|
Dion Miller is back at Texas Tech after spending three seasons as an assistant coach with the Arizona State University track and field program and two at Washington. He returns to the South Plains as the sprinters coach, replacing Steve Silvey, who left for the head coaching position at UL Lafayette. Last year, the ASU women turned in strong performances, including picking up valuable points at the conference meet to help the Sun Devils to their first Pac-10 Team Championship in the history of the program. Miller worked with Jacquelyn Johnson, who picked up two multi-event NCAA titles and All-America honors, as well as a young sprinting group that qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 4x400m relay while also sending three individuals to the national meet in the quarter-mile events. Latosha Wallace advanced to the NCAA meet in the 400m hurdles after placing second in the Pac-10 and West Region. She was joined by 400m dashers Christina Hardeman and Bridgette Williams who, along with Shauntel Elcock, placed 11th in the relay event. Hardeman won the indoor 400m dash at the MPSF Championships before moving outdoors where she placed fourth in the conference before taking second in the West. On the record lists, Miller helped Johnson clock an 8.34 in the 100m hurdles to move into third all-time indoors while Wallace ran the fifth-fastest indoor 400m time of 53.69. Outdoors, the duo again made a mark in the books with Johnson ranking fourth in the 100m hurdles (13.31) and Wallace in the 400m hurdles (57.57), one of only eight Sun Devil women to run a sub-60 time in the event. During his first season with the Sun Devils, Miller led his 4x400m relay team to a Pac-10 title with Porchea Carroll, Hardeman, Cassandra Reed and Kandace Tucker running the race. The relay crown was the first won by the Sun Devils since the 1995 meet when ASU captured the 4x400m race and just the seventh time overall since the Sun Devils joined the conference in 1987. Individually, Miller coached Carroll to a successful senior season that saw her tie the school record in the 60m dash (7.39) before becoming the first Sun Devil to crack the Top 8 on the all-time ASU 100m dash list in seven years when she clocked the fourth-fastest time of 11.44. Carroll, along with helping the relay team win conference gold, finished second in the Pac-10 at 200m and third at 100m in 2005. Adding in her third-place in the long jump and Carroll was the top performer for ASU at the Pac-10 Championships. In his two seasons with UW, Miller brought in a bevy of great talent, including three prep All-Americans and numerous junior college transfers. In 2003, Miller guided seven sprinters to Top 10 marks on the all-time UW lists. Last year, Miller bolstered the Husky hurdlers with Ashley Lodree. The freshman would go on to break all the freshman school records and was ranked among the Top 5 junior-age hurdlers in the world. Miller also put together a solid men's 4x400m relay that advanced to the NCAA Championships for the first time since 1998. Prior to UW, Miller built Texas Tech's sprinters into one of the premier groups in the nation. In the 2002 season, he guided student-athletes to 13 All-America honors while the men's 4x100m relay team captured its first Big XII championship title. That same recruit class, led by Jonathon Johnson, was ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation and was considered the best in the Big XII Conference. In 2001, the women shined both indoors and outdoors under Miller as seven school records were set. Indoors, Tami Zachary established the mark in the 60m dash (7.43) while Ngozi Iwu became the first TTU female to break the 54-second barrier, clocking a school record 53.67 in the 400m. Miller's 4x400m relay team also set the mark at 3:40.11 before they rewrote the record one year later at 3:36.97 to earn All-America honors by finishing eighth at the NCAA Championships. Reggie Hill also turned in several solid performances for the men, including a school-best 6.66 in the 60m. On the outdoor track, true freshman Tiffany Green won the conference titles in the 100m and 200m (school record 22.98) and helped the 4x100m relay to third place and a school record at 44.35. His final season with the Red Raiders saw a pair of record-setters compete under Miller, including Licretia Sibley, just the second women in program history to multiple All-America honors in one season. She finished seventh in the 400m (54.26) and was a member of the record 4x400m relay that finished eighth. On the men's side, Miller guided Johnson to his impressive rookie campaign in which he became the first TTU freshman to claim multiple All-America honors in a season. Miller earned his degree in exercise science from TTU in 1998 where he was an All-American. He also captured 13 all-conference honors for the Red Raiders. An eight-time NCAA qualifier for TTU, Miller also qualified for the US Olympic Team Trials in 1996 in both the 100m and 200m events. Miller and his wife, Carol, have one daughter, Alandrea, and one son, Kameron.
Coaching File While at Arizona State Assisted in Team Titles •National Indoor Champions 2007 •National Outdoor Champions 2007 •Pac-10 Outdoor Champions 2006 •Pac-10 Outdoor Champions 2007 •Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Indoor Champions 2007 Individual Women's Champions •Pac-10 4x400m 2005 •Pac-10 4x400m 2007 •NCAA West Regional Champions 4x400 2006 •Jacquelyn Johnson Pac-10 Heptathlon Champion 2006 •LaTosha Wallace Pac-10 Champion 400m 2007 •MPSF 4x400m Indoor Champions 2007 •MPSF LaTosha Wallace 400m Champion 2007 •MPSF Christina Hurdeman 400m Champion 2006 •Jacquelyn Johnson NCAA Champion 2006 •Jacquelyn Johnson Indoor Pentathlon Champion 2006 and 2007 •Jacquelyn Johnson NCAA Outdoor Heptathlon Champion 2006 and 2007 •Jacquelyn Johnson MPSF Pentathlon Champion 2006 and 2007 All-Americans Coached •Jacquelyn Johnson Pentathlon/Heptathlon •Shauntel Elcock 4x400m •Jordan Durham 4x400m •LaTosha Wallace 400 Hurdles, 4x400m •Bridgette Williams 4x400m Coached 2007 at Arizona State •Women's NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Team Titles •Women's 4x400m Pac-10 Champions •LaTosha Wallace 400m Pac-10 Champions •Women's Outdoor Pac-10 Team Title •Women's Indoor MPSF Team Title USA Track and Field Coaching File at USATF Championships •Greg Nixon 400m Indoor Champion 2007 •Greg Nixon Silver Medalist in 4x400m at 2007 Pan American Games •LaTosha Wallace Gold Medalist at 2007 North American, Central American, Caribbean Assoc. Champions in 400m Hurdles and 4x400m (1st leg) •LaTosha Wallace 6th place in 400m Hurdles at 2007 USATF Outdoor National Championships |
 |
||||||||||||||||
