CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Director of Athletics Scott Lazenby announced Blake Miller as the sixth coach in the history of Islanders Softball on Thursday. Most recently the head softball coach at Virginia, Miller returns for his second coaching stint in South Texas, after leading Texas A&M-Kingsville from 2008 to 2010.
A press conference to introduce Coach Miller will be held Monday, June 20 at 3:30 p.m. in the Oso Room at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi’s University Center (The Oso Room is located on the second floor of the UC).
“We are very excited to welcome Blake Miller and his family to the Island,” Lazenby said. “Our candidate pool for this position was extremely strong, however Blake stood out amongst all of the candidates with his experience and success at every level of collegiate softball. In addition, he is very familiar with South Texas after spending time in Kingsville, which resulted in him building a vast recruiting network in the state.”
The 16-year coaching veteran spent the last three years at the helm of the Virginia program. Miller saw improvement in each of his three seasons in Charlottesville, Va., taking the Cavaliers to a tenure-best 18 wins in 2016, which followed 12 victories in 2015 and six in 2014.
Miller’s tenure at Virginia was highlighted by a stellar hitting season in 2015, when the Cavaliers recorded the school’s single-season home run record with 55 long balls.
Prior to his spell on the East Coast, Miller served as an assistant coach at Oregon for three years. With the Ducks, he helped guide the Green and Yellow to three consecutive regional championships, making three straight Super Regional appearances, and earning the program’s first Pac-12 Championship in 2013.
During his time in Eugene, Ore., Miller helped lead the Ducks to the Women’s College World Series and coached then Ducks pitcher and current Islanders pitching coach Brittany Rumfelt. As the team’s hitting coach he guided Oregon to school records in home runs, batting average, runs and slugging.
“I’d like to thank Scott Lazenby and the administration for this opportunity to join the Islander family,” Miller said. “My family and I are looking forward to getting back to South Texas. The people and the culture are a great base for college athletics and life in general.”
Miller found success early at the helm of the A&M-Kingsville program. After taking over for the 2008 season, the rookie skipper posted a 22-33 record, before besting that mark by 11 games in 2009 to finish 32-22. During his final season with the Javelinas, Miller’s team set the school record for batting average (.306), slugging (.470), home runs (34) and on-base percentage (.385).
He began his head coaching career at Darton State College in Albany, Ga. Miller finished his two-year stint with a 66-44 record and a bid to the 2006 NJCAA Division I World Series. Miller’s career has also included stops at Colorado Mesa and East Tennessee State.
A staple of a Miller program is strength in academics, as his teams have produced seven Academic All-Americans, the best GPA at Virginia in a decade and the NJCAA best GPA in 2007 at Darton.
In addition to an impressive coaching career, Miller represented the United States for 10-years on the national fastpitch team, which included a gold medal at the 2002 Pan-American Qualifier and a silver medal at the 2003 Pan-American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Miller was a four-year starter at the UNC-Pembroke, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2000. In 2003, he received his master’s degree in business.
“I can not wait to meet all of the student-athletes and start working,” Miller said. “I’ve seen that there is a lot of good talent on the current team, but it’s time to work hard to get even better.”
Miller is married to the former all-conference pitcher Renee Hietbrink, and has five daughters, Ashley, Blakely, Carter, Dayla and Ember.
