Two years after he left Maryland for Notre Dame, Dan Miller couldn't be
BY ANDREW SOUKUP
Sports Writer
His old Maryland clothes are stuck in his closet back in New Jersey, one of a handful of reminders of a past Notre Dame forward Dan Miller is eager to leave behind.
There are the questions, too, about the national championship Maryland won while Miller sat out an NCAA-mandatory one year for transferring to Notre Dame.
There's the calls he makes to his Terrapin friends, many of whom he is still close to.
Yet Maryland is unquestionably part of Miller's past. Notre Dame is his present.
"I'm happy," he said. "I'm happy with how I'm playing right now. Things are just a lot happier for me."
The Maryland years
When Terrapins coach Gary Williams first came calling at the Maryland household, he enticed the McDonald's All-American to come to College Park to play basketball. And Miller's Maryland career started strong.
During his freshman year, Miller averaged a little more than 14 minutes a game, and he was one of two freshmen to play all 34 games. His sophomore season was much better, as Miller moved into a starting position and averaged 30 minutes a game. His teammates awarded the gritty 6-foot-8 forward the "Unsung Hero" award.
Then, something happened.
Miller's minutes his junior season vanished almost instantly. He unhappily moved back into a reserve role, and although the Terrapins made it to the Final Four, the season wasn't much fun for Miller. How could it be for a player who started one year and then averaged fewer than 20 minutes a game the next?
"He didn't get along with his coach real well. He didn't like the style of basketball he played, and he wasn't real happy," Irish tri-captain Matt Carroll said.
So Miller decided to leave.
Why exactly he left, he won't discuss. It's a subject he'd rather leave in his past, no matter how many times people bring it up.
But when Notre Dame played Maryland in December, Williams agreed to interviews only on the condition that Miller's name never came up.
"I didn't like my situation, and I didn't like where things were going," Miller said simply. "I wanted a change of scenery."
A year without basketball
When Miller made his decision to transfer, he went to a coach he knew well.
Mike Brey had coached Miller's brother Greg during his tenure at Maryland, and Miller respected Brey's hands-off approach that gives players freedom when they're on the court.
For Miller, the coach was more important than the location.
"When I had one year left, I don't think I had much time to work with a coach," he said. "I wanted to come here and build a good relationship with [Brey] because I knew him."
NCAA rules stipulated that Miller had to sit out an entire year after his transfer, meaning Miller would put in all the work in practice without seeing the results in a game.
Every game, he walked out of the tunnel with the rest of the Irish squad. The only difference was that they were wearing uniforms, and he had on khakis.
"It was difficult at times because you're not playing basketball in the winter," he said. "My teammates and everybody did a great job keeping me motivated, and I did a lot of work with the strength coach."
One of Miller's greatest assets came in the form of ex-teammate Ryan Humphrey, who intricately understood how difficult sitting a year out could be. When Humphrey transferred from Oklahoma four years ago, his teammates helped him through the season. Now it was Humphrey's turn to help Miller.
"He knew what I was going through, he knew what to say and how to help me stay motivated," Miller said. "I'd always talk to him and he'd relate things to his situation."
Things became compounded even more when Miller's old team started making a run to the national championship. When Miller left the Terrapins, he was keenly aware that the squad could have won a title. But it was something else for him to sit and watch the game on television with other members of Notre Dame's basketball team.
"Other people were saying so much to him about it," Carroll said. "He made his decision, and he wouldn't have been happy the whole year except in March."
A year left
Miller entered the off-season with a renewed vigor, eager to again begin working with the prospect of playing in games again. Yet Brey cautioned his fifth-year senior to avoid playing out of control, something Miller was able to hold in check.
After all, Miller had exactly one year to make his mark on Notre Dame, and Brey didn't want his player burning himself out.
"He told me I didn't need to think about that stuff, because it would come naturally if I played my game," Miller said. "I tried to do that and play my game and let things happen by myself.
"I'm interested in winning. I'm not interested in stats and stuff."
At Notre Dame, Miller fit into a niche he never found at Maryland. He's thrived under Brey's direction, a type of coaching that gives players quite a bit of freedom on the floor. He loves running up and down the floor, launching 3-pointers and playing solid defense. He loves the minutes he's playing — 34.3 a game — and the points he's scoring — 14.2 a game — but loves Notre Dame's 18 wins much more.
And his leadership in the locker room — leadership springing from a Final Four run — is invaluable.
Miller tries to avoid looking back on his three years at Maryland. He doesn't glance down at his hand where a national championship ring could have been had he stayed with the Terrapins.
But he doesn't mind saying that the change was worth it.
"When I first met him, I knew he just wanted to play bad and last year was real tough for him," Carroll said. "He had to practice, he couldn't play at all. But now, he loves playing in games.
"He's a lot happier now."
A lot happier.
All Sports Stories for Friday, February 7, 2003
