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Tim Miles at a Glance Education Master of Arts in Health, Physical Science and Recreation, Northern State University, 1990 Family Head Coaching Experience Assistant Coaching Experience Coaching Honors
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The story of Tim Miles building programs goes back over two decades at three different levels of college basketball.
For Miles, the only active coach who has taken teams to the postseason at the Division I, Division II and NAIA ranks, his coaching journey began at Mayville State, an NAIA program which had won four games in two previous seasons. He guided the school to 17 and 18-win seasons in his two years at the school. At Southwest Minnesota State, he turned a program that had one winning season in a decade to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in just four seasons. At North Dakota State, he took a Division II program to the Division I ranks and positioned the school to enjoy unprecedented success at the Division I level. At Colorado State, he built a program that made it to three straight postseason appearances and left the foundation for one of the most successful seasons in school history before he was named the 27th head coach in Nebraska’s history on March 24, 2012.
Miles has continued his program-building ways at Nebraska, leading the school to its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 16 seasons in 2014. For his efforts, he won the Jim Phelan Award for national coach of the year, and was selected as the Big Ten Coach of the Year by his peers.
In 2017-18, Miles guided Nebraska to one of its most successful seasons in school history as NU reached postseason play for the first time in four seasons. The Huskers won 22 games, the most wins by a Husker team since the 1990-91 team won a school-record 26 games. Nebraska went 13-5 in the Big Ten, breaking a school mark for conference wins which had stood for more than five decades. James Palmer Jr. and Isaac Copeland Jr. both earned All-Big Ten honors, while Palmer also captured first-team all-district honors by the NABC and the USBWA. The Huskers closed the regular season with wins in 10 of their last 12 games, including road wins at Wisconsin and Minnesota for the first time since joining the Big Ten. At home, NU went 16-1 at Pinnacle Bank Arena, including a perfect 9-0 at home.
The 2016-17 Huskers faced one of the toughest schedules in school history, as the slate ranked 10th in the final RPI, the highest recorded ranking by NU in at least 15 seasons. Nebraska earned three victories over conference champions, highlighted by an 83-80 win over Big Ten regular-season champion Purdue, and won its first three conference games for the first time since the 1975-76 season. Tai Webster capped a stellar career by earning second-team All-Big Ten honors, ranking among the conference leaders in scoring, assists and steals. He became the fifth Husker to earn All-Big Ten accolades under Miles.
In 2015-16, Miles guided a youthful Husker squad to 16 wins against a schedule featuring 10 ranked opponents. More than 55 percent of the Huskers’ offense in 2015-16 was by players in their first year of the program. The Huskers also won multiple games in the conference tournament for the first time in a decade, including a win over a Wisconsin team which eventually reached the NCAA Sweet 16.
The team was led by senior Shavon Shields, who garnered second-team All-Big Ten honors by the conference coaches to lead a pair of All-Big Ten picks. Shields also shined off the court, as he was named to the NABC Good Works Team and repeated as CoSIDA Academic All-American. For his efforts, he was named Nebraska’s Big Ten Medal of Honor Winner and UNL’s Male Student-Athlete of the Year, becoming the first Husker basketball player to ever receive both honors.
In 2014-15, the Huskers garnered their first national ranking since 1995 and enjoyed record-setting attendance numbers, establishing a school-record attendance of 15,569 fans per game to rank 10th nationally. Individually, Terran Petteway earned All-Big Ten honors for the second straight year and was one of four Huskers to sign professional contracts in 2015. Miles’ program also enjoyed a first in the classroom, as Shields became the first Husker basketball player to be named a first-team Academic All-American.
In 2013-14, the Huskers, who were picked to finish last in the Big Ten, became one of the big stories in college basketball, going 19-13 and reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1998. The Huskers opened Big Ten play with a 1-5 record before orchestrating a turnaround which saw them win 10 of their final 12 Big Ten games to finish fourth with an 11-7 record. The stretch included a pair of wins over top 10 teams – a 60-51 win at No. 9 Michigan State which was the Huskers’ first road win over a top-10 team since 1997 - and a 77-68 win over a Wisconsin team which reached the Final Four. Nebraska’s 11 conference wins were the most by the Huskers since 1966. Nebraska finished second in the Big Ten in field goal percentage defense (.415) and third in scoring defense (64.3 ppg) during conference play.
Petteway became the first Husker to win a Big Ten scoring title, as he averaged 18.1 points per game en route to first-team All-Big Ten honors.
Miles’ energetic personality has also spurred unprecedented fan interest in the Husker program. Nebraska is one of only nine programs in college basketball to average at least 15,000 fans per game in each of the last five seasons. NU has ranked in the top-15 nationally in attendance in each of the past five years, and were already sold out of 2018-19 season tickets by the time practice began in late September.
In his first season at Nebraska, Miles took a team that returned one starter and two of its top nine scorers, and improved the Huskers’ win total from 12 to 15 despite facing a school-record 10 ranked teams. Nebraska posted wins over a trio of NCAA Tournament teams before capping the season with a win over Purdue in the Big Ten Tournament. Not a bad feat for a program that was a near unanimous choice for the league cellar by the league’s pundits.
Before taking the Nebraska job, Miles spent five seasons building the Colorado State program into a contender in the Mountain West Conference. He increased his victory total in each of his five years at CSU, culminating in a 20-12 record and the school’s first NCAA appearance in nine seasons during his final year in Fort Collins. After winning 16 games in his first two years at CSU, his teams went 55-41 over the last three years, reaching postseason play in each campaign.
The 2011-12 Rams posted the school’s first 20-win season since the 1997-98 campaign while playing a schedule rated as the fourth-toughest in the country. Colorado State set a school record with three wins over ranked teams and placed three players on the All-Mountain West team. Miles was named the District VIII Coach of the Year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association for his efforts. The Rams’ 20-win season was only the seventh in the program’s 108 seasons of competition despite playing a school-record eight ranked foes.
The Rams were one of four Mountain West teams to receive bids in the 2012 NCAA Tournament. CSU averaged 70.1 points per game on the season and topped the Mountain West Conference in field-goal percentage (47.1), 3-point percentage (40.0) and free throw percentage (76.8) and was one of two programs in the country to rank in the top 10 in both free throw percentage and 3-point percentage.
Three of Miles’ players earned All-Mountain West honors, marking the program’s most honorees in its half century affiliation with the WAC or Mountain West conferences. Wes Eikmeier earned first-team Mountain West honors after averaging 15.5 points per game, while Dorian Green and Pierce Hornung were both third-team honorees. Hornung also was named to the league’s all-defensive team in 2011-12.
In 2010-11, Miles guided the program to a 19-13 record, a fourth-place finish in the Mountain West, and a berth in the NIT, reaching milestones at every step along the way. The 2010-11 campaign marked the Rams’ first winning season since 2007, and the squad became the 10th in program history to record 19 or more victories in a single season.
The Rams’ nine conference victories were the most for CSU since the formation of the Mountain West in 1999-2000, and CSU’s fourth-place finish was the best since a fourth-place finish in the inaugural MW season. Miles and the Rams received votes in the top-25 national polls for the first time since 2005-06, and he became just the third coach in the program’s 100-year plus history to take the Rams to back-to-back postseason appearances. The Rams also won the ESPN Cancun Governor’s Cup, defeating Southern Miss in the title game. Andy Ogide became only the second Ram to earn first-team Mountain West honors as he averaged 17.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game in 2010-11. He was also a first-team all-district honoree from the NABC.
Miles’ third Colorado State team continued to make improvements, as the 2009-10 Rams won 16 games and reached postseason play for the first time since 2003 with a berth in the 2010 College Basketball Invitational (CBI). For his efforts, Miles was selected as the Mountain West Coach of the Year by CollegeInsider.com in 2010.
During his first two years, Miles began to build the Colorado State program despite battling numerous injuries. In 2007-08, he led a roster that featured just one returning starter to early season success, including a tournament championship at the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks, Alaska. And, after battling through a tough conference slate, the Rams ended the season on a high note with a victory over rival Wyoming in the opening round of the Mountain West tournament.
His second season in Fort Collins proved to be just as fruitful as the Rams continued to make strides. Miles led the Rams to early season victories over Montana and Northern Colorado, both of which had beaten the Rams the previous year, and lost a one-point game against Minnesota. In addition, the Rams boosted their win column with four conference wins against UNLV, Air Force (twice) and TCU.
While establishing a tradition of winning in college basketball, Miles’ philosophy extends far beyond the basketball court. He and his staff are committed to academics and the success of their student-athletes in the classroom.
At Nebraska, he has had 17 Academic All-Big Ten honorees, including a conference-best five honorees in 2015. The list includes Shavon Shields, who is the only first first-team Academic All-America basketball player in Husker history.
At Colorado State, he donated back to the school and the community by capping the J.J. Williams scholarship endowment in 2011 and establishing the Ram Basketball Legacy scholarship endowment, while making a contribution to School is Cool, a CSU driven program to support Poudre School District.
With 23 years of experience as a head coach at four institutions, he has compiled a career record of 380-317 that includes three conference championships and eight postseason tournament appearances.
Before taking over the Colorado State program, Miles spent six seasons at North Dakota State, guiding the Bison through the transition to the Division I ranks. He won at least 16 games in each of his final five seasons at the school, including the program’s first three years at the Division I level. Miles’ tenure at NDSU was highlighted by a pair of road wins over top-15 squads in his final two seasons.
In 2005-06, the Bison, who started three redshirt freshmen, snapped Wisconsin’s 27-game win streak against non-conference foes with a 62-55 win over the 13th ranked Badgers, marking one of only 10 non-conference home losses in Bo Ryan’s 15 seasons at Wisconsin. In his final season at NDSU, Miles guided the Bison team that had one senior on the roster to a 20-8 record, including a 64-60 win at eighth-ranked Marquette in the championship game of the 2006 Blue and Gold Classic. North Dakota State was one of only two independent programs with a winning record in 2006-07.
Miles showed his ability to turn around programs during his tenure at Southwest Minnesota State University. He took a program that had only one winning season in the previous decade and went 78-39 in his four seasons at the school, recorded the first 20-win season in school history, and led Southwest Minnesota State to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in more than two decades.
In his final year at the school, the Mustangs won a school-record 28 games, captured the 2001 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship, won the NCAA North Central Regional championship and reached the Division II Elite Eight. For his efforts, Miles was named the NSIC and North Central Region Coach of the Year following the 2000-01 campaign.
Miles began his head coaching career at Mayville (N.D.) State University, guiding the program to a 35-22 record from 1995 to 1997 and a pair of conference titles after Mayville State went 4-44 during the previous two seasons.
He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Northern State for six seasons from 1989-90 through 1994-95 and helped the Wolves to five NAIA playoff appearances and five regional titles. He was the recruiting coordinator for NSU and was responsible for bringing in and coaching five All-Americans at that school. Northern State reached the NAIA National Championship game in both 1993 and 1994.
A native of Doland, S.D., he graduated from the University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., in 1989 and earned a master’s degree in health and physical education from Northern State in Aberdeen, S.D., in 1990. He was inducted into the University of Mary Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007.
Miles, and his wife, Kari, have one daughter, Ava, and one son, Gabriel.