Steve Miller

Steve Miller, who has coached three NCAA Championship teams, was on the Buckeye staff from Summer 2017 through the 2021-22 campaign, helping Ohio State to NCAA tournament appearances and a Big Ten title.

In his first season with the Buckeyes, the team advanced to its first Frozen Four in 20 years, posting a 26-10-5 record, and led the country on the penalty kill while ranking third in team defense and in the Top 10 in scoring offense and on the power play. In his second year, the Buckeyes captured the program’s first Big Ten regular season title and the school’s first regular season conference championship since 1972 and earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament, finishing the year 20-11-5. His third year saw the Buckeyes post a 20-11-5 record and tie for second in the Big Ten. The squad was the No. 2 seed in the Big Ten Tournament and posted a first-round sweep to reach the semifinals before the remainder of the tournament, and the season, was canceled because of the COVID pandemic. The Buckeyes were 10th in the PairWise at the end of the season, poised for a program-record fourth straight NCAA Tournament berth.

He has been on the U.S. National Junior Team staff for the last six World Junior Championships, with the squad winning three medals. In January 2017, Miller and Team USA, including former Buckeye Tanner Laczynski, won WJC gold, going 7-0 in the tournament, and he was part of the 2021 team that captured gold. The 2018 team won the bronze medal and the 2019 team was the silver medalist.

Prior to joining the Buckeyes, Miller served as the director of hockey at Air Force for two seasons. In 2017 the squad won the Atlantic Hockey Championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals, falling to Harvard, 3-2.

A winner of the prestigious AHCA Terry Flanagan Award, Miller helped coach Providence to its first NCAA title and was on staff for two NCAA titles with Denver. During his 19 and a half years with the Pioneers, Miller worked with all aspects of the team, with a focus on the defense. He recruited two defensemen who went on to win the Hobey Baker Memorial Award – Matt Carle in 2006 and Will Butcher in 2017. The 2004 Denver team was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2014.

Prior to Air Force, Miller spent the 2014-15 season at Providence as the associate head coach, as the Friars claimed the NCAA Championship, defeating Boston University in the title game, 4-3, at TD Garden in Boston. He was the first general manager and head coach of the Madison Capitols in the United States Hockey League after a long career at the University of Denver.

Miller spent 19 and a half years as an assistant and associate head coach at Denver, helping the Pioneers win back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2004 and in Columbus in 2005. During his time with DU, the team won three WCHA regular season championships and claimed the WCHA Final Five title four times. With the Pioneers, Miller coached and recruited 45 NHL draft choices and 65 all-league selections, with 17 All-Americans and two Hobey Baker Memorial Award winners.

In 2009, Miller was honored with the American Hockey Coaches Association’s (AHCA) Terry Flanagan Award, which recognizes an assistant coach’s career body of work. In all, he has been a part of 19 NCAA appearances, five regular season titles and seven playoff championships, along with three NCAA titles.

Miller began his coaching career at his alma mater, St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. The squad won the 1989 MIAC playoff championship and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. He moved from there to Miami University, where he spent three seasons, two as as a graduate assistant coach and one as assistant coach, under head coach George Gwozdecky, winning the program’s first CCHA title in 1993. Miller moved with Gwozdecky to Denver in 1994.

At St. Mary’s, Miller played three years of varsity hockey. He was named the team’s Most Inspirational Player as both a sophomore and senior and earned Most Improved Player honors as a sophomore. In 1988 he helped St. Mary’s to its first MIAC championship in 23 years and the team set the school record for victories in a season (22), a mark that still stands.

Miller, who was inducted into the Sun Prairie High School Wall of Success in 2008, and his wife, Heidi, have three children, a daughter, Alexis, and sons, Cole and Connor.