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| Bill Miles the 2014 DtB Person of the Year |
A lot has already been written about him. But I realized that while we know a lot about his accomplishments, I didn't know that much else. So, I invited Bill Miles for a chat a few weeks ago, not because I was planning on doing a Person of the Year feature, but because I wanted to know more about him. Below are some of the things I learned.
Like most high school kids, Bill Miles, played a variety of sports at Cretin High school. Like many runners, a basketball player was what he hoped he could be, but running became his focus, not so much for his own achievements, but because fate pushed him in that direction.
A ten minute two miler, Miles was fortunate enough to go to high school and college at a time when numbers weren't an issue. He'd gravitated toward running because it was inclusive. You didn't need to be one of the top runners to be part of the team. He liked the sport enough to want to be part of a team in college and Roy Griak at the University of Minnesota was the type of coach who not only welcomed the elite, but helped nurture and develop those with less talent as well.
It was at Minnesota where fate intervened. During his senior year at Minnesota, Miles and a teammate went back to Cretin to do a workout and had a conversation with the team's coach. It was obvious to the coach that, even back then, Miles had a knowledge of the sport, a grasp of all the things one might need to be a coach, and perhaps more importantly a passion for it. Cross country was not a high priority in the school's athletic department.
"He said he took the job to prevent them dropping cross country as a sport," said Miles. He didn't have a passion for the sport, just a sense of preservation. Would Miles consider coaching the team, he asked. Miles was shocked by the offer, but intrigued. He hadn't planned on being a teacher, must less a coach. Miles had none of the certification needed. All he had was the knowledge and the passion.
Miles thought the opportunity was too good to pass up, but he also knew it would mean leaving the Gopher team. He went back to tell Griak. Said he had this job offer and that if he took it he couldn't run for the team. get his school work done, and coach.
Griak gave his blessing, and Miles took the job. Miles was wise enough to know what he didn't know and he sought out other coaches for advice and guidance. Minneapolis Southwest was the dominant team in cross country in Minnesota then. To win a state title in the sport in Minnesota the challenge was simple, you had to beat Southwest. At that time the Catholic schools, such as Cretin, had a separate championship, so Cretin didn't have to go up against Southwest to get a state title. The school's legendary coach, Al Halley, was ready to retire.
Miles found a mentor in Halley whose instructions to his team members was "to be the best you can be...or quit." Cretin also had the good fortunate of having a glut of talent. Starting from a program that only had a handful of kids coming out for the sport, Miles had a number of very talented runners who joined the program. The Roth twins were two of the top runners in the state. Then there was a hockey player named Don Hurley, who really wanted to be a professional hockey player, but his potential was such that he had the talent to be an outstanding runner.
Fate stepped in again at this point, however, as Miles overheard a conversation among the Cretin administration one day in the lunch room. The conversation centered around hiring and salaries, and it was made clear that hiring a teacher for a lower salary had a big influence on who was hired and who was let go. There was no tenure at Cretin, thus Miles knew that the chances he would finish his career at Cretin were slim.
Not long after that Wayzata High School was in the market for a coach. Miles had a short but impressive resume. Again, through chance Miles was offered the job and he took it, but not before some unfinished business at Cretin. Miles had a conversation with Hurley. "Promise me that you'll keep running," Hurley remembers Miles telling him. Hurley not only kept running he won two individual state titles in cross country.
Miles had not only shown that he could recognize talent, but also develop that talent. He'd be the first to tell you he has no secret formula or plan. He talks about the rivalry between Stillwater's teams under Scott Christensen and his own. The conversation doesn't focus won/lost statistics, but, as Christensen echoes when he talks about it, the value of the rivalry.
He says that if you took the same group of kids some would perform better under his program, which he describes as focusing on building endurance, and another would thrive on Christensen's, which is centered on developing speed.
Both have been at it a long time. Neither one was going to change. They each developed champions, but neither one has the answer for all athletes. The key being that both develop talented athletes, and the schools push each other to new heights along with other legacy programs at Edina, Hopkins, Marshall, Eden Prairie, Burnsville, etc..
Miles has been more than a coach. He, along with his brother, Tim Miles, who coaches at St. Johns, are the stewarts of Minnesota high school track stats history. The Miles Lists keep track of performances of each year's boys' athletes along with an anually updated list of the all time lists in each event.
After our conversation, he was headed off to the Minnesota History Center to do more data mining. Bill Miles may have left the coaching profession behind, but he'll still be chronicling the performances, watching the kids develop. For one of the keys to Miles' success has been the inclusiveness, call it the no child left behind program for coaching. For 45 years Miles has given them a "home away from home," a place to explore their own talent, motivation, discipline, and personalities.
For his service and devotion to the sport, Bill Miles has been selected as the first DtB Person of the Year.
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