BROOKS MILLER - HEAD COACH - TRINE UNIVERSITY

Coach Brooks Miller is in his fourteenth season as the Head Coach of the Trine University Men’s Basketball.

During 2024-2025 season, Trine University had a 21-5 record.

During 2023-2024 season, his team won the regular season title, conference tournament, and the NCAA III NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP. Trine's overall record was 29:4. He was named the NCAA III NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR for the second time in his head coaching college career.

https://youtube.com/shorts/-k_UcVQ7218?si=kWtS5IMBQXEWva0M

In 2019, Coach Miller guided the Thunder to their first ever MIAA Championship, and won both the MIAA regular season and MIAA Tournament in 2021.

Coach Miller was named the 2020-2021 NCAA D3 NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR by both Hoopdirt.com/Just Play Sports Solutions and Basketball Times Magazine. He also earned the 2021 Great Lakes Region Coach of the Year by D3Hoops.com.

https://hoopdirt.com/week-11-hoopdirt-com-coach-of-the-week-presented-by-just-play-solutions-3/

Below is his interview about his coaching success:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFzqN9Hh_oo

In 2022 the Thunder posted an 18-9 overall record for the season that saw them appear as high as 7th in the d3hoops.com national poll. Their 10-4 MIAA mark was good enough for a 3rd place finish and included having three players named to the MIAA all-conference team. Nick Bowman was once again selected as 1st Team All-MIAA for the second straight season while both Bryce Williams and Mitch Geller received 2nd Team recognition.

The 2020-21 Trine Thunder completed the regular season undefeated at 17-0 including a 15-0 record versus MIAA opponents which led to the Thunder being crowned the MIAA regular season and MIAA Tournament Champions for the first time in school history. The 2021 season also saw the Thunder climb as high as #2 in the D3Hoops.com National poll which earned them a postseason contest against #1 ranked Randolph Macon College in Virginia for the D3Hoops.com poll Championship. Although the Thunder came up short in that contest they finished the season ranked #6 nationally and completed the year with a 17-1 overall record.

The 2021 Trine squad was a highly decorated group with Junior Nick Bowman being recognized by both D3Hoops.com & Basketball Times Magazine as a 1st Team All-American. Bowman was also named The Great Lakes Region Player of Year by D3Hoops.com as well as being named MIAA MVP. Freshman Emmanuel Megnanglo was voted as the MIAA Defensive Player of Year, Sophomore Brent Cox also garnered 1st Team All-MIAA accolades, while Junior Bryce Williams rounded out the group claiming 2nd Team All-MIAA honors.

The 2019 MIAA Title was the first MIAA Championship in Trine history and marked the first outright MIAA Championship by a school other than Hope (Mich.) College or Calvin (Mich.) College since 2005. The team was led by senior Pete Smith who was named the MIAA’s "Most Valuable Player" as well as Marcus Winters who would earn the MIAA’s "Defensive Player of the Year" award. The 2018-19 team also set Trine’s D-III record for wins in a season with 19 victories.

In Coach Miller’s time at Trine, the Thunder have been the only MIAA program to finish in the top four of the conference in each of his eleven years and have had ten different players garner fifteen first-team All-MIAA honors. The list includes three MIAA MVP’s Nick Bowman, Pete Smith, and Ian Jackson. Jackson was also named third-team All-American by the NABC in 2013. In 2016 senior Jared Holmquist was named the Capital One Academic All-American "Player of the Year" and DIII News National "Player of the Month" for November. Jared was also a two time, 1st Team All-MIAA performer. The Thunder have had four players named MIAA Defensive Player of the Year including Emmanuel Megnanglo in 2021, Marcus Winters in 2019, Maurice Hunter 2018, and Ellis Cummings in 2017. Will Dixon is the lone Thunder player during Coach Miller’s tenure to be named 1st Team All-MIAA on three separate occasions and leads a list of 7 players that have scored over 1,000 points during their Trine careers with 1,799 points.

Under Coach Miller, Trine elevated its game academically to among the best in all of college basketball in the 2014-15 school year, the Thunder achieved a 3.36 cumulative grade-point average to rank among the top 13 percent of all collegiate basketball programs in academic performance. The team has had eight members named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches Honors Court over the last three years, including five two-time honorees. The program repeated this honor in 2015-16 with a 3.31 team GPA, making it one of only two programs to do so in the MIAA during that timeframe. The 2021 team also posted a team GPA of over 3.3.

Coach Miller's basketball career started when he was a player at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio and continued at Hillsdale College in Hillsdale, Mich. At Hillsdale in 2003, he was selected team captain, Academic All-Conference, and team "Defensive Player of the Year." Hillsdale reached the NCAA Division II National Tournament in back-to-back years for the first time in school history during Miller’s sophomore and junior seasons in 2001 and 2002. Coach Miller worked as an assistant men's basketball coach for three Hall of Fame coaches that amassed seven National Championships throughout their careers.

Coach Miller began his collegiate coaching career working for BCAM Hall of Fame Coach Ed Douma (1 National Championship) whom he previously played for at Hillsdale College. In 2007, his career took him to Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, where he served as a graduate assistant coach to Naismith Hall of Fame Coach Bob Knight (3 National Championships) and was involved with on-campus recruiting and player development. In 2009, he became the Head Assistant Men’s Basketball coach and National Recruiting Coordinator at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas for Junior College Hall of Fame Coach Steve Green (3 National Championships). While at South Plains, Coach Miller coached and or recruited nine players that would transfer on to NCAA Division I universities.

Coach Miller earned a Bachelor of Science in History and Physical Education from Hillsdale College and a Master’s degree in Exercise Sport Science from Texas Tech University.