ANGOLA, IND. -- Trine University men's basketball Head Coach Brooks Miller reached the 150 career coaching victory milestone yesterday with a win against Kalamazoo (Mich.) College. Miller is the third winningest coach in Trine men's basketball history with an overall career mark of 150-98.
Miller has helped lead the Thunder to their best start in program history through the first 10 games so far in 2020-21 with a perfect 10-0 record and is currently ranked fifth nationally in the latest D3hoops.com poll. Miller is currently in his 10th season at the helm of the men's basketball program and in his previous nine seasons, the Thunder posted nine consecutive top-four Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association finishes which culminated in the 2019 MIAA Regular-Season Championship. The 2019 MIAA Title was the first MIAA Championship in Trine history and marked the first outright MIAA Championship by a school other than Hope (Mich.) College or Calvin (Mich.) College since 2005. The team was led by senior Pete Smith who was named the MIAA's "Most Valuable Player" as well as Marcus Winters who would earn the MIAA's "Defensive Player of the Year" award. The 2018-19 team also set Trine's D-III record for wins in a season with 19 victories.
"Fortunate to have been able to coach great players, have excellent assistants, and work with tremendous administrators," said Miller. "Winning programs do not exist because of the work of one individual."
In Miller's time at Trine, the Thunder have had eight different players named first-team All-MIAA, including 2019 MIAA "MVP" Pete Smith as well as the 2013 MIAA "MVP" and third-team All-American Ian Jackson (2012, 2013). Scott Rogers (2012), Tyler Good (2014), Will Dixon (2015, 2016, 2017), Jared Holmquist (2015, 2016), Myles Copeland (2018) and Langston Johnson (2019) have also been named first-team All-MIAA under Coach Miller's watch. Trine has also produced three consecutive MIAA "Defensive Player of the Year" Award winners in Ellis Cummings (2017), Maurice Hunter (2018) and Marcus Winters in 2019. Smith, Jackson, Dixon, Holmquist, & Copeland have also garnered All-Great Lakes Region honors throughout their careers. Myles Copeland was named the U.S. Basketball Writers Associates National Division III "Player of the Week" for his performance between February 5th-11th, 2018 where he scored 41 points in a home victory against Calvin, followed by a 37-point outburst in a road win at Albion. Ian Jackson, Scott Rogers, Jared Holmquist, Will Dixon, & Myles Copeland all scored over 1,000 points in their Trine careers.
Since taking over the program, Trine has had a winning season in all but one year and has finished with 10 or more victories every season. Going into the 2020-21 campaign, the Thunder have posted 14 or more victories every year in its last five seasons.
In 2015-16, Trine tied the school record for best start (10-1) to a season as well as achieving the University's first-ever NCAA DIII national ranking, debuting in the poll on Jan. 4, 2016 at No. 23. The team was led by senior Jared Holmquist, who was named the 2016 Capital One Academic All-American "Player of the Year" and DIII News National "Player of the Month" for November. Holmquist was voted second-team NABC All-Region and received first-team All-MIAA honors for a second consecutive season. He was also awarded the MIAA "Player of the Week" on three separate occasions in 2015-16. Junior Will Dixon was also named first-team All-MIAA for the second year in a row for his performance in 2015-16, as well as being chosen as the MIAA "Player of the Week" twice which also included being named to the National "Team of the Week" in early December.
In addition to success on the court, the 2013-14 team reached a major milestone under Miller by compiling a 3.07 overall program GPA in the classroom that has sparked a string of six consecutive years where the Thunder have finished above a 3.0 in team GPA. Under Miller, Trine elevated its game academically to among the best in all of college basketball in the 2014-15 school year, the Thunder achieved a 3.36 cumulative grade-point average to rank among the top 13 percent of all collegiate basketball programs in academic performance. The team has had eight members named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Honors Court over the last three years, including five two-time honorees. The program repeated this honor in 2015-16 with a 3.31 team GPA, making it one of only two programs to do so in the MIAA during that timeframe.
Miller's basketball career started when he was a player at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio and at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich. At Hillsdale in 2003, Miller was selected team captain, Academic All-Conference, and team "Defensive Player of the Year." Hillsdale reached the NCAA Division II National Tournament in back-to-back years for the first time in school history during Miller's sophomore and junior season's in 2001 and 2002.
Miller worked as an assistant men's basketball coach for three Hall of Fame coaches that amassed seven National Championships throughout their careers. Miller began his collegiate coaching career working for BCAM Hall of Fame Coach Ed Douma (one National Championship) whom he previously played for at Hillsdale. In 2007, his career took him to Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, where he served as a graduate assistant coach to Naismith Hall of Fame Coach Bob Knight (three National Championships) and was involved with on-campus recruiting and player development. In 2009, he became the Head Assistant Men's Basketball coach and National Recruiting Coordinator at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas for Junior College Hall of Fame Coach Steve Green (three National Championships). While at South Plains, Coach Miller coached and or recruited nine players that would transfer on to NCAA Division I Universities.