Miller savoured time in Saskatchewan
Link to city, province still strong
Ken Miller borrowed a line from crooner Tony Bennett when asked about his feelings regarding Saskatchewan.
“Tony Bennett said that he left his heart in San Francisco,’’ Miller, the former head coach of the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, said from his home in Tryon, N.C. “Really, Maureen (Miller’s wife) and I have pretty much left our hearts in Saskatchewan, particularly Regina.
“Maureen was so involved with that community at so many levels. When you’re involved with the Riders — and it doesn’t matter what the role is, whether it be a coach, co-ordinator, head coach or vice-president of football operations — you’re just so tightly involved with the people in the community. When I say community, I mean the entire province.’’
Miller was with the Roughriders from 2007 through 2011. He started in 2007 when Kent Austin hired Miller as the offensive co-ordinator. In 2008, Miller was promoted to head coach after Austin left the Riders to become offensive co-ordinator at the University of Mississippi.
Miller remained Saskatchewan’s head coach through the 2010 season, leading the Riders to berths in the 2009 and 2010 Grey Cup games. He resigned after the 2010 season to focus on being the vice-president of football operations, but returned to the sidelines in August of 2011 after the Riders started the season with a 1-7 record under head coach Greg Marshall.
Miller replaced Marshall for the remainder of the season as the Riders finished with a 5-13 record. Miller resigned from both posts after the 2011 season with a 36-27-1 record as head coach.
Miller and his wife have returned to Regina on a number of occasions since 2011. They’re to be in Regina this weekend when Miller is to be the keynote speaker at the Regina Thunder’s Sports Dinner on Saturday at the Turvey Centre.
The couple’s ties keep drawing them back to the city for events like the sports dinner.
“We feel like it’s an intimate relationship that we have had with the people in Regina and in Saskatchewan around the Rider Nation,’’ Miller said.
That relationship may have started when Miller was in Regina in 2002 as the quarterbacks coach with the Toronto Argonauts. Miller knew then that there was a special relationship between the fans and football.
“It was evident to me that football meant so much to the people of Saskatchewan,’’ Miller said. “I really felt that I always wanted to be part of that. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to do that.’’
After stepping down from the Riders, Miller returned to his home in North Carolina and was content to fill his time with oil painting, a hobby that he started while coaching.
Ed Lamb, a friend of Miller’s and the head coach at Southern Utah University, convinced Miller to end his retirement and join the Thunderbirds as the offensive line coach. Miller agreed and spent the 2014 season in Cedar City, Utah, as a coach.
“It was a lot of fun to be back in the room with the players again,’’ said the 73-year-old Miller.
“They were relatively inexperienced, so we had a lot of growth and improvement. It was just good to be back in the room with a position group.’’
The fact Miller returned to coaching is an indication of how much he enjoys that role.
“I consider myself to be an educator and when you’re around young people, you’re always teaching lessons about life and football,’’ Miller said.
“It’s consistent with the vision that I see of myself.’’
Miller agreed to fill the position for one season and has turned down requests to return for another.
He’s simply content to paint and enjoy his time in North Carolina.
“It’s a pretty serious hobby for me,’’ Miller said.
“I don’t sell many paintings, but I paint a lot of them. I invest a lot of time putting paint on canvas. That gives me a healthy thing to do with my time. It keeps me occupied and busy.’’