Article published March 17, 2005
Miller quickly rebuilds BG women’s program
BOWLING GREEN — When Curt Miller was hired to resurrect the struggling Bowling Green women’s basketball program four years ago, his resume looked a lot like Urban Meyer’s.
Like Meyer, Miller was a highly successful assistant coach who had a passion and energy for recruiting, and a knack for being around winning programs.
Miller and Meyer, who made the monumental leap from Bowling Green to Utah to Florida in three years, had something else in common. They had absolutely no head coaching experience before being hired by BG athletic director Paul Krebs.
Still, Miller arrived in May of 2001 with a thick blueprint and a five-year timetable aimed at turning around a program that had become a lightweight in the Mid-American Conference.
The program was in such embarrassing shape, experiencing three consecutive losing seasons and a 35-49 record under Dee Knoblauch, that Freddie the Falcon probably considered flying the coop.
Bowling Green’s once-rabid fan base also had dissipated, and the team played to an empty arena.
Curt Miller has led the BGSU women’s basketball team to a MAC regular-season title, tournament title and NCAA berth.
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THE BLADE/LORI KING
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On top of that, the Falcons had few legitimate Division I players on their roster and only one MAC-level star in Francine Miller, who battled injuries.
Publicly, Curt Miller put on a brave front.
Privately, he probably questioned his own sanity.
Rebuilding the Bowling Green program, which once ruled the roost in the MAC from the late-1980s to mid-1990s, was a tall order.
Yet the 36-year-old Miller never wavered in his game plan, which was every bit as impressive off the court as the one he implemented on it.
“I wanted to establish a program within five years that could be competitive, year in and year out, and compete for championships,” Miller said. “I figured it would take me a couple of good recruiting classes to turn it around.”
No one doubted Miller could do it eventually.
After all, scouting talent was his forte. In 10 seasons as the recruiting coordinator at Cleveland State, Syracuse and Colorado State, he had signed, sealed and delivered all-state performers from 17 states, Canada and South America.
Two seasons into his tenure at Bowling Green, Miller hit the recruiting jackpot again. His class of 2003 includes current sophomore starters Liz Honegger, Ali Mann and Carin Horne, and top reserve Megan Thorburn. Miller added talented freshman point guard Kate Achter from Clay High School to his skilled hoard last fall.
With Miller’s eye for talent, it’s easy to understand why he was named coach of the year this season, and why he has Bowling Green back on top in the MAC — the Falcons won both the regular-season and tournament championships.
Miller, who received a five-year contract extension in October, also has BG back in the NCAA tournament for the first time in 11 years.
The Falcons play heavily-favored Kansas State Saturday night in Seattle. Both teams are 23-7.
Not even Miller expected this kind of success so quickly.
“To think we could win the league in four years, or go to the NCAA tournament, was kind of far-fetched,” he said.
How far-fetched?
While most women’s basketball players in the MAC are trudging across campus somewhere today in the Midwest, headed to History 101 class, the Falcons are in the Pacific Northwest, intent on making a little history of their own.
According to Curt Miller’s plan, they’ve just arrived a little ahead of schedule.
Contact Ron Musselman at:mussel@theblade.comor 419-724-6474.
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