Aztecs’ Door Keeps Revolving : Miller Named Athletic Director as Scovil Is Officially Fired

Tuesday morning was filled with hellos and goodbys at San Diego State.

A corner room at Aztec Center was buzzing with optimism and expectation as Fred Miller was officially named SDSU athletic director at a 10:30 press conference. He replaces Mary Alice Hill, who was fired Aug. 22.

Three hours earlier, SDSU president Thomas Day met with Doug Scovil, the head football coach.

By the end of that meeting, which was not filled with lights, cameras and microphones, Scovil was officially the former Aztec football coach.

There has been considerable speculation about Scovil’s firing since the Aztecs lost in Wyoming on Nov. 9.

Sunday in Honolulu, where Scovil’s team had tied a game and ended the season the previous night, interim athletic director Bob Rinehart told the football coach he would be fired.

Monday, during a stopover in San Francisco on the flight back to San Diego, Scovil rented a room in the airport to relay the news to his players. It was described as a quiet and teary scene.

“I felt the time was right now,” Day said. “It was in the best interest of the entire athletic program. The football program is a particularly important program for the entire sports program.”

Day never mentioned the firing of Scovil at the press conference. There was a brief press release delivered to San Diego area newspapers Tuesday morning. After being introduced, Miller was asked about hiring a new football coach. He said it was his first priority and that he hoped to hire one by Dec. 15, the day he officially takes over. Nobody ever mentioned that Scovil was officially fired earlier in the morning.

“We have to conduct an aggressive and rapid national search,” Miller said. “We know time is a problem. There are tight restraints as to the recruiting schedule, especially for recruiting junior college players.”

Miller has a good idea of the type of coach he wants.

“I want an aggressive young guy who is a strong recruiter and knows the defensive end of the game,” Miller said. “And the chances of going after a guy who runs a wishbone are nil. There are some people we know we’ll be talking to immediately.”

Three people who surfaced as possible candidates are Arizona State assistant football coach Tom Freeman, Charger offensive coordinator Dave Levy, who said “it is all news to me,” and Dick Coury, coach and general manager of the Portland Breakers in the United States Football League. Coury also formerly coached at Cal State Fullerton.

“Nobody has been in touch with me,” Coury said, “and I did not even know of Doug’s dismissal until you called me. But with a guy like Fred Miller, you’d have to be interested. His track record speaks for itself. He’s built winning programs in a hurry, and I think San Diego State has taken a giant step in the right direction. He’s an excellent guy.”

Meet Fred Miller.

“We had a number of outstanding candidates,” said Ron Fowler, chairman of the seven-member search committee appointed to find a new athletic director. “We screened more than 100 candidates and the committee spent more than 40 hours in meetings and interviews. In my mind, one stood out above all of them. And I think the reasons for it are his energy level, intelligence and ability to go after some difficult questions.”

Miller, a 54-year-old California native born in San Francisco and raised in Venice, Calif., played professional football for a year as a tackle with Washington Redskins and two years with Hamilton and Vancouver in the Canadian Football League.

He was athletic director at Cal State Long Beach from 1967 to 1971 and at Arizona State from 1971 to 1980. In Miller’s last year at Long Beach, 49er teams won seven Pacific Coast Athletic Assn. titles. At ASU, Miller added a 10-sport women’s program and was athletic director when the Sun Devils moved from the Western Athletic Conference to the Pacific 10.

Miller was fired as athletic director shortly after he fired popular football coach Frank Kush after the 1979 season. At the time, Kush was being sued for allegedly slapping punter Kevin Rutledge.

After being fired as athletic director, Miller remained as a physical education instructor at ASU and served as a consultant and sports analyst for ESPN (Entertainment Sports Program Network) for the past six years.

“I have had five years to reflect on things,” Miller said. “The luxury of time helps put things in perspective. ESPN filled a need for me when I had three children going to Arizona State and I got to play racquetball with my son and go out to lunch with my daughter. Then my children were gone and it wasn’t enough.”

Miller was approached about the SDSU job, and he jumped at the opportunity.

“What are good jobs?” Miller asked. “Is going to Michigan to follow Don Canham a good job? Not for me. This is a good job. To see the potential here and to turn it on, that’s what makes me tick. I intend to finish up at San Diego State. When they shovel me out, I’ll be on a cane. “

The man who has what he calls an “internalized seven-page list of things he wants to do at San Diego State” is just getting warmed up.

“You are going to hear us banging the drum loud and often,” Miller said. “I think that our future is just awesome, and I approach this job with genuine enthusiasm. Let’s see what we can do about bringing the Aztecs back to athletic prominence. The environment is right for success. We will have to concentrate on marketing, do a lot of fund-raising and try to get the business community involved with the Aztecs.

“I truly believe San Diego can take its rightful place as a national power in Division I-A athletics. I intend to run the program with dignity and class and intend to make sure that we interwork with faculty and the administration so that everything we do is up front. I’m not a quick trigger guy and I’ll go the extra mile with some people, but I cannot afford the luxury of non-performance. You don’t handle personnel matters by committee. You button your lip and keep going.”

Miller he is aware of the interplay between Day and Hill when Hill tried to fire four members of the athletic staff last summer and Day reinstated them. He also must know that since Day became president of SDSU on July 1, 1978, the Aztecs have had four full-time athletic directors. Ken Karr and Cedric Dempsey resigned, Gene Bourdet left for health reasons and Hill was fired.

“My problems start today,” Miller said. “I like to get problems resolved before I come in. That is a better kind of situation to come into.”

Day said he expects Miller to run the Aztec athletic program.

“It’s not only an expectation,” Day said, “but it’s a hope. The athletic director should basically run the athletic program. It is important for the president to be in the spotlight with an emphasis on academics. I am looking forward to spending more time on academic matters.”

Who will make the decisions involving personnel matters?

“I think that’s up to the athletic director,” Day said. “We’ll talk about it, but it’s basically his concern as long as we follow the proper procedures.”

Miller acknowledges he is in favor of doing things the proper way, but not necessarily the traditional way.

“Traditional ways of doing things don’t always bring the best results,” Miller said.

Case in point: When Miller was athletic director at Long Beach, he took a self-imposed sabbatical when he hired a defensive football coach and later discovered there was no room in the university for another person.

“I asked the football coach what he wanted, an athletic director or a defensive coordinator, and he said goodbye to me,” Miller said. “That’s one of the best things I ever did. I went to every university in the West and said show me your business operations, your ticket operations, your promotional schemes. Show me how to be good.

“I took all my children out of school, got a trailer and a tent and left. I went all over. Finally, the president of the university found me down in Mexico. He said, ‘OK, you made your point.’ It was getting cold and the trailer was leaking, so we went back in January after having been away for six months.”

Years later, Miller finds himself in a position to hire a football coach at a university where there is an opening for one.