in all-time minutes played, and passed Hal Greer and Larry Bird to become the 21st-highest scorer in NBA history.

Quotes about Ralph Miller

"Ralph had superb discipline. His teams were well coached in all phases of the game. He was always able to get 100% out of each player. A genuine superstar in coaching. He was AWESOME BABY!"- Dick Vitale, analyst for ESPN.

"Ralph Miller is one of the most outstanding coaches in the history of the game. He had great success at the high school levels and then built great programs at Wichita State, Iowa and Oregon State with a system that put pressure on his opponents with quick hitting offense and great defensive play. Ralph Miller's approach to the game is very basic. His teaching methods are simple but sound. Every coach who reads and studies this book will be able to gain knowledge and insight from one of the best teachers to ever coach this great game"- Lute Olsen, coach of the Arizona Wildcats.

"Ralph Miller was one of the finest coaches in the history of intercollegiate basketball. His teams were always fundamentally sound, team oriented, well conditioned and ran both their offense and defense with great patience. I know of no coach whose teams competed against his, whether it be at Wichita State, Iowa or Oregon State, who did not have great respect for him."- John Wooden, former coach of the UCLA Bruins.

"I followed his truly outstanding coaching career, beginning at Wichita University, then to Iowa and Oregon State. His teams were extremely well drilled and the confidence he showed as a player carried over to making all of his teams very confident. They were certainly fundamentally sound as well."- Dean Smith, former coach of the University of North Carolina.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Miller, Ralph, and Bud Withers. 1990. Ralph Miller— Spanning the Game. Champaign, Ill: Sagamore. ISBN 0585046824
• White, K.J. 1997. Miller's time : a legacy of OSU basketball, 1971-1989. Highland Times Press.ISBN 188880307X
• Turnbell, John E. Iowa Hawkeyes Men's Basketball. ISBN 0762743174

External Links

• Seidler, Steve, 2006;"Observations of Ralph Miller's Pressure Basketball" Pressurebasketball.com. Retrieved June 22, 2007.
• Jeff Welsch and Sherry Moore, 2000; "A Visit With Ralph Miller", Oregon Stater Retrieved July 3rd, 2007.
• "Men's Basketball Coaching Records", NCAA Retrieved July 5th, 2007.
• "2001 Deaths- Ralph Miller", infoplease, Retrieved July 5th, 2007.

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