Alvernia's Head Coach Mike Miller Speaks on Rivalry with Albright

Mike Miller has been a fixture in the Berks County basketball community for three and a-half decades.  Miller spent ten years as an assistant to Jack McCloskey at Alvernia.  He’s now in his 19th season as the head coach of the Golden Wolves.  Miller earned his 300th career victory last Wednesday with a 63-58 win at York College.  “It’s not my milestone. It’s a credit to all the players, all the assistant coaches that I had,” said Miller.  He’s guided Alvernia to six conference championships and six trips to the NCAA Division III Tournament.  Miller’s son, Mike, has become an extremely valuable part of the program as an assistant coach.  The Berks Catholic graduate scored 1,251 points for the Golden Wolves.  I asked Miller about the relationship with his son.  “We are 24 hour basketball nuts, but it’s good. As a head coach, you don’t want a yes-man and he’s certainly not a yes-man. We got a pretty nice chemistry going right now,” replied Miller.

Before heading to Alvernia, Miller was the head coach at Reading High School from 1988-94.  He compiled a sparkling record of (145-31).  Former UConn star Donyell Marshall led the Red Knights during Miller’s tenure.  Marshall finished with 1,581 points before graduating in 1991.  “That was a great high school experience for me. With Donyell, we sold out every game,” noted Miller.  He mentioned that the team needed a police escort for some of their games.  Marshall was the 4th pick in the 1994 NBA Draft by the Timberwolves. 

Alvernia knocked off rival Albright 79-70 on Saturday.  Jakob Kelly, Robert Mullan, and Nigel Cooke each scored 17 points.  Berks Catholic grad Keba Mitchell added 7 points and some key defensive plays down the stretch.  SV Sports spoke to Miller about the win and the rivalry with the Lions.  Miller is a member of the Berks County chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame.