The irony of the hockey coach nicknamed Killer is he’s one of the nicest men you’ll meet in the college game.

Longtime Denver associate head coach Steve Miller once again will cross paths with the Pioneers when they play Ohio State on Friday at 2 p.m. in the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row. That’s both good news and bad news.

The good: Miller remains good friends with DU coach David Carle, who cut his coaching teeth on George Gwozdecky‘s staff from 2008-12, and Miller played a lead role in recruiting DU assistant captain Jarid Lukosevicius in 2013.

The bad: Now the Buckeyes’ associate head coach, Miller has had a substantial amount of success against Denver, his employer for nearly two decades while he served on Gwozdecky’s staff and then for a year on Jim Montgomery‘s.

• In 2015, he was Providence College’s associate head coach during the Friars’ national championship run that included a 4-1 NCAA quarterfinal win over DU.
• In 2018, he helped guide Ohio State to a 5-1 NCAA victory over DU, again in the quarterfinals.
• In between, he was on the staff at Air Force from 2015-17. In his first regular-season game as director of hockey operations, the Falcons beat the Pioneers for the first time since 2008. In 2016-17, Air Force reached the NCAA quarterfinals for only the second time in school history.
• In this span, he’s also been on the staff of the U.S. World Junior Championship team three times, helping it win the 2017 gold medal. You might recall Troy Terry’s exploits in that one.

Of course Miller also had a phenomenal success rate with the Pioneers, where he helped the program win consecutive titles in 2004-05. Miller recruited and coached 45 players who have been NHL draft picks, 17 All-Americans and two Hobey Baker Award winners (Matt Carle and Will Butcher).

How does he do it?

So what is it about Miller that seems to attract success wherever he works?

“His ability to relate to athletes and get the most of out of them is as good as I’ve ever seen,” Gwozdecky said. “(Former DU assistant) Seth Appert was very similar even though they have different personalities. Both of them regularly are still are in touch with players from the ’90s and the 2000s.”

That trait traveled well. Air Force coach Frank Serratore said Miller’s success boils down in part to the axiom “that in order for players to care about what you know, they have to know that you care. That applies to Killer.

“The boys aren’t going to embrace a guy who’s only complaining about what they’re doing wrong. If you’re there every day teaching them and helping them, if you’re in the trenches with them, they respect that.”

That’s not to say the door didn’t swing both ways at times.

“Every single guy loved him,” Gwozdecky said. “He wears his emotions on his sleeve and he’s always honest with you. He never pulled any punches. … But a big factor in the success he’s had everywhere is he has no personal agenda.

“He cared so much about the players we recruited that he would never just hand them off to the staff and move on to the next group of recruits. He stayed strong and committed to the guys all four years.”

When Providence College forward Garrett Gamez collapsed during a Hockey East playoff game in March of 2017 because of a heart issue, one of the first calls he received was from Miller, who had recruited him to Providence in 2014.

“He was on the phone with me literally in tears over what happened,” Gamez recalled. “That tells you about what type of man he is.”

Nuts and bolts of coaching

Gwozdecky said Miller’s connection with players is helpful in other ways.

“One of his biggest strengths is he’s an extraordinary recruiter, a great evaluator of talent,” Gwozdecky said. “And his ability to recall information – names, situations, scores – is absolutely amazing.”

At Air Force, Miller’s role was a bit different, working more with the current group of Falcons rather than trying to find them. But he was no less effective.

“He’s really detailed,” Serratore said. “He’s got good instincts. Look, in the hockey business we’re not splitting atoms. In order to survive you need to work hard and have good instincts, and he does.

“His greatest strength is he doesn’t possess a weakness.”

Tactically, Miller also helped the Falcons in ways that still reverberate, Serratore added.

“He changed our penalty kill system, that was his biggest impact,” Serratore said. “Since then we’ve been in the top five in the country every year. And he tidied up our neutral zone. He helped us clean some things up that contributed to our success.”

More meetings?

So while Carle and his staff match wits with Miller and OSU head coach Steve Rohlik in a few days, it’s not out of the question that the Pioneers could face Miller on a more regular basis more going forward.

Miami’s head coaching job recently came open. Where did Miller begin his D-I career? At Miami, as a graduate assistant under Gwozdecky. Where did he get his Master’s degree? Miami.

The man who has had such a positive effect on so many programs, not to mention is now a hop, skip and a jump away, should be viewed as a legitimate candidate for the Redhawks’ position, his former colleagues say.

“Miami is looking for a coach. Steve got his graduate degree there and started out under George there,” Serratore said. “Why wouldn’t they take a serious look at him? They’d be very wise to. He’s an alumni and he knows the landscape.

“It seems like a natural to me.”

But first things first, Miller and Denver will meet again.

©First Line Editorial 2017-19