Miller brings passion to the sidelines

IU Coach Curt Miller has a six-year plan for rebuilding the IU women’s basketball program.

The second-year Hoosier coach is still in the beginning phases of the rebuild, but he already has the program headed in the right direction.

IU has won 15 games this season, as many as the program did the two years prior to IU Coach Curt Miller’s hiring combined. A large part of the turnaround can be credited to Miller’s passionate in-game coaching style.

On the sidelines, Miller shows his passion for coaching by bringing an energy to Assembly Hall that, at times, is reminiscent of former IU Coach Bob Knight. 

He will argue calls, scream out plays, stamp his feet — anything to get his point across to either a player or referee. It’s all part of what makes Miller the coach he is.

“I’m kind of an old-school guy,” Miller said. “We’re always coaching them hard to get more, and I believe my job as a coach is to get this team to go where they don’t think they can go, or where they never even thought they could be.”

Miller said his passionate in-game coaching is never meant to be hard on his players. His job is to make his players better, and his energetic coaching style gets players’ attention.

It’s a coaching style that many players are not used to.

“Coach Miller is cut from a different cloth, he’s so different,” senior forward Simone Deloach said. “You just have to buy into it because he knows what he is doing.”

Miller’s coaching style has shown results. He is 284-116 in his career and was MAC coach of the year six consecutive years as head coach at Bowling Green.

Senior forward Tabitha Gerardot said Miller’s commitment to spending so much time on working to get his players better is what makes him a good coach.

Gerardot said the coach’s personality can be slightly overwhelming at first.

“I think that as girls, it’s sometimes difficult to take right,” Gerardot said. “But that’s something we are pushing and trying to learn. We all try to encourage and be there for each other.”

Miller’s intense coaching style has led to unkempt results on the sideline.

By the end of IU’s 83-78 overtime win against Minnesota, he was running up and down the sidelines without his suit coat, dress shirt untucked and a tie that struggled to stay around his neck.

IU missed layups on back-to-back possessions during the course of 30 seconds with about five minutes remaining. Upset with the misses in a close game, Miller ripped off his sport coat, causing his dress shirt to come untucked in the process.

Miller went on to coach the remainder of the game and overtime looking slightly out of place.

“The fashion police were probably out on me,” Miller said.

Gerardot said Miller’s blind passion and commitment to spending so much time working and studying the game is key for IU.

Rubbing officials the wrong way is one risk of Miller’s intense coaching ways, as he sometimes gets too animated for a referee’s liking.

During the closing minutes of IU’s 65-52 loss to Penn State, Miller was issued a technical after getting upset with a call.

Penn State was awarded a pair of free throws and hit both. At that point, the game was already virtually decided, but the technical was a negative result of Miller’s energetic coaching style.

Still, his personality has won over a number of highly touted recruits.

His first class of freshmen includes the starting trio of Larryn Brooks, Taylor Agler and Alexis Gassion. Next year, IU has four newcomers committed who have had record-setting high school careers.

Tyra Buss from Mount Carmel, Ill., has accumulated an Illinois girls basketball best 4,440 points. Maura Muentsterman, from Mater Dei, Ind., set a new Indiana girls basketball record with 704 assists.

Deloach said it can be tough to adjust to Miller as a coach, but the players just need to be patient.

“As a young player, it can be tough,” Deloach said. “He’s very animated. You just have to hear the words and be that player that can receive that information. He knows what he’s talking about, you just have to believe in what he’s saying.”

Miller often reminds fans the rebuilding process, modeled after IU men’s coach Tom Crean’s rebuilding process, is a marathon and not a sprint. He said the program is still a few years from where he wants it to be.

In the meantime, Miller is guiding IU (15-5, 2-5) through the second half of the Big Ten schedule.

He’ll be on the sidelines of Assembly Hall again Thursday night, coaching with the same energy and enthusiasm fans and players alike have come to expect out of him.

“We’re just pushing them beyond what they think, it’s part of exceeding expectations,” Miller said. “They know during the interview process, and anyone that’s seen me coach in my 13 years knows I’m going to coach each and every possession — up 30, down 30 — and I’m going to coach them hard.”

Follow reporter
Sam Beishuizen
on Twitter
@Sam_Beishuizen.