Bill Miller Hired as KU Co-Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach
by Owen Kemp on Jan 10, 2009 4:26 PM CST
in Football
16 comments
It's official, Kansas has made a move to bolster their defense in the offense happy Big 12. There are always changes in the offseason in terms of staff and it appears Kansas has made a move and it's expected to be a good one. Bill Miller defensive coordinator at Louisville has resigned his position to accept a similar one with the University of Kansas. Miller will act as the Co-defensive Coordinator with Clint Bowen and also handle the Linebackers as a position coach with the departure of Steve Tovar.
Miller, a Hutchinson Kansas native has been all over the country in his career and according to rivals.com the desire to get back to Kansas was a big factor in his decision. Miller has been defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State, Miami, Michigan State and most recently Louisville. He also spent time at the University of Florida during the Ron Zook era as both the Linebackers coach and Associate Head Coach.
Miller is expected to bring a lot of experience as well as knack for recruiting to the Jayhawk staff and with the first coaching staff change of the offseason done it will be interesting to see what the Jayhawks do with the vacant defensive line spot.
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Just thought I'd say something
I’ve read this blog for a while now and really appreciate all the stuff the other posters put up. Living in Oregon, more than 2,000 miles from Lawrence, makes it hard a lot of the time to hear things about the ’Hawks. Decided to finally just register so I can pipe in every now and then.
Great to have you...
wherever you are consider this a place to talk all things Jayhawks…look forward to hearing your thoughts from time to time…
good name too by the way…
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
Hmm -
I did not foresee this. I wonder how Clint is taking this…. I felt all year that he was over his head and often failed to make adjustments. Most of you who have read this blog regularly know that I am not high on how Bowen utilized our D this year. I don’t think he’s a lost cause but I find this to be a welcome addition. I just hope he doesn’t see this as a slap in the face.
I think he'll see it as a positive...
Bill Miller is very well respected, coached under Lou Hotlz, Ron Zook, Nick Saban, Butch Davis and Jimmy Johnson. He has deep ties within Kansas JUCO ranks as well as other areas of the country recruiting wise. If anything Bowen should see this as a major benefit to his career development.
Bowen’s role is not really changing, he’ll simply have someone to bounce ideas off of. I believe the thought is this, last year we had Bill Young and Clint Bowen but it was widely known that Bill Young was the primary. Now my understanding is we have Clint Bowen and Bill Miller w/Clint Bowen being the primary “guy” if you will. This is great for Bowen and great for the program as well.
Now with the upcoming hire at the D-Line coaching spot that I think we will all be pretty happy with as well it’s a step in the right direction. We’ll be gaining a lot more experience and it seems to me that Kansas is setting the table to take the next step and in this instance that can be seen by the level of assistant coaches we will have on staff vs. the past.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
Let's put it this way...
This year Bowen was the most tenured defensive coach with 8 years experience in coaching.
With the hire of Miller and the new D-Line coach he will likely be the third most tenured.
Miller alone had more experience than the entire rest of the defensive coaching staff combined. This will be a great person to continue Bowen’s development and help ease the pressure of running the defense.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
Just thought I would post something
I think with Bill Miller being co defensive coordinater and linebackers coach that will make KU even better especially when it comes to recruiting,and make our defense even better. Hopefully he will try and recruit some 5 star players to make things even greater. Honestly I’m sick and tired of ignorant MU fans telling me KU will never get 5 star football players like they have. I can see KU winning the north next season with most of our key offensive players returning next season,and with all of KU’s talented recruits coming in to fill the open positions.
e arterbery
e....
welcome to RCT and good points…you might want to remind those Missouri fans that at this point they have officially landed only 1 5star recruit in Gabbert. Now they will likely get their 2nd this year with Sheldon Richardson, but it’s not like they’re knocking out 5 star’s year in and year out.
Another thing to keep in mind is there are only so many 5 stars each year. For example this year, 31…so even if we aren’t landing those kids progress is what we are all looking for and it takes about 1 second to look at this years class and see we are moving in the right direction.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
One question about this year's class
Since we’re nearly out of scholarships, was DE a position of need, or were those kids just the ones we wanted?
Insanity is just a state of mind.
Giants...
Defensive end was absolutely a big position of need for this class and future classes as well. It’s become apparent that to stop the spread you need to be able to provide pressure with your front four and Kansas hasn’t been able to do that consistently for a couple years now. We’ve now landed 6 guys listed as ends but only 3 will end up there. Young, Sellers and Quinten Woods. Young and Sellers are seen as the type of guys we need in these spots for the future with Woods looking to be an immediate impact. Now I wouldn’t count out Young or Sellers for immediate PT but I also wouldn’t plan on it, if it happens, it’s a bonus.
The other three Dent, Stephens and Jacoby Thomas will all change positions. Dent is already up to arond 270 and will move inside to Defensive tackle along with Travis Stephens. Jacoby Thomas will move to OLB and likely be used similar to a James Holt where he might be used to rush the passer but also in a more traditional role as well.
In short yes DE was a need but also these are the kids we wanted as well. Mangino and the coaching staff are easily putting together their best class at KU both from a talent standpoint and a need standpoint.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
19th
We are ranked 19th for next year, and have help for the defense with the Miller hire. Now with the new facilities I would say we are in great shape. The DE Young by the way is a great pickup for us. He is enrolled now and will be able to workout with the team already. Maybe a starter next year? If we get a good linebacker crew I would say the big 12 north can be ours for the taking.
We will certainly be the favorites...
but with our schedule against the South it is in no way going to be easy. We will need to beat Nebraska at home and likely Mizzou at the end of the year at Arrowhead to clinch it.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
This is pretty cool
I don’t know much about Bill Miller except what you all have written, but with his resume, this is a great thing. Hopefully he can help out the defense and provide great recruiting too.
by I need more Esteban on Jan 11, 2009 4:25 PM CST reply actions
KU football
Thanks for the feedback denver jayhawk. I will pass that on to missouri fans. I think KU will have no problems when it comes to playing teams from the south except for maybe texas. OU will more than likely lose their qb sam bradford to the nfl draft. and most of their other key players. The fact that KU plays OU at home will be a good thing. If colorado was able to beat OU in boulder I don’t see why KU couldn’t beat OU in lawrence. The game vs Texas Tech will more than likely be a 50/50 with Graham Harrel graduating, and Michael Crabtree entering the nfl draft. Texas on the other hand is the team that concerns me with Colt McCoy returning, and the fact that KU plays Texas in Austin makes things even worse.
Mizzou on the other hand I think they will have a questionable season with most of their key players graduating or going pro early and not knowing really how good their new starting qb is going to be, I can see KU beating Mizzou at Arrowhead.
e arterbery
Quick thing of note on this...
I spoke to a player briefly last night and he was emphatic in saying that while he doesn’t know Miller yet, he really felt this move was a great one for the program and would be a very good thing for the LB’s and the Defense.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
next year
We should go undefeated non-conference and we should be Texas Tech. That takes care of two losses already. Nebraska will be tough, but the rest of the north will be beatable since Mizzou loses a lot of talent. With the addition of Miller the defense should be tougher since that was our achilles heel this year.
I would never say should beat...
when it comes to a conference road game. Tech will certainly not be as good and you’re right on paper we should be favored but that one still worries me a bit.
With regards to Mizzou…never count out a rival, they did that to us this year and look what happened.
It’s going to be a fun year for sure and the potential is there to be special…we’ll have to see.
Some people are like Slinkies...not really good for anything but they make you smile when pushed down the stairs.
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