some of the best coaches in the land

We are lucky in North Dakota to have some of the best coaches you could ask for. Gene Manson comes to mind from Minot. Also one of the best is Steve Miller who tonight will look for win #400...good luck.

Sometimes it seems Steve Miller must have been born holding a basketball.

Miller coaches and referees the sport during the school year. During the off-season there are clinics and camps, both as a participant and a staffer.

It all adds up. Tonight Miller stands to win his 400th high school basketball game when he sends his Bismarck High Demons against Century at the Civic Center.

Wins by the hundred (399). Likewise, losses (197). Lots of state tournaments (17) and four state titles thrown in for good measure.

Yet it's the hundreds of athletes he's coached, not the victories, that keep Miller going. This is his 18th year as BHShead coach and his 25th season as a head high school coach. In retrospect, Miller sees it as a huge accumulation of debts owed.

"No one person runs a program. You've got to have good assistants and good players around you," Miller said. "And I've had my share of good players. .. I've had several all-staters."

WhenMiller begins to reminisce about 31 seasons as a head and assistant coach, the conversation is devoid of scores and statistics.

"My first year we went to state," he said, recalling Napoleon's trip to the 1977 state Class B tournament. "We got stuck in a snow storm in Minot. Ithink we were stuck in Minot for five days. Idon't know if we won a game, but I do know we ate at the Rollin'Pin (cafe) for three straight days."

Then there was that star-crossed trip to Strasburg during the 1977-78 boys season.

"We spent two nights inLinton coming back from Strasburg in a snowstorm," Miller said. "The second night we spent in the courthouse on cots."

During head coaching stints at Napoleon,Richardton-Taylor and BHSMiller has probably endured more bus trips than he wants to think about. Yet it's what he's wanted to do as far back as he can remember.

"Iwent to college (at Dickinson State) with the idea I wanted to be a teacher and coach," he said.

He still believes it was the right decision. The non-tangible benefits surround him daily.

"The older you get the more you realize that young people keep you young," he said. "That's the biggest thing for me as far as teaching and coaching."

Miller said trophies pale in significance next to the thrill of having former players and students drop by his BHSoffice.

"The big thing for me is establishing relationships with kids you've taught and coached," he said. "I'm much more into that than anything."

It's the people factor that makes Miller's first year as Demons head coach stand out in retrospect. If he could have one game to play over again, it would be the 1991 state championship game with West Fargo. BHScame up just short in that one, falling 67-64 in overtime at the Civic Center.

"We were up by one point with no time left on the clock, and we got beat in overtime," Miller said, revisiting the scene as though it were yesterday. "At that time Idon't think Bismarck had won a state championship since 1959, and to come so close was really disheartening for those kids. ...It's one of those things in coaching you never get over. You move on, but you never get over it.

"We started the season 3-7, and that team bonded from the beginning of the year to the end of the year really, really well. They became a very, very close team. We'd won 14 straight into the state championship game."

The names returned readily to Miller. "Rusty Gillette had a phenomenal (championship) game, and Iremember Tommy Leifur hitting one of the last shots to put us up. ... Travis Kuntz was unbelievably competitive. He wouldn't let you score on him. Jeff Kanwischer was a competitive fighter, and Shad Kusler played that game with a bad knee. ... And the reserves. The reserves were a very big part of that team, too."

That team, Miller said, made basketball a big deal again at BHS.

"I'll always feel grateful to that team. ... They jump-started our program and really set the bar for the teams that followed. Ijust really loved the way that team played."