Pardon me if this has run here before. But I thought about the irony. The story appeared Sept. 13. Nearly two months later, here we are, preparing for a game this Saturday in which the Sycamores could possibly take over first place in the MVC.
Trent Miles has Recipe for ISU Football Success
Athletics, Features — By Martin Blank on September 13, 2010 11:55 am
If the often-expressed belief that an organization takes on the personality of its leader is true, there’s little doubt as to what attributes the Indiana State football team possesses.
Coach Trent Miles
When spending time with ISU football coach Trent Miles, ’87, it doesn’t take long to see the confidence, energy, work ethic, competitive spirit and perseverance that define the man.
Needless to say, these are qualities required of anyone who coaches. They are even more important, however, for a person who is trying to turn around a football program with the limited success ISU has enjoyed over the past several years. At its lowest point, the Sycamores’ record included two winless seasons and a 33-game losing streak — the nation’s longest at one point — from 2007 to 2009.
So, why, one is almost obliged to ask, would someone like Miles want to be the head football coach at ISU? After all, his resume includes time at such respected collegiate programs as Stanford, Notre Dame and the University of Washington and a stint with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers.
Miles’ answer is a simple one.
“It was an opportunity to try to fix something you know can be special,” says Miles, who was named ISU’s head coach in January 2007. “You know it can be special because it once was, and you remember how good it was.”
How good it was
Miles, who played wide receiver at Indiana State from 1982-86, knows all about “how good it was” from personal experience. He played on the 1983 and 1984 Sycamore teams that each won nine games and advanced to the NCAA Football Championship Series (which was then the NCAA’s Division I-AA) playoffs.
The 1984 Sycamores were ranked No. 1 in the nation for most of the season. That team was inducted into the Indiana State University Hall of Fame in 2002. The 1983 and 1984 Sycamores were the last ISU football teams to qualify for the playoffs.
So when the “opportunity to come in and try to fix the program” presented itself, he jumped at the chance to return to his alma mater.
“I just want to get the program back on track so alumni, the guys who played here in the past and our students can be proud of Indiana State football,” he says. “I think we can make that happen.”
ISU Director of Athletics Ron Prettyman also believes that Miles can make it happen.
“Trent is a glass-half-full kind of guy. He is positive and he sees the light at the end of the tunnel. While he is realistic about the challenges along the way, he is also optimistic about what the future holds for our program,” Prettyman says.
“Coach Miles is a great role model for the young men in our program. He has a beautiful young family, he stresses academic achievement and he believes with a passion that we can and will win at Indiana State,’ he adds. “He is proud to be a member of the Sycamore coaching family and works hard to instill that pride in his assistant coaching staff and student-athletes.”
As Prettyman alluded, Miles is realistic, and understands that it will “take time, a new mindset and the support of the right people” to set things right again for Indiana State’s football program.
“I believe Trent has ISU heading in the right direction,” says Michael Simmonds, ’87, who played with Miles on the Sycamores and is now an assistant coach on his staff. “Because of him, coming back to ISU to coach felt like being home to me. And as an alumnus, I’m anxious to help get the Sycamores back where they belong.”
The program’s new mindset is based on things he learned from his parents while growing up.
Lessons learned in life
“My parents taught me you’ve got to remain positive through whatever setbacks and failures you might experience,” he says. “You can’t look back at what happened in the past. You’ve got to keep looking forward, keep believing in yourself and keep pushing ahead.
“You can’t dwell on the negatives. Instead, you have to see the positives in your situation. You have to remain committed to doing the right things. And you have to get everyone on the same page and moving toward your goals together,” he added.
One person who saw that influence up close and personal was Simmonds.
“Trent and I have been friends since we both came to ISU as freshmen in 1982,” says Simmonds, who played offensive line. “Because I was from out of town and he was from Terre Haute, he took care of me.
“I was over at his house a lot, eating meals and doing laundry. I got to know his parents really well. They were great to me,” he adds. “They were A-1 people, and it’s not hard to see how Trent wound up like he did. The impact his mother and father had on him says it all in Trent’s case.”
He credits his father, in particular, for imparting values that continue to guide the way he lives his life and coaches football.
“He told me that a sense of integrity and good character come first,” he says. “He also says you don’t sacrifice your good name or your good standing for anything. You deal with things as they come. You want to be a tough-minded competitor. At the same time, you try to help people better their lives.”
(Trent Miles’ father, the late Chuck Miles, was known for his involvement in community service projects, including coaching youth sports, and in local politics. He served on the Vigo County School Board and the Terre Haute City Council.)
Those values haven’t gone unnoticed in Miles.
“Coach Miles is a no-nonsense coach,” Prettyman says. “He expects excellence on and off of the field. The players he is recruiting are getting it done in the classroom and, as you will see this 2010 season, will be getting it done on the field.”
Miles’ dedication is such that even when the Sycamores broke their losing streak with a 2009 Homecoming win over Western Illinois, he didn’t look back for very long and quickly refocused on what was ahead for the team. “I was happy for the players and the coaches and for my wife,” he says. “We celebrated for about a day and then I realized we have Southern Illinois, one of the top teams in the country, next week. We’ve got to get back to work.”
Miles’ tough-mindedness and competitive spirit showed through in his own playing career.
“As a player I was average at best as an undersized wide receiver,” Miles, who attended Terre Haute Sough Vigo High School, says. “I wasn’t the most talented player, but I loved the game. I had a good mind for the game even in youth football.
“I had to work hard to improve as a player,” he says. “Although I played a lot in high school, I wasn’t a star in college by any stretch of the imagination. I was just a guy on the team willing to give 100 percent all the time whether it was in practice or a game,” he added.
The qualities his parents sought to cultivate in him are the same ones he looks for and strives to develop in the student-athletes he recruits and coaches.
“First and foremost, we want young men who are committed to doing the right things on and off the field. It all starts with living your personal life the right way and that spills over into the way you approach school and football,” he says. “Academics come first, and we want our players to graduate. If they don’t, then we haven’t succeeded no matter what our record is. Ultimately, these young men are here to get an education so they can succeed in life.”
As for motivating players, “we want to stress the positive, emphasize the good things and focus on where we can take the program if we do the right things,” he says. To help develop a sense of school spirit in the team he even brought in Al Perone, ’81, from Student Affairs to teach the players ISU’s fight song.
“If you want to come away feeling good about Sycamore football, spend 20 minutes with Coach Miles,” Prettyman says.
Teaching through coaching
Miles likens his role as coach with that of an educator.
“Essentially, as coaches, we’re teachers. We just operate in a different environment and teach a different subject. I enjoy teaching. If I wasn’t a coach, I’d probably be a professor,” he says
This past May, as a measure of the academic progress the football team has made, the program received the inaugural Most Improved Academic Progress Rate (APR) Award from the Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association for the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The APR is a measurement of student-athlete academic progress and graduation rates the NCAA uses.
As a way of attracting Miles’ kind of person to the program, the coaches sell the “total college experience” to recruits.
“It’s not just about football. We sell education, the campus and the community, as well as the football program,” he says. “There are a lot of good people on campus and in the community, and we let the kids know this.”
Bringing in good football players, however, is what ultimately makes a winner, however, and Miles and his staff have been making progress in the recruiting wars.
Indiana State’s 2008 recruiting class was listed by the recruiting web site Rivals.com as the 127th best in the nation among BCS and FCS schools and second in the Missouri Valley Conference. Recent classes also have included players from such state powers as Warren Central and Center Grove.
“Our most recent recruiting class is the first in which we will be able to redshirt almost the entire freshman class. In the past we have had to play most of our true freshmen out of necessity. They are generally at a distinct physical disadvantage in facing fifth-year seniors,” he says. “This is typically not the way you build a program.”
While more transfers and junior college recruits might promise a quicker fix, Miles believes in doing things differently.
“I believe that bringing in mostly four-year players from high school and adding some transfers and junior college players to fill specific needs is the way to build a program that will have success in the long run,” he says.
Despite recent progress, Miles explained that Indiana State football faces some challenges when it comes to recruiting.
“Indiana is not a populous state, and its high school football is not yet on a par with other areas of the country such as Texas, California, Ohio, western Pennsylvania and Florida,” he says. “What this means is there is a limited number of Division I-caliber players in Indiana’s high schools and everyone is after them.
“Indiana State is limited in its ability to attract these players as well as others from out of state by virtue of the limited number of scholarships it can offer (30 out of the 63 allowed by the NCAA). This means we typically offer partial scholarships.”
Part of meeting this challenge is being creative in recruiting.
“We have to take players who are versatile and can play more than one position. We also look for players who have the potential to develop into good players over time,” he says. “We are fortunate that President Bradley and Athletic Director Ron Prettyman recognize these challenges and are committed to helping the program succeed.”
Also important to the program’s future is a recently launched effort as part of the ISU Foundation’s March On! Campaign to raise $250,000 for the football program.
“Securing these funds will help us level the playing field for the program in terms of the schools we compete with,” Miles says. “Providing comparable resources for the program is a major step toward its enjoying success.”
Another value Miles strongly believes in is giving something back to the community. It’s something both he and his players are personally involved in.
“We want to help make Terre Haute a better place for everyone,” he says. “The players are involved in community service every semester.” Beneficiaries include the Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club, St. Benedict’s, the Council on Domestic Abuse and the Vigo County School Corporation, among many others.
“We provide countless hours of community service,” Miles adds. “We’re willing to help anybody and everybody who might need assistance.”
The players have impressed others on campus.
“I have believed in Coach Miles and his team since day one,” says Perone, associate dean of students at ISU. “I have been impressed with the players he has recruited and the staff he has assembled.
“I have traveled to all but three games in the time Coach Miles has been at the helm and twice traveled with the team,” he adds. “I have always been proud of the players. They work hard at being good ambassadors for Indiana State.”
Vision for the future
Miles’ vision for ISU football also is based on his experience as a Sycamore.
“In the ’60s and ’70s, the football team played in front of large crowds. I‘ve seen pictures and played in games when the stadium was packed,” he says. “We need to rekindle the interest of students and the community in Indiana State football. Their support is crucial to our success.
Sycamores Win 2010 Season Opener
“Things have gotten better recently. We had some good crowds for several games the past few years but we need to keep improving,” he says. “College football teams are a point of pride and a way of bringing people together and back to the university. A successful team also means a certain amount of positive media exposure for the institution.”
As a coach, Miles can’t escape the fact that it ultimately all comes down to wins and losses and, make no mistake about it, he burns to win.
“Why else do this if you’re not focused on competing and winning,” he says. Until he has the horses he needs to win consistently and compete for conference championships, however, he’ll be looking for signs of improvement in his team and focusing on winning more games than last season.
“We want to win as many games as we can with what we have,” he says. “And we’ll do that with a team that plays hard, is disciplined, plays the game the right way and executes. We’ll lay it on the line on every down.”
You wouldn’t expect anything less from one of Miles’ teams. Just consider who’s coaching.
Trent Miles has Recipe for ISU Football Success
Athletics, Features — By Martin Blank on September 13, 2010 11:55 am
If the often-expressed belief that an organization takes on the personality of its leader is true, there’s little doubt as to what attributes the Indiana State football team possesses.
Coach Trent Miles
When spending time with ISU football coach Trent Miles, ’87, it doesn’t take long to see the confidence, energy, work ethic, competitive spirit and perseverance that define the man.
Needless to say, these are qualities required of anyone who coaches. They are even more important, however, for a person who is trying to turn around a football program with the limited success ISU has enjoyed over the past several years. At its lowest point, the Sycamores’ record included two winless seasons and a 33-game losing streak — the nation’s longest at one point — from 2007 to 2009.
So, why, one is almost obliged to ask, would someone like Miles want to be the head football coach at ISU? After all, his resume includes time at such respected collegiate programs as Stanford, Notre Dame and the University of Washington and a stint with the NFL’s Green Bay Packers.
Miles’ answer is a simple one.
“It was an opportunity to try to fix something you know can be special,” says Miles, who was named ISU’s head coach in January 2007. “You know it can be special because it once was, and you remember how good it was.”
How good it was
Miles, who played wide receiver at Indiana State from 1982-86, knows all about “how good it was” from personal experience. He played on the 1983 and 1984 Sycamore teams that each won nine games and advanced to the NCAA Football Championship Series (which was then the NCAA’s Division I-AA) playoffs.
The 1984 Sycamores were ranked No. 1 in the nation for most of the season. That team was inducted into the Indiana State University Hall of Fame in 2002. The 1983 and 1984 Sycamores were the last ISU football teams to qualify for the playoffs.
So when the “opportunity to come in and try to fix the program” presented itself, he jumped at the chance to return to his alma mater.
“I just want to get the program back on track so alumni, the guys who played here in the past and our students can be proud of Indiana State football,” he says. “I think we can make that happen.”
ISU Director of Athletics Ron Prettyman also believes that Miles can make it happen.
“Trent is a glass-half-full kind of guy. He is positive and he sees the light at the end of the tunnel. While he is realistic about the challenges along the way, he is also optimistic about what the future holds for our program,” Prettyman says.
“Coach Miles is a great role model for the young men in our program. He has a beautiful young family, he stresses academic achievement and he believes with a passion that we can and will win at Indiana State,’ he adds. “He is proud to be a member of the Sycamore coaching family and works hard to instill that pride in his assistant coaching staff and student-athletes.”
As Prettyman alluded, Miles is realistic, and understands that it will “take time, a new mindset and the support of the right people” to set things right again for Indiana State’s football program.
“I believe Trent has ISU heading in the right direction,” says Michael Simmonds, ’87, who played with Miles on the Sycamores and is now an assistant coach on his staff. “Because of him, coming back to ISU to coach felt like being home to me. And as an alumnus, I’m anxious to help get the Sycamores back where they belong.”
The program’s new mindset is based on things he learned from his parents while growing up.
Lessons learned in life
“My parents taught me you’ve got to remain positive through whatever setbacks and failures you might experience,” he says. “You can’t look back at what happened in the past. You’ve got to keep looking forward, keep believing in yourself and keep pushing ahead.
“You can’t dwell on the negatives. Instead, you have to see the positives in your situation. You have to remain committed to doing the right things. And you have to get everyone on the same page and moving toward your goals together,” he added.
One person who saw that influence up close and personal was Simmonds.
“Trent and I have been friends since we both came to ISU as freshmen in 1982,” says Simmonds, who played offensive line. “Because I was from out of town and he was from Terre Haute, he took care of me.
“I was over at his house a lot, eating meals and doing laundry. I got to know his parents really well. They were great to me,” he adds. “They were A-1 people, and it’s not hard to see how Trent wound up like he did. The impact his mother and father had on him says it all in Trent’s case.”
He credits his father, in particular, for imparting values that continue to guide the way he lives his life and coaches football.
“He told me that a sense of integrity and good character come first,” he says. “He also says you don’t sacrifice your good name or your good standing for anything. You deal with things as they come. You want to be a tough-minded competitor. At the same time, you try to help people better their lives.”
(Trent Miles’ father, the late Chuck Miles, was known for his involvement in community service projects, including coaching youth sports, and in local politics. He served on the Vigo County School Board and the Terre Haute City Council.)
Those values haven’t gone unnoticed in Miles.
“Coach Miles is a no-nonsense coach,” Prettyman says. “He expects excellence on and off of the field. The players he is recruiting are getting it done in the classroom and, as you will see this 2010 season, will be getting it done on the field.”
Miles’ dedication is such that even when the Sycamores broke their losing streak with a 2009 Homecoming win over Western Illinois, he didn’t look back for very long and quickly refocused on what was ahead for the team. “I was happy for the players and the coaches and for my wife,” he says. “We celebrated for about a day and then I realized we have Southern Illinois, one of the top teams in the country, next week. We’ve got to get back to work.”
Miles’ tough-mindedness and competitive spirit showed through in his own playing career.
“As a player I was average at best as an undersized wide receiver,” Miles, who attended Terre Haute Sough Vigo High School, says. “I wasn’t the most talented player, but I loved the game. I had a good mind for the game even in youth football.
“I had to work hard to improve as a player,” he says. “Although I played a lot in high school, I wasn’t a star in college by any stretch of the imagination. I was just a guy on the team willing to give 100 percent all the time whether it was in practice or a game,” he added.
The qualities his parents sought to cultivate in him are the same ones he looks for and strives to develop in the student-athletes he recruits and coaches.
“First and foremost, we want young men who are committed to doing the right things on and off the field. It all starts with living your personal life the right way and that spills over into the way you approach school and football,” he says. “Academics come first, and we want our players to graduate. If they don’t, then we haven’t succeeded no matter what our record is. Ultimately, these young men are here to get an education so they can succeed in life.”
As for motivating players, “we want to stress the positive, emphasize the good things and focus on where we can take the program if we do the right things,” he says. To help develop a sense of school spirit in the team he even brought in Al Perone, ’81, from Student Affairs to teach the players ISU’s fight song.
“If you want to come away feeling good about Sycamore football, spend 20 minutes with Coach Miles,” Prettyman says.
Teaching through coaching
Miles likens his role as coach with that of an educator.
“Essentially, as coaches, we’re teachers. We just operate in a different environment and teach a different subject. I enjoy teaching. If I wasn’t a coach, I’d probably be a professor,” he says
This past May, as a measure of the academic progress the football team has made, the program received the inaugural Most Improved Academic Progress Rate (APR) Award from the Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association for the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The APR is a measurement of student-athlete academic progress and graduation rates the NCAA uses.
As a way of attracting Miles’ kind of person to the program, the coaches sell the “total college experience” to recruits.
“It’s not just about football. We sell education, the campus and the community, as well as the football program,” he says. “There are a lot of good people on campus and in the community, and we let the kids know this.”
Bringing in good football players, however, is what ultimately makes a winner, however, and Miles and his staff have been making progress in the recruiting wars.
Indiana State’s 2008 recruiting class was listed by the recruiting web site Rivals.com as the 127th best in the nation among BCS and FCS schools and second in the Missouri Valley Conference. Recent classes also have included players from such state powers as Warren Central and Center Grove.
“Our most recent recruiting class is the first in which we will be able to redshirt almost the entire freshman class. In the past we have had to play most of our true freshmen out of necessity. They are generally at a distinct physical disadvantage in facing fifth-year seniors,” he says. “This is typically not the way you build a program.”
While more transfers and junior college recruits might promise a quicker fix, Miles believes in doing things differently.
“I believe that bringing in mostly four-year players from high school and adding some transfers and junior college players to fill specific needs is the way to build a program that will have success in the long run,” he says.
Despite recent progress, Miles explained that Indiana State football faces some challenges when it comes to recruiting.
“Indiana is not a populous state, and its high school football is not yet on a par with other areas of the country such as Texas, California, Ohio, western Pennsylvania and Florida,” he says. “What this means is there is a limited number of Division I-caliber players in Indiana’s high schools and everyone is after them.
“Indiana State is limited in its ability to attract these players as well as others from out of state by virtue of the limited number of scholarships it can offer (30 out of the 63 allowed by the NCAA). This means we typically offer partial scholarships.”
Part of meeting this challenge is being creative in recruiting.
“We have to take players who are versatile and can play more than one position. We also look for players who have the potential to develop into good players over time,” he says. “We are fortunate that President Bradley and Athletic Director Ron Prettyman recognize these challenges and are committed to helping the program succeed.”
Also important to the program’s future is a recently launched effort as part of the ISU Foundation’s March On! Campaign to raise $250,000 for the football program.
“Securing these funds will help us level the playing field for the program in terms of the schools we compete with,” Miles says. “Providing comparable resources for the program is a major step toward its enjoying success.”
Another value Miles strongly believes in is giving something back to the community. It’s something both he and his players are personally involved in.
“We want to help make Terre Haute a better place for everyone,” he says. “The players are involved in community service every semester.” Beneficiaries include the Terre Haute Boys and Girls Club, St. Benedict’s, the Council on Domestic Abuse and the Vigo County School Corporation, among many others.
“We provide countless hours of community service,” Miles adds. “We’re willing to help anybody and everybody who might need assistance.”
The players have impressed others on campus.
“I have believed in Coach Miles and his team since day one,” says Perone, associate dean of students at ISU. “I have been impressed with the players he has recruited and the staff he has assembled.
“I have traveled to all but three games in the time Coach Miles has been at the helm and twice traveled with the team,” he adds. “I have always been proud of the players. They work hard at being good ambassadors for Indiana State.”
Vision for the future
Miles’ vision for ISU football also is based on his experience as a Sycamore.
“In the ’60s and ’70s, the football team played in front of large crowds. I‘ve seen pictures and played in games when the stadium was packed,” he says. “We need to rekindle the interest of students and the community in Indiana State football. Their support is crucial to our success.
Sycamores Win 2010 Season Opener
“Things have gotten better recently. We had some good crowds for several games the past few years but we need to keep improving,” he says. “College football teams are a point of pride and a way of bringing people together and back to the university. A successful team also means a certain amount of positive media exposure for the institution.”
As a coach, Miles can’t escape the fact that it ultimately all comes down to wins and losses and, make no mistake about it, he burns to win.
“Why else do this if you’re not focused on competing and winning,” he says. Until he has the horses he needs to win consistently and compete for conference championships, however, he’ll be looking for signs of improvement in his team and focusing on winning more games than last season.
“We want to win as many games as we can with what we have,” he says. “And we’ll do that with a team that plays hard, is disciplined, plays the game the right way and executes. We’ll lay it on the line on every down.”
You wouldn’t expect anything less from one of Miles’ teams. Just consider who’s coaching.