WCBC

July 16th, 2019 by WCBC Radio

Allegany College of Maryland has named Jon Miller as its head soccer coach more than 20 years after Miller played as a Trojans’ goal keeper.

Miller served as an assistant soccer coach at Mountain Ridge High school for six seasons, and coached Frostburg JCP soccer league for 12 seasons and Frostburg Soccer Club for four seasons. In addition, he coached baseball for eight seasons. A Lonaconing native, Miller was a soccer standout at Westmar High School and named the Joe Rowan High School Soccer Defensive Player of the Year in 1996.

As ACM’s new coach, Miller’s focus is on recruiting top-notch players from the region and helping them set high goals for themselves. “We have incredible soccer talent in our area, thanks to strength of our local high school soccer teams and regional travel teams,” explained Miller. “ACM gives local soccer athletes the chance to play the sport they love after high school while earning a great education.”

Much of Miller’s coaching philosophy draws on his own experiences in 1997 as a player for Darryl Blank at ACM, especially his emphasis on skills on the field and education off the field. “With Coach Blank, you really were part of his family, from Assistant Coach Dr. Howell’s pre-game spaghetti dinners to the way Coach pushed you to achieve in your classes. He genuinely cared about his players. That’s the kind of coach I want to be ACM.”

Building the ACM Trojan soccer team will take time but Miller is incredibly optimistic. “I know that we can successfully compete in our division. As I tell my players, it’s their work ethic that decides their outcome. I’ll take a hard worker on and off the field any day.”

In addition to hiring Miller to reinvigorate the team, ACM recently resurfaced its soccer field and purchased new goals, new equipment, an electronic scoreboard, spectator and team benches.

Miller brings one of his favorite coaches to serve as his assistant coach – his dad, Marvin “Bacon” Miller. “We joke about Dad working for me now but he has over 50 years of coaching experience. As one of his former players, I know he’s a fair, solid coach,” said Miller.

Miller is a firefighter and paramedic at the Cumberland Fire Department, and an instructor for the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute at the University of Maryland. He and his wife, Nicki, reside in Frostburg with their children, Wesley and Allysen.