Dion Miller Named Assistant Track & Field Coach
5/8/2015 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field, Cross Country
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Dion Miller, a 15-year coaching veteran of collegiate track & field, has joined the University of Alabama track & field program as an assistant coach. Miller, an eight-time Regional Assistant Coach of the Year, will coach the short sprints at Alabama (the men's & women's 100 meters, 200, 100-meter hurdles, 110-meter hurdles and relays).
"I am excited to have Dion Miller joining our staff for the 2015-16 season," UA head coach Dan Waters said. "Dion is a proven coach and recruiter at the collegiate level, one of the finest coaches in the nation, and he has an impressive record of success as a coach, recruiter and leader of student-athletes over a long and distinguished career. Coach Miller is a great fit for our program, a coach with a record of success throughout his career who can help us reach our goal of competing for championships at the SEC and national levels."
"I am very excited to join the Crimson Tide track & field staff," Miller said. "The chance to coach at Alabama while working with Coach Waters, who I have tremendous respect for, was something that I simply could not pass up. Dan has the program headed in a very positive direction, and I am excited about the goals he has for the Crimson Tide. Those goals align with my own. It's a tremendous opportunity at a special place."
One of two veteran coaches with proven credentials of producing elite-level athletes who will be joining the Alabama staff for the 2015-16 academic year (along with Blaine Wiley of South Plains College) Miller has produced numerous champion athletes over the course of a collegiate career that has featured two stops at Texas Tech (2001-02 and 2008-15), along with stints as an assistant coach at Washington (2002-04) and Arizona State (2004-07).
Miller and Wiley will replace current Crimson Tide assistant coaches Matt Kane and Dick Booth, both of whom informed Waters of their intentions to leave the program after the conclusion of the 2015 season. Kane will transition to coaching professional/post-collegiate athletes while Booth has decided to retire from college coaching but will continue assisting the Alabama program in several capacities, including serving as an organizer for the upcoming 2016 SEC Outdoor Championships (which Alabama will host next May) and the annual NCAA South Region cross country championships, along with other duties revolving around Crimson Tide home competitions.
Miller, the 2015 NCAA Division I Indoor Track & Field Mountain Region Women's Assistant Coach of the Year, is one of the top sprints and hurdles coach in the country. Miller has coached several athletes to Olympic Games and World Championships success: 2014 world and USATF indoor 60-meter hurdles champion Omo Osaghae (who also is a three-time USATF indoor 60-meter hurdles champion); 2012 world indoor 4x400-meter relay champion Gil Roberts (who also won the 2012 USATF indoor 400 title); hurdlers Shane Brathwaite (Barbados) and Jamele Mason (Puerto Rico) at the 2012 Olympics; 4x400 relay Silver medalist Andrae Williams (Bahamas) at the 2008 Olympics; and 2008 World indoor champion 4x400-meter gold medalist Greg Nixon (United States).
At Texas Tech, Miller coached athletes who earned 119 All-America citations, set 20 school records, won 12 Big 12 individual titles, and two USATF individual event titles, in addition to producing four national champions and two Olympic medalists. Over the last two years at Texas Tech, Miller's sprinters and hurdlers earned 21 All-America honors between the indoor and outdoor seasons, led by the development of sprinter Cierra White, who achieved All-America status in both the indoor and outdoor seasons, along with winning three gold medals at the 2014 Under-23 NACAC Championships.
Texas Tech emerged as one of the top hurdle programs in the nation under Miller's guidance, producing 23 All-Americans in the hurdles events since 2005, third among all NCAA programs. From 2007-14, Miller coached at least one first team All-American in the hurdles in eight consecutive seasons, a streak that included Osaghae (currently running as a post-collegiate athlete for adidas), Shane Brathwaite (a 2012 Barbados Olympian), Jamele Mason (a 2012 Puerto Rico Olympian), Bryce Brown and La Tristan Pledger (the 2014 NACAC 100-meter hurdles champion). For his work, Miller has earned eight NCAA Division I regional assistant coach of the year honors over the course of his career, all at Texas Tech.
As an assistant coach for the Arizona State women's track & field team from 2004-07, Miller helped build the Sun Devils into a Pac-10 Conference power. While at ASU, he helped head coach Greg Kraft lead the ASU women to several team championships, including ASU's first Pac-10 team title in the history of the program in 2007 as well as the 2007 women's NCAA Indoor and Outdoor team championships. Miller worked with Jacquelyn Johnson at ASU, who picked up four multi-event NCAA titles and All-American honors. Miller also developed four other student-athletes to All-American honors, headlined by sprinter/hurdler LaTosha Wallace.
Prior to his time at Arizona State, Miller served three seasons (2002-04) as the sprints coach at the University of Washington, guiding the Huskies' women's 4x400-meter relay to its first NCAA championship appearance since 1998.
Miller earned a bachelor's degree in Exercise and Sport Science from Texas Tech in 1998. As a student-athlete, Miller earned All-America honors as a sprinter on the track, achieving 13 all-conference honors for the Red Raiders while qualifying for the NCAA Championships eight times overall. Miller also qualified for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials in both the 100 and 200 meters. Miller and his wife, Carol, are the parents of three children: Alandrea, Kameron, and Dionna.
