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2005-06 MAC Coach of the Year 2005-06 WBCA Region 4 Coach of the Year 2006-07 MAC Coach of the Year 2006-07 WBCA Region 4 Coach of the Year 2006-07 Columbus Dispatch Ohio Coach of the Year 2007-08 MAC Coach of the Year Anyone who has ever heard head coach Curt Miller (150-68) speak about an opponent knows the man is one of statistics. How many players over 6-2 will the Falcons be forced to battle on the court at a given time? What kind of rebounding team will the Falcons confront on the glass on a given night? Where does that team rank in three point shooting? What percentage of field goals do they make on their final six possessions? Yet, take a deeper look at the BG women's basketball mastermind and his recent statistics are mind-blowing. With a roster containing 10 underclassmen - including seven freshmen - Miller used a 26-8 season to become the all-time winningest coach in BGSU women's basketball history in 2007-08. His 145th win came on Feb. 23, 2008 in an 81-66 come-from-behind decision at Miami's Millett Hall. That win not only propelled Miller past former coach Fran Voll, but also helped the Falcons secure at least a share of the MAC regular-season crown. By season's end, BGSU would become the first women's basketball team in the league's 27-year history to win four consecutive regular season crowns.
"When Curt became the winningest coach at BGSU a reporter asked senior Kate Achter to comment on the accomplishment. Her answer was one that I hope to hear from all of our student-athletes. She said 'Coach is a great basketball coach but he is also a great man. He cares so much about each of his players and he also cares that we care about each other.' I couldn't say it any better," said Senior Associate A.D./Senior Woman Administrator Janna Blais. In those four seasons (2004-08), Miller and the Falcons have gone 57-7 in MAC play and own winning streaks over eight of eleven conference programs - seven of which are at five or more victories. Additionally, BG is also only one of nine DI women's basketball programs to win four consecutive regular season titles in as many seasons. Are these stats convincing enough? We have not even begun to scratch the surface. When comparing his numbers to his MAC peers, Miller's accomplishments have the power to stand the test of time. Not only is he one of just seven coaches in MAC memory to win at least 150 games, but he also is the only one to win four straight Coach of the Year awards. And when it comes to staying power, he has a bit of that on his side too. Longtime mentor Bob Lindsay is the only other active MAC head coach to orchestrate more repeat 20-plus win seasons. Between 1995 and 2002, Lindsay strung together seven seasons of 20 or more victories at Kent State; currently Miller is enjoying his own five season run. In fact, of the winningest coaches in MAC women's basketball history, only three coaches own more total 20-win records. Lindsay has accumulated 11, while former Toledo coaches Mark Ehlen and Bill Fennelly each narrowly edge Miller with six apiece. Though a proven powerhouse in the conference, Miller's winning ways do not only translate into the MAC.
Despite losing in double-overtime to the eventual MAC runners-up, Ohio University in the semifinals of the post-season tournament, BGSU did earn a berth in the Women's National Invitational Tournament. The Falcons went on to record BG's first-ever win in the tournament, a 64-52 final over the University of Dayton, in front of a home crowd in Anderson Arena in late March. With the UD win, Miller became just the second head coach in MAC history, and the only current coach, to successfully venture out of the first round of both the WNIT and NCAA with victories; Ehlen is the other. Since the 2003-04 season, Bowling Green's year has not ended before March 19. With the Falcons, Miller and his staff are 55-11 (.833) during the critical months of February and March since 2003. Have we mentioned with the loss of nearly 6,000 points and two of the programs top-five scorers the Falcons were `supposed' to be in the midst of a reloading year in 2007-08? In what will become known as the greatest season in Bowling Green women's basketball history, Miller led the Bowling Green State University women's basketball team to a 31-4 record and a berth in the 2007 NCAA's 'Sweet 16.' Thirty-one wins in a season. A 'Sweet 16' appearance. Both are MAC `firsts'. Since then he has added a few other firsts to his coaching resume. First MAC women's basketball coach to win four consecutive Coach of the Year nods (2005-2008). First coach to see a group of players win more than 102 in a four year span - his 2007 class would set the MAC record (male or female) with their 103 career wins only to be surpassed by the Class of 2008's 108 total W's. And though it may not be a first, Miller does sit atop the leader board when comparing his win/loss totals of the past five years to the remainder of the MAC. Since 2003, the Falcons are 129-33 (.796) and are the only other squad besides Eastern Michigan to win at least 100 games. That total also makes the cut as one of the Top 25 teams across the country in the same time frame. Yes, in just a few short years, Miller has proven himself to be one of the top coaches in the league and the country. Miller assumed the BGSU helm on May 8, 2001, with the hope of returning the Falcon program to prominence. After seven seasons, it is safe to say that his mission has been accomplished. Handed the reins of a storied Falcon program that had fallen from the top of the conference, Miller spoke of a five-year plan to return the Brown and Orange to the top of the MAC. He and his assistants have indeed restored the Falcons as a perennial league power, and have also guided the program to dizzying heights on a national scale over the past few seasons. After posting a 28-3 mark in the 2005-06 season, the Falcons broke that record with the 31-win season in '06-07. The latter BG team beat Oklahoma State and Vanderbilt in the NCAA Championships to become the first-ever MAC women's team to advance to the 'Sweet 16' of the national tourney. The Falcons have advanced to the championship game of the MAC Tournament in four of the last five years, winning three in a row. BG posted a perfect 16-0 league record in 2005-06, and added three more wins in the conference tournament. In the '06-07 campaign, Miller's club went 15-1 in league regular-season action, and again had a 3-0 mark in the MAC Tournament. Miller's name has become synonymous with success amongst the coaching ranks. He was named the Russell Athletic WBCA Region 4 Coach of the Year in both 2006 and 2007 while earning nominations in 2004, 2005 and most recently in 2008. In late April of 2007, he was the runaway winner of the Ohio Coach-of-the-Year award, given by the Columbus Dispatch. Most recently, the 2007-08 Falcons were guided by Miller, his staff and his `floor general,' point guard Kate Achter. The senior leader would carry that young team further than most expected and would make a case to be mentioned amongst the most prolific players in both BGSU and MAC history. Owning records at the program and league levels, as well as finishing seventh in the NCAA with a 6.97 assists per game tally made Achter the obvious choice for MAC player of the Year and an All-State All-America Honorable Mention following in the footsteps former Falcon Ali Mann. In total, Miller has coached four All-Americans, three Conference Players of the Year and another trio of Conference Freshmen of the Year - including BGSU's Lauren Prochaska. Prochaska (FOY), Achter (POY) and Miller (COY) combined to give BGSU the first-ever sweep of the MAC's major specialty awards in 2008, just another first to add to Miller's growing list. Achter and Prochaska also were named to the all-conference list as first- and second-team members, respectively, while Tara Breske garnered a spot on the MAC All-Tournament Team. BGSU has placed at least one athlete on the all-tournament team in each of the last five seasons. Of the 120 possible slots, BGSU athletes have been mentioned on 25 occasions. In the past five seasons alone, 11-of-the-25 openings have been filled by Miller's players. The 2006-07 season saw the Falcons reach heights never before achieved by a MAC team. As mentioned, the Falcons won the league's regular-season and tournament titles for the third year in a row, and BGSU won a pair of NCAA Tournament games to advance to the round of 16. BGSU was listed in the national rankings in both the Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll for nearly the entire season, reaching a school- and MAC-best ranking of 16th. Individually, Mann shared MAC Player-of-the-Year honors and was a repeat selection to the All-MAC First Team. Mann was also a finalist for both Kodak/WBCA All-America team and the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award. For the third consecutive season, four of BGSU's five starters earned all-league honors. Kate Achter (second team), Carin Horne (third team) and Liz Honegger (honorable mention) joined Mann on the all-conference squad, and Horne was named the MAC Tournament's MVP. Mann and Achter joined her on the all-tourney team. Amber Flynn was selected as the MAC's Sixth Man of the Year in 2006-07. In February of 2006, the Falcons broke into the national rankings for the first time in 12 years, with a 25th-place ranking in the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 Coaches Poll on Valentine's Day. BGSU entered the '06 national tournament ranked 21st and 23rd, respectively, in the USA Today and Associated Press polls. Miller and the Falcons ended the 2005-06 season with an overall mark of 28-3, one of the nation's best records. Mann was named to the All-MAC First Team, while Achter and Honegger each earned second-team laurels and Horne was chosen to the third team. In 2004-05, Miller guided the Falcons, picked to finish third in the West Division, to the league's best overall record, a MAC regular-season championship and the top seed for the Kraft MAC Tournament. In the league tourney in Cleveland, the Brown and Orange downed Miami, Eastern Michigan and Kent State to capture the school's first conference tourney crown and NCAA Championships bid in over a decade. Mann was named the league tournament MVP. In the NCAAs, Miller and the Falcons led nationally-ranked Kansas State at the half before succumbing, 70-60. Also in the '04-05 campaign, four of the five Falcon starters earned conference honors on the eve of the MAC Tournament, as Honegger and Mann were named to the all-conference second team while Horne earned honorable mention and Achter was chosen to the MAC's All-Freshman Team. The fifth Falcon starter, Casey McDowell, had a career game the next day as the Falcons downed Miami in the tourney's quarterfinal round, and joined Honegger and Achter on the all-tournament squad. Achter became just the second freshman in league history to be named the tournament MVP. In 2005-06, with all of those starters returning, and the bull's-eye squarely on their backs, Miller and the Falcons proceeded to begin the year with a school-record 8-0 start, finishing non-conference play with a 9-2 mark. An overtime loss at Kentucky on Jan. 2 would be the Falcons' last setback until the NCAA Championships. BGSU won all 16 league regular-season games, then downed Northern Illinois, arch-rival Toledo and KSU in the conference tournament, allowing fewer than 49 points per game in the three wins in Cleveland. The success of the subsequent three seasons came on the heels of a magical 2003-04 campaign, when Miller and his staff orchestrated one of the top turnarounds in the nation. BGSU, picked to finish sixth in the MAC West, tied for second (just a game out of first), finishing 21-10 overall. That marked a nine-win improvement over the prior season, tying for 11th in the country in that category. In conference play that year, Miller and his staff guided the Brown and Orange to an 11-5 ledger, a complete reversal of the prior year's league record (5-11). In 2003-04, the Falcons finished with a winning record -- both overall and in MAC action -- for the first time in six years. BGSU, six games better than the previous season in conference play, was the only MAC team to improve by more than three games over the '02-03 season. The Falcons posted three consecutive wins to close the regular season, then picked up three-straight wins in the league tourney. The final two victories in the tourney came on back-to-back buzzer-beaters by senior Lindsay Austin at Cleveland's Gund (now Quicken Loans) Arena. In the quarterfinal round, Austin's jumper at the horn lifted the fourth-seeded Falcons to a 63-62 win over Western Michigan. Two days later, lightning struck for a second time, as another Austin buzzer-beater led to another one-point win. This time, the victim was top-seeded Miami, as the Brown and Orange picked up a 75-74 win to advance to the championship game. In that championship contest, EMU ended BG's stellar season with a 65-56 win over the Falcons. Miller's 2003-04 team included the MAC's Defensive Player of the Year (Austin) and the league's Freshman of the Year (Mann), and three players (Austin, Mann and Stefanie Wenzel) named to the all-league squad. In 2002-03, the Brown and Orange went 12-16 overall. After posting the most successful non-conference season in over a decade, that edition of the Falcons -- in BGSU's first season in the MAC's West Division -- amassed a 5-11 league ledger that included a win over the division's co-champion. The Falcons posted a 9-19 overall record in 2001-02. That record does not indicate the masterful coaching job turned in by the first-year head coach and his staff. Despite the loss of Preseason All-MAC Team member Francine "No Relation" Miller for all but four games, BGSU went 6-10 in league action and featured a much-improved defense from prior years. Miller's Falcons had a field-goal percentage defense of .400, the lowest in a decade and at the time the fourth-lowest in school history. The Falcons improved upon that figure in 2003-04, setting a 'modern-day' record by allowing opponents to shoot just .388 from the field. That marked the third-lowest opponent field-goal pct. in school history, and the lowest since 1977-78. In '05-06, the Falcons allowed foes to shoot just .373 from the floor, the second-lowest opp. FG pct. in school history. In '06-07 BG opponents shot a .390 total; the '07-'08 group allowed their adversaries a .398 percentage. In his seven seasons, Miller-coached teams have posted six of the top-nine totals in that category in BGSU annals. Yet, there is another percentage that can attest to the fact that Miller and his staff hold the secret to recruiting. In seven seasons, BGSU's combined team grade point average has never sunk below 3.0. Dating to their first season, BG has increased their average GPA from 3.19 (01-02) to 3.40 in 2007-08 and was good enough to be classified as the most improved GPA among all women's varsity teams at the University. His staff also boasts a 100% graduation rate among all athletes who exhaust their eligibility with the program. Most recently, Whitney Taylor was named the 2007-08 BGSU Senior Scholar-Athlete as well as a member of the Academic All-MAC team. Taylor was also recognized at Beyond BG as one of the Top 10 Outstanding Senior's of the Year. Proving the Falcons get it done on the court and in the classroom, three of the six honors graduates of Miller's team are also listed among the Top 25 scorers while donning the Orange and Brown. Miller, a native of Girard, Pa., had ties to both Ohio and the MAC prior to his appointment at BGSU. He graduated from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio, and spent a year as a graduate assistant at Kent State University, where he was a volunteer coach on Lindsay's women's basketball staff. Miller joined the Falcons after spending three years as the associate head coach at Colorado State University. During the 2000-01 season, Miller was listed as one of the top 10 assistant coaches in the country in an article in the Women's Basketball Journal, as voted by his peers. Miller helped Colorado State to an overall record of 81-20 over his three seasons there. The Rams, guided by head coach Tom Collen, a 1977 BGSU graduate, finished with a 25-7 record in 2000-01. CSU won the Mountain West Conference Tournament and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. When combining his tenure at CSU and BGSU, Miller celebrated a decade of success in 2007-08 amassing a 231-88 record as an associate and head coach. Those teams averaged 23.1 wins per season while making five trips to the NCAA Tournament and another two to the WNIT marking only three seasons in which Miller has not earned a post-season bid. The year prior, CSU qualified for the WNIT and advanced all the way to the final four of that tourney, losing to eventual champion Wisconsin. In 1998-99, Miller's first season in Fort Collins, CSU won the preseason WNIT title and the Western Athletic Conference championship. The Rams posted a 33-3 record, the best in school history, and advanced to the "Sweet Sixteen" in the NCAA Tournament. That squad was ranked as high as fourth in the nation. Miller's responsibilities at Colorado State included serving as defensive coordinator. He was in charge of all practice and game decisions regarding defensive strategies. Additionally, Miller was the recruiting coordinator and scouting coordinator, and his responsibilities also included academic counseling, scheduling, player development and administrative coordination. Prior to Colorado State, Miller spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Syracuse University (1994-98). The Orange shared the Big East Conference championship during the 1995-96 season. Miller was an assistant coach at Cleveland State University for three seasons, and was the youngest top assistant in the country upon his hiring in 1991. Prior to his stint with the Vikings, as mentioned, Miller served as a volunteer assistant coach at KSU. The Golden Flashes finished 17-12 that season (1990-91), and enjoyed the second-best turnaround in the nation, with a 12-game improvement over the previous year. In Miller's 10 years as recruiting coordinator, Colorado State, Syracuse and Cleveland State combined to sign all-state players from 17 states, Canada and South America. That list included a Gatorade Player of the Year from the states of Maryland, New York and Connecticut. Miller has been asked to serve on coaches' round table discussions regarding recruiting or coaching techniques at four Women's Basketball Coaches Association national conventions. Miller has a plethora of camp experience, having served as camp director at each of his previous three schools. He has also instructed at Blue Star camps and at schools including Purdue and North Carolina. In 2007-08, Miller was joined for the seventh consecutive season by assistant coaches Jennifer Roos and Brandi Poole, while Kevin Eckert completed his sixth season with the Falcon program. "I truly believe that I have the strongest assistant coaching staff in the MAC and the entire Midwest," said Miller. "We work long hours and spend a ton of time together, showing by example to our players that team chemistry starts from the top. I love them like family!" According to Blais: " Curt Miller is an outstanding teacher of the game of basketball. But perhaps more importantly, there is no one better at developing a solid locker room. He continually produces teams that understand that no one person is more important than the other. His teams play hard for each other because they care more about the success of the team than individual honors. "He instills a strong sense of tradition in each team that he coaches and the women take great pride in representing all the Falcons that have come before them." Miller received his Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education and business administration from Baldwin-Wallace in 1990. He has taken courses toward his Master of Arts degree in sports administration at KSU.
CURT MILLER - YEAR-BY-YEAR AT BGSU
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