We are still a month away from the tip-off of the college basketball season this fall, which means that we have plenty of time to start preparing for the action ahead. We will do so via a series of season previews featuring the best players/coaches in the country. HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel continues our coverage with Grand Canyon women’s coach Molly Miller, who talked about making the WNIT last March and her expectations for this season.
In 2008 you were named a D-2 All-American at Drury, where you went 112-18 during your career as a 5’6” PG: how good a player were you back in the day? I did not pass the “eye test” for a dominating player so I had to earn my keep on the defensive end. I had a motor that would not quit and was a little ankle-biter. I might not have had the most PTS/REB but I got a lot of deflections on defense.
After getting your MBA you spent 4 years as a marketing director for the Springfield Neurological and Spine Institute: how did you get into coaching? It was a crazy thing. I loved the game of basketball but thought that I might have to go the teaching route. I am very outgoing and high-energy so I figured that I would do something in the business world. At 22 I did not think I would get a head marketing job…but I did. It was a great experience: I had to manage people, reconcile a budget, etc. A lot of ex-athletes experience a void after they stop playing so when I heard there was an assistant coaching job opening up at my alma mater I figured that I would check it out. I took a $15,000 pay cut but it was a place of comfort for me to start my journey.
After going 109-9 with a pair of state titles at Kickapoo High School, you returned to your alma mater and went 180-17 (including 55-0 at home): what is the secret to being a great coach? I really think it is about the people around you. I am not scoring a basket or taking a charge so you have to motivate your players to buy into your system. The biggest piece of success is for them to play hard and all be on-board. You need to form relationships at the very beginning to form a solid foundation…while also ensuring that it is fun. They are committed to the brand of basketball that I want to play, which has made a nice recipe for success.
You were a 2-time D-2 national COY: what did it mean to you to receive such outstanding honors? There are a LOT of phenomenal D-2 coaches. That is a team award for sure: they do not give it to coaches who go 1-34! Some of those coaches get paid pennies on the hour for all of their hard work so I am honored to be beside them as we grow the women’s game.
In 2020 you were 32-0 after winning the GLVC tourney title: what was your reaction when you learned that the D-2 tourney was getting canceled due to COVID? We were crushed, if that is even a big-enough word. We were getting ready to play the 1st round when my Athletic Director tapped me on the shoulder and told me the bad news. There were some media people there but I was a hot mess. I am glad we were all together to mourn the loss: we felt really confident that we had the talent to go all the way. It still hurts: I actually just hired the PG from that team and when we talk about that game it is still painful.
You were hired as head coach at Grand Canyon in April of 2020: why did you take the job? It was a very hard decision. I wanted to stay at Drury and try to win a championship in 2021 but after a lot of prayer and educating myself about what GCU could offer I thought that it would allow me to stretch my impact beyond Springfield, MO. It was a personal growth moment for me to expand beyond my comfort zone. I knew that it would have some challenges/expectations but I decided to take the leap. There is a great commitment to women’s basketball here and you can see the excitement in our “Havoc” student section. I love that there is a high expectation: they want us to win, and so do I. Coaches never want to leave their team but now I love my new team.
You use a full-court trapping defense/up-tempo motion offense: what makes them so effective? They complement each other because we play fast. It is a very unique style of defense but there is a method to the chaos. It can cause a lot of havoc out there but I just crossed my fingers and hoped that it would transfer to the D-1 level…which it did. It is tough to run an offense against a defense that is running around/trapping. We have 10 new players this year so we have to learn to walk before we can run. The defensive brand has stayed true so we will roll with it.
Despite only having 1 player start more than 25 games last year (Amara Graham) you made the WNIT before losing to New Mexico: what did your team learn from that loss that will help them this year? The biggest thing is availability: we had 2 PGs last year and eventually had a couple of freshmen starting and were playing some wacky lineups. There are always some unpreventable things that happen but the best ability is availability: the best teams are the healthy ones.
Your husband Derek played football at Missouri State: who is the best athlete in the family? I beat him in a game of 1-on-1…but he was coming off of an ACL injury. He has some good hops though.
What are your goals for this season, and what are your expectations for this season? We want to get over that hump. We have a WAC title in mind and want to make some noise in the NCAA tourney. We just need to find where our players fit as they learn the system. The good news is that we will only get better because we are learning on a daily basis. It will be all about integrating the new kids and working towards a title.