Each week, The Talon interviews a member of the Oklahoma Christian University community, a “Newsmaker,” to answer questions about their role on campus.
This week, Oklahoma Christian 2006 alumnus Wade Miller is the featured community member for this week’s edition of the Talon as the head cross country coach and the head track and field coach since 2010.
What did you do before becoming a coach at Oklahoma Christian?
“I started at OC as a college freshman in fall of 2002, and I was an elementary ed major and ran cross country and track while I was here. Graduated in December of 2006,” said Miller. “After I graduated from OC during the spring of 2007, I moved to Japan and taught English for three years. So that was my first job, I suppose. Then in the fall of 2010, I started as an assistant cross country coach here at OC,” he said. “I had some older teammates who had gone through the same program, went to Japan, taught English. One of those teammates was also my roommate’s brother, and he talked to both of us about that process, and we both decided that would be fun,” Miller said. “A public school system had started hiring through John Osborne [current Oklahoma Christian director of international programs and assistant professor of communication]. He would help them hire people to teach in their public school system. It was a kindergarten through middle school group that we were teaching, and sometimes even in pre-Ks,” he said. “I met my wife there, she’d been there for five years, I’d been there for three years. We’d been dating while we were in Japan for a year and a half or so, we got engaged right before we left,” said Miller.
As a former college athlete, who is one coach that impacted the trajectory of your life? What was unique about them?
“There’s actually two coaches. I had a high school coach my junior year who helped me with how to approach competition and handle training and mental approach leading up to and within competition. He was really formative in helping me develop from that perspective, and he’s also a fun and good person to be around. He made practice and competition enjoyable, and he kind of helped me in terms of being able to compete with some marks that would allow me to become a college athlete. And then while I was in college, Coach Randy Heath was really influential in helping me become a college athlete, and helping me understand how to train, compete and balance college life. He was patient with me as a freshman through developing into an upperclassman. There’s just a lot that goes into that, he was really patient in that process and kind to me. He was here at OC for 40 years. I actually took over the track and field program from him when he retired,” Millerhe said.
What do you love the most about coaching?
“I really enjoy the development process. Being able to see freshmen come in and as they kind of grow in physical ability, but also competitive ability, maturity, and just seeing them grow as people. It’s really fun to watch that process, and then even after college, being able to connect with alumni from the program and hear them talk about how important their time during college was to who they became. Just being able to be a small piece in that process is enjoyable and rewarding,” said Miller. “I think the people that are here at OC have a different perspective than maybe some other schools in terms of truly caring about an individual as a name, not a number, to use a cliche. I think there’s an intent behind the interactions that faculty and staff have with people, and really trying to do their best to help, not just in academic or athletic ways, but spiritual and general well-being. That’s one of the great things about OC,” he said.
What is one principle that you hope to instill in your athletes during their time at Oklahoma Christian?
“Being a good teammate. How to be dependable and be somebody that treats others with kindness and respect, how to do your best on any given day, how to work hard, be disciplined, I think those all encapsulate that idea of being a good teammate. If we can use that as a core action of how we interact with people, I think that allows us to have a good team atmosphere, but also something that can apply in so many other aspects of life, not just in college, but in the future,” said Miller.
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