Miller: "We're ready to get to work"
MBB: Murray State's 18th head coach was introduced to the Racer Nation Thursday
Ryan Miller, the newly introduced men’s basketball coach at Murray State, stepped to the podium Thursday afternoon to speak directly to the Racer Nation for the first time.
“Wow — pretty awesome deal,” Miller said, taking in the moment.
In front of hundreds of fans, administrators, Racer players and staff, Miller punctuated his seven minute, 29-second opening statement with “Go Racers!” If he’s learned anything in his first 24 hours in Murray, those two words are a good place to start.
“Oh, it's surreal,” Miller said about finally arriving in Murray. “Fortunate enough, they picked me up in a plane and brought me and my family here. I'm very excited about the opportunity to get to work. The history of Murray State Basketball is something that you won't take for granted, and we're very prideful to be here and to be able to work here.”
After a 21-year college coaching career that’s take him to seven different stops, Miller said he believes Murray State is the best place for him to get his first head coaching job.
“The visionary leadership,” Miller said, describing one of the big reasons he took the job. “Starting with Dr. (Bob) Jackson to (Director of Athletics) Nico (Yantko), in this changing landscape of college athletics, you need visionaries. I believe they are the right people to lead this program and give us a footprint that will be very successful here.”
“There's a lot of things that he and I aligned on quickly,” Yantko said. “Whether it be philosophies, communication style, aggressiveness in the recruiting pathways, but also the tenacious ability to put together a team and bring that mentality to everything he does. He's a big culture guy, but he (doesn’t have) a ‘words on the wall’ type of focus, right? He walked through how he wants to have his culture as a living, breathing part of his daily operations and habits as a program. That was something that really jumped off the page for me. I believe that. Our culture is our habits. When he talks about building that culture, understanding the landscape, you look at his pedigree. When we really dove into the analytics of our current Murray State program, but also how Creighton operated, and other programs, the analytics of this industry are evolving rapidly, and to have somebody who could come in and tap into that source of information is key as they become decision makers.”
Yantko interviewed Miller while Creighton was at the Big East Tournament on March 11th and 12th. Miller accepted the job on March 13th without ever stepping foot in Murray.
“Unique, I will say that,” Miller said, with a chuckle, about taking a job sight unseen. “I've never been here. All the places I've coached and all the places I've been, I've never coached at Murray State, so I didn't exactly know what to expect. Obviously, seeing them on TV throughout the years, and obviously photos and imagery, and the fact that Ja Morant and Cam Payne and these great players played here, and great coaches coached here, was pretty awesome.”
Since taking the job 14 days ago, Miller has worked double-duty, as he finished out the season as an assistant coach with Creighton, while trying to build his first infrastructure as a head coach.
“It was a lot of work, to be honest with you, especially with the (transfer) portal open on Monday,” Miller said. “The first thing for me was making sure I get my staff set, which we're in the process of doing. I think we're going to have an amazing staff to have with me here at Murray. That was the first thing. Now, obviously, we've got to get in the portal and get to work.”
While Miller wouldn’t go into details on most of his staff since their hirings have not been officially completed, he did talk about retaining Assistant Coach Brendan Mullins from Steve Prohm’s staff. Eight of Mullins’ 18 years in coaching have been spent in the Missouri Valley Conference.
“I’ve coached in awesome leagues,” Miller said. “Big East, SEC, Big 12. I followed the Missouri Valley Conference intimately because where I've been located in Omaha, and the history of Creighton in the Missouri Valley Conference. I followed it, but I need someone to help guide me through it. Having Coach Mullins that's coached here in the league many, many years is going to be vital for our success.”
“Rock star,” Yantko said about Mullins. “When you look at Coach Mullins, you think of a guy that's high-integrity, a freaking grinder, and you're going to see that in Coach Miller and this entire staff, as he continues to assemble the pieces that are coming. When you look at that, you look at Mullins and his connectivity, not only to the Chicago market, but understanding how to recruit people to Murray State, I think that adds so much value. Also his defensive pedigree, that's going to play a heavy role in Brendan’s responsibilities here with Coach Miller.”
Decisions about which players from last year’s team will be retained will happen in the coming days. As he works in the next few weeks to put together a roster for the 2025-26 season, Miller is adamant that he expects to win right away.
“Back in the day, you take a job like this, ‘I'm going to go recruit some really good young guys,’” Miller said. “You might have your ups and downs the first two years in the program, and then when they become juniors and seniors, you become championship-level contenders. With the transfer portal and NIL, the way it is today, you can have instant success. That will be for us and our staff to really figure out what kind of attributes and qualities we're looking for, who has the championship DNA that can help us win Missouri Valley Conference championships.”