Miller ready to take the reins of Plymouth program

Courtesy of The Pilot News.

PLYMOUTH — Plymouth High School welcomed their new head basketball this week for some beginning workouts and Greg Miller was in the place he loves to be — the gym.
“I had so much fun playing basketball just being in the gym the smell of popcorn, the band, the tear-off warm-ups back when I was playing, all of that stuff,” said Miller. “I was the first one in the gym at workouts today and I love an empty gym, the sound of the basketball. You hear it echo off the hardwood and the bleachers. There is something I love about that and I don’t think that will ever change.”
Miller spent his high school days at North Miami High School where he was a standout in both basketball and track and field. A four-year starter on the basketball team and a regional qualifier in discus and shot for track.
In college, his team at Grace College was in the NAIA final four his junior season and NCCAA national runner-up his senior year.
“Growing up I played everything,” said Miller. “I started getting recruited early for basketball since I was a big guy who could play so I stepped away from football as a freshman and just did basketball and track.”
Coaching was in his blood at an early age.
“It was in eighth grade and we had to do a presentation on what we wanted to be and I did a presentation on a college basketball coach,” he said. “After my last year at Grace, I had a chance to continue playing professionally and I met with some agencies and after I met with those agencies I met with (Grace College head coach) Coach Kessler and he said ‘I know you want to coach but if you want to play go play now because you won’t be able to do it in 10 years but if you want to coach we are going to start a graduate assistant program and I want you to be the first one.'”
“I was able to get my masters paid for, I was able to stay at the school and my wife now was at that time was still at the school so it was a no-brainer for me to start my coaching career right after I got done playing.”
Miller comes to Plymouth from Bethel University, where he served as the Associate Head Coach. Before that, he led the basketball program at Trinity International University near Chicago from 2019-2023, and previously coached at Cincinnati Christian University from 2017-2019.
“My coaching philosophy is simple; it’s warm and demanding,” he said. “I want to be warm enough that if a guy is having an issue with something he can come to me. The world teaches us as men we aren’t supposed to share those things but I want to create a relationship with our guys that they can say I’m struggling in this class, I need some help, my girlfriend just broke up with me, I’ve got this going on at home, I need some advice. That’s the warm side of it. I want to build those relationships.”
“The demanding side of it is that I’m going to hold them accountable to everything that we expect,” said Miller. “In our program, you either coach it or you allow it. I’m either coaching them to do it correctly or I’m allowing them to do it wrong. We are going to demand a lot out of them. Our margin for error has to be really small if we are going to be as good as we want to be.
While Miller and his family already live in Plymouth moving to a new situation is never an easy one.
“I talked to a lot of people that I trust, a lot of mentors,” said Miller. “The history of Plymouth and the proud community and the basketball program. Growing up 35 minutes south and hearing about that program when I was young, to have an opportunity to take over a program like that in a community like that, it was a tough decision but it was the right decision for my family.”
Early on Miller says his emphasis will be something that is familiar to anyone who has ever been around Plymouth basketball — defense.
“We aren’t going to do any offensive team concepts or implementation this summer, partly because I’m getting in so late,” said Miller. “Offensively I need to get to know the guys a little more. I have an idea of what we want to do.”
“Defensively it’s going to be a hard-nosed man to man,” he said. “You have to mix things up in high school. Indiana coaches are so good we will have to have some zones and different looks but we will predominantly be a man-to-man team.”
Plymouth’s new boss also has a vision for the big picture of what he wants to accomplish.
“We want to see growth in the individual, on and off the court,” said Miller. “I think that’s something that the world has come to lack a little bit is strong male leaders. We want to create that opportunity to grow those leaders. We want to teach the game of basketball but we want to coach people.”