I was talking a while back to Coach Herb Welling and the discussion turned to Coach Ralph Miller. I believe Coach Miller does not receive enough credit for some of the defensive things we do today. I believe he is one of the greatest coaches in the history of the game.When I was a young coach beginning in the business, I got the opportunity to go to Corvallis and watch a few of Coach Miller's Oregon State teams practice. I was so impressed by the way Coach Miller's operated his practices. Amazing, that he could sit on the end of the basketball court, smoking his "More" cigarettes and practice would flow like a ballet.
Back when Coach Miller was at East High School, he began the idea of pressing after a missed shot. You heard of Former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson's "40 minutes of Hell", Coach Miller was the first to have his players press full-court after every possession.
Coach Miller recruited quick, fast and heady athletes who typically weren't highly touted coming out of high school, then molded them to fit his system. The only other requirement as a love of defense.
Offensively, he ran only two sets and dared opponents to stop either. Few could. We still have images of Beaver Steve Johnson tossing a back-door bounce pass - the one circumstance where it was allowed - to a sharply cutting Ray Blume, Mark Radford or Lester Connor for an easy lay-up.
To read a great article on Coach Miller, go to:
http://alumni.oregonstate.edu/stater/issues/stater0012/feature1.html
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