Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Head Coach | Fifth Year
Ryan Miller is in his fifth season at TCU, his third as assistant head coach. Miller served as an assistant coach in his first two seasons with the Horned Frogs.
The Frogs reached the postseason in three of four seasons that Miller has been on staff, including the program’s first NCAA Tournament bid in 20 seasons in 2018. TCU went 21-12 overall and 9-9 in the Big 12 Conference that season, its most wins ever in the conference.
In his first season with the Horned Frogs, Miller played an integral part in the second-largest turnaround in school history as TCU went 24-15, an improvement of 12 wins from the previous year. Win No. 24 gave TCU its first postseason championship, when it beat Georgia Tech 88-56 at Madison Square Garden for in the NIT title. The victory also tied for the second-most wins in school history was the most since the 1997-98 season (27-6).
Widely recognized as one of the top recruiters in college basketball, Miller helped recruit Jaylen Fisher and Desmond Bane to TCU. Fisher earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention honors and led all Big 12 freshmen in assists and 3-pointers. Bane was All-Big 12 twice and became the first TCU player to be on the first team. Bane also earned USBWA All-District honors twice and was on the NABC All-District team. Among many impressive career stats, Bane finished his TCU career No. 1 in wins and No. 3 in points.
Miller came to Fort Worth following two years at UNLV where he was instrumental in helping the Runnin' Rebels land the nation's No. 11 and No. 5 ranked recruiting classes in 2015 and 2014, respectively.
During his time at UNLV, Miller helped develop and coach Rashad Vaughn who was drafted No. 17 overall by the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2015 NBA Draft. Vaughn was a 2014 McDonald's All-America honoree and a consensus five-star recruit, who was ranked as high as No. 8 nationally coming out of Findlay College Prep. He went on to become the Mountain West Freshman of the Year at UNLV after averaging 17.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
In 2015, Miller, who was named the fourth-best recruiter outside the Power 5 while at UNLV by ESPN's Jeff Borzello and Adam Finkelstein, had a hand in the Rebels garnering commitments from two ESPN Top-100 signees in five star Stephen Zimmerman, who was rated the nation's No. 12 ranked player by ESPN, and Derrick Jones, a four-star recruit who was ranked in the top-50 nationally. Another notable to play under Miller's stay in Las Vegas was Christian Wood who currently plays for the Philadelphia 76ers.
Miller brought an impressive resume with him to TCU, as he had been an assistant coach at UNLV, Auburn, New Mexico, Pepperdine and Memphis. Throughout his career, Miller has recorded over 250 wins, posted eight straight postseason appearances, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2006, and coached in four NCAA Tournaments. He has also won five regular-season titles and one conference tournament title.
Over the course of his career, Miller has coached under some of the biggest names in college basketball in John Calipari, Steve Alford, Tony Barbee and Dave Rice. Even more impressive though is the number of student-athletes Miller has helped send to the NBA as an assistant coach, including J. R. Giddens, Darington Hobson, Rodney Carney, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Vaughn, Wood, Cameron Bairstow and Tony Snell.
Prior to his time at UNLV, the South Dakota native spent two years as an associate head coach at Auburn University between 2012 through 2014. Prior to that, Miller recorded five seasons as an assistant coach at New Mexico under Alford. During his tenure, the Lobos went 126-46 overall and made five consecutive postseason appearances, including a pair of NCAA Tournament berths. New Mexico also won two regular-season Mountain West Conference Championships and one league tournament crown. Miller spent the 2006-07 season as an assistant coach at Pepperdine before joining the New Mexico staff.
He began his college coaching career as the Director of Basketball Operations at Memphis under Calipari between 2004-06. During his three years with the Tigers, Memphis compiled a 78-28 record and made three postseason tournament appearances, including two NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2006, Miller aided in guiding the Tigers to the Sweet 16.
A native of Mitchell, S.D., Miller attended Northern State University in Aberdeen, S.D., where he was a two-time Northern Sun All-Conference selection. He finished his career eighth on Northern State's all-time scoring list after leading his teams to four straight conference championships and the 1998 regional title. He was named a Division II All-American and an Academic All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference member as a senior in 1997-98. Miller earned his bachelor's degree in physical education from Northern State in 2000.
Miller was drafted by the CBA in 1999 and played professionally for the Fargo-Moorhead Beez of the International Basketball Association. He also saw action for the Dakota Gold of the IBA where he served as player/assistant coach during the 2000-01 campaign.
Miller attended Mitchell High School where he was a two-time all-state selection, leading the school to the 1994 state championship. His brother, Mike, is an assistant coach with the Memphis Tigers. Mike played 17 years in the NBA and was named NBA Rookie of the Year in 2001 and the NBA Sixth Man of the Year in 2006. He also won back-to-back NBA Championships with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Miller and his wife, Marna, have two daughters, Melia and Halle.
