Miller always greeted his players by saying, ‘Good morning, men’
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Former head coach Ken Miller, who led the Saskatchewan Roughriders to consecutive Grey Cup appearances in 2009-10, has died from cancer at 82 in Asheville, N.C.
The CFL team confirmed Miller’s death Wednesday on its website.
Miller joined the Roughriders in 2007 as their offensive co-ordinator. Working with first-year head coach Kent Austin, who had won a Grey Cup as Saskatchewan’s quarterback in 1989, they constructed an offence that helped quarterback Kerry Joseph become the CFL’s outstanding player, posted a 12-6 regular-season record and defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 23-19 in the 95th Grey Cup. It was the third championship in Roughriders history.
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When Austin surprisingly left Saskatchewan after 2007 to become an assistant college coach at Ole Miss, Roughriders general manager Eric Tillman gave 66-year-old Miller his first professional head coaching job. Miller had been a teacher and coach at numerous U.S. schools before coming to the CFL’s Toronto Argonauts in 2002.
Without Joseph, who Tillman had traded away, the Roughriders went 12-6 again in 2008 but couldn’t settle on a starting quarterback before faltering in the playoffs.
After Miller anointed Darian Durant as the starter, the Roughriders posted a 10-7-1 mark in 2009 and had evidently won the Grey Cup when the Montreal Alouettes missed a last-play field goal. But the Roughriders were penalized for having a “13th Man” on the field, allowing the Alouettes to successfully kick the game-winning points.
Miller swore his players to secrecy about the identity of the player responsible for the too-many-men penalty. He also hugged every player afterwards in the mournful locker room.
The Roughriders returned to the championship game in 2010 and again lost to the Alouettes.
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A popular coach who always greeted his players by saying, “Good morning, men,” Miller was considered a grandfather figure to the team and — along with his wife, Maureen — were well-liked throughout Saskatchewan for their interest in the community.
Miller became the vice-president of football operations after Tillman departed and hired former defensive co-ordinator Greg Marshall as head coach in 2011. After the Roughriders started the season 1-7, Miller returned to the sideline and led the team to three straight victories before missing the playoffs and retiring from the Roughriders with a coaching record of 36-27-1, the fifth-most victories in team history.
He was a 2022 inductee into the Roughriders Plaza of Honour.
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