Field Hockey Coach Mike Miller retiring

Announcement comes after 13 years and two state titles

The varsity field hockey coach Mike Miller announced his retirement after the last game of the season and after 13 years in the program.

His final season consisted of a 7-0 record with all games being shutouts. The team fell to Cox in the 5A Regional Finals game, and Miller decided to announce it first to the girls after the game.

Mike Miller began coaching the field hockey team after his two daughters, Ashley and Brittany, were in the program. He recognized it as a game he knew and loved. He began as a volunteer, then became the assistant coach, and finally became the head coach in 2008. He was the assistant coach when his daughter Ashley was on the team, and according to The Virginian Pilot, an experience that he calls “remarkable.”

Miller is retiring with two state titles under his belt. The first title was won in 2015, with the next coming in 2018. An impressive feat of the team was their 40 game win streak that took place between 2018 and 2019. Miller does not take all of the credit. “What’s made our program successful of course are the girls and I can’t thank them enough,” he said. “Through the years, everything that they’ve done, all the blood, sweat and tears they’ve put in, but I think the greatest players are the ones that realize to be successful, you have to give up who you are for who you can become. … I’ve just been so thankful for all of the players I’ve had, all the assistant coaches, all of the support from the administration and some of the great parents that have come through.”

Miller explains that he is retiring solely to spend more time with his family, and his passion for the game is still there. “To keep a program going and try to stay elite and stay competitive with the top teams around here, you’ve got to do it year-round,” Miller said. “The off-season’s so hard. There’s camps, clinics, the summer league you have to put together, not only for the older girls but to keep the younger girls going too, and that just weighed on my mind with how much time I was losing from my family and my grandchildren. I wanted to spend a little more time with them.”