A bittersweet departure
Norwalk coach Miller leaving for college job
Pat Miller had always envisioned himself being a college football coach. So when the opportunity presented itself, he wasn’t going to pass it up.
Miller, 31, resigned Monday as head coach of Norwalk to join the Anna Maria College staff as a wide receivers coach. Miller will start his new, full time job in August. The news was first reported by the Ruden Report late
Thursday.
The decision, though tough, was a no-brainer, Miller said. Especially at this point in his life. He’s engaged to Sarah Wyant, Sheehan’s softball coach, and with the expectations of starting a family, if Miller was going to make a career move, he said it had to be now.
“I’m excited,” Miller said. “Coaching in college is something I’ve wanted to do forever. Me and my fiance talked about it.
We figured it could work. We’re taking a shot and making a gamble, but we’re excited.”
Miller helped coach Sheehan to a state championship under John Ferazzi in 2019 and was hired at Norwalk just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
With that season canceled, Miller wound up coaching Norwalk for one season.
But it was a good one. Led by GameTimeCT Player of the Year Cam Edwards (now at UConn), the Bears had their best season in a decade. They went 7-3 and narrowly missed out on a state playoff berth in Class LL.
“It’s super bittersweet. I loved my time at Norwalk,” Miller said. “It was absolute blast. I loved all the kids and coaches there. Telling them was hard, but it became an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. It was tough. My time there was special.”
Miller joins a staff at Anna
Maria headed by Steve Croce, a former journeyman coach in Connecticut who has spent the last five years at the college under former coach Dan Mulrooney (whom Croce coached at Holy CrossWaterbury).
Last year, Anna Maria — which began as a program in 2009 — went 7-3, won its first Eastern Collegiate Football Conference title and earned its first NCAA Division III playoff berth.
Miller will coach the wide receivers under offensive coordinator Tanner Kingsley, a former standout quarterback at Woodland and Central Connecticut State and, in 2019, at Anna Maria.