Curt Miller has been here before. Well, sort of.

The new women's basketball coach at Indiana University sees a parallel between now and 11 years ago, when he arrived to take the same job at Bowling Green State University.

"The situation here mirrors Bowling Green in that the program has fallen on hard times," Miller said in a phone conversation. "And, like BG, I've inherited a core group of really, really good kids with high character who are working hard and doing the job in the classroom.

"Unfortunately, when I got to Bowling Green the kids on the roster were probably not high level Mid-American Conference players. And here I have kids who are probably not high level Big Ten players.

"So, yeah, there are some parallels. It's not the type of situation where the team can go from last to first. There will be a lot of steps in between."

Those steps at BG were accelerated, Miller feels, by an aura that surrounded the program, even though it had experienced a few bumpy seasons.

"Bowling Green had a history of winning, a tradition that went back to coaches like Fran Voll and Jaci Clark," Miller said. "There hasn't been a consistent history of winning at Indiana. It has been inconsistent at best. So that's the difference between the two jobs."

In 11 seasons at BG, Miller's teams averaged 23 wins, snagged seven regular-season MAC titles, captured five MAC Tournament championships, and played in eight postseason tournaments.

Time will tell if he can replicate that magic at Indiana. What Miller did at BG was more than just building on a winning tradition. It was high-energy recruiting and coaching that turned the Falcons into one of the premier mid-major programs in the country.

He inherits one of the worst teams in the nation at Indiana -- a statistical analysis would make you wonder how the Hoosiers managed to win even six games last season. Indiana would likely not have been even a good MAC team as evidenced by its 0-3 record against MAC opponents Miami, Northern Illinois, and Toledo. The Hoosiers went 29-60 in the last three seasons and couldn't give tickets away.

So Miller, in typical style, has jumped in feet first.

"I've been running like crazy," he said. "I'm really excited about the response from high school and club coaches. We've worked really hard to interact with them. There is a lot of respect in the region for our program at Bowling Green and there are a lot of Hoosier fans who really want to see women's basketball bounce back. We've made some headway, but it's going to be more of a marathon than a sprint."

He inherits a thin roster with just nine returning players -- one of those good news, bad news things, perhaps. A majority will be seniors next year. Both of the early recruits who had committed to the previous coaching staff have opted to go elsewhere.

On the plus side, Kaila Hulls, a homegrown Hoosier who never played at BG because of injury, and Claire Jakubicek, the MAC's top freshman last season at Northern Illinois, have both transferred to IU.

"Are they first team All-Big Ten players? Maybe not," Miller said. "But Kaila and Claire are solid foundation players, the building blocks you need to start making a climb.

"Because of the makeup of the roster, we're looking at a very large 2013 recruiting class. The good thing is that we have an opportunity to recruit a lot of kids. The scary part is we're getting to the party late."

Miller has two of his BG assistants -- Brandi Poole and Kevin Eckert -- on hand to help play catch-up. The other, Jennifer Roos, who Miller calls "a rock star in this profession," succeeded Miller as head coach of the Falcons.

After a decade of working at venerable but antiquated Anderson Arena, Miller's last Falcon team moved into the new Stroh Center, complete with a practice gym and other amenities like offices, locker rooms, lounges, and sports medicine facilities. It's very nice.

It pales in comparison to IU's legendary Assembly Hall and the almost new Cook Hall, an adjoining 67,000-square-foot practice facility that ranks among the nation's best. Cook Hall includes something called Legacy Court which is open to the public and is basically a shrine where Hoosier fans come to genuflect.

"There is a parade of people every day," Miller said. "It's like a museum where people can celebrate the history of men's and women's basketball at Indiana."

Yes, but it's mostly the men's history that is worth celebrating.

It is Miller's job to do something about that.

Contact Blade sports columnist Dave Hackenberg at: dhack@theblade.com or 419-724-6398.

First Published May 13, 2012, 4:31 a.m.