MANHATTAN, Kan. – Steve Miller, a Hall of Fame track coach who led Kansas State through a transformative period as athletics director, including the hiring of legendary football coach Bill Snyder, passed away on June 15 at the age of 81 at his home in Portland, Ore.
A Celebration of Life has been planned for 3 p.m., PT on July 7 at the Ritz Carlton in Portland.
Miller spent nine years at K-State, including five seasons as the Wildcats’ head cross country and track and field coach (1981-86), one year as Associate Athletics Director and Director of the Mike Ahearn Scholarship Fund (1986-87) and three years as the Director of Athletics (1988-91).
“We are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Miller, a true K-Stater who led our department during some of the most critical times in our history,” Athletics Director Gene Taylor said. “Obviously his hiring of Coach Snyder is well documented, but he also was a long-time figure in the track and field world and was a leader in that space for decades. From the first time I met Steve he became a trusted friend and over the last few years provided me great guidance and advice from his vast experience in the sports industry. He will truly be missed, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family.”
A 2005 inductee into the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Coaches Hall of Fame, Miller coached track and field teams for 23 years, including 21 as a head coach at Bloom Township High School (1965-76), Cal Poly (1976-81) and K-State. Following his time in Manhattan, he served in administrative positions with Nike, the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) and Agassi Graf Holdings and as a faculty member at the University of Oregon.
Miller coached 37 All-Americans and national champions Rita Graves, Kenny Harrison and Doug Lytle in his K-State tenure, while leading the Wildcat women to a Big Eight Cross Country Championship in 1982 and a District V Cross Country title in 1984. A three-time district Coach of the Year, he became the school’s first head coach of both its men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs on August 7, 1981, by then director of athletics DeLoss Dodds.
Miller left his position as track coach following the 1986 outdoor season to become Associate Athletics Director and Director of the Mike Ahearn Scholarship Fund, which he stayed in until becoming the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pennsylvania Special Olympics in 1987. He was named K-State’s Director of Athletics on June 27, 1988, succeeding Larry Travis. He served in the position for three years before stepping down to take a position at Nike on June 13, 1991.
Miller made the transformational hiring of Snyder on Nov. 30, 1988, setting off the “greatest turnaround in college football history,” in which the football coach led K-State to 215 wins over two stints (1989-2005; 2009-18) with 2 Big 12 Championships (2003, 2012) and 19 bowl games.
In addition to Snyder, he also hired Dana Altman’s as men’s basketball coach on April 3, 1990. Altman has gone onto a Hall of Fame career at Creighton and Oregon.
Born in Chicago on Sept. 9, 1943, Miller was both a football and track standout at Bradley University and briefly played for the Detroit Lions.
Miller earned a bachelor's degree from Bradley in English literature and physical education in 1965 before receiving a Master’s in Contemporary English Literature in 1970 from Governors State University and Master’s in physical education and Biomechanical Analysis from Cal Poly in 1978.