In Miller, North Hollywood Finds Staying Power

The Grant High student section poured onto the court, mobbing its heroes in wild celebration.

Grant players embraced. The coach, normally stoic Howard Levine, smiled broadly.

On the afternoon of Jan. 17, the scoreboard in Grant’s gym burned the story in lights: Grant 48, North Hollywood 46.

On the North Hollywood bench, senior forward Harry Marks buried his face in a towel. Other players lay motionless on the floor. For the second time in a month, Grant had handed North Hollywood a stunning loss. The Huskies, under fifth-year Coach Steve Miller, had been touted as one of top teams in the City Section 3-A Division, almost a certainty to make a noise when the division championships rolled around.

To be certain, Miller was hurt by the loss. Just as certainly he was hurt again two weeks later when his team was shocked in overtime by Reseda, 65-55, only the team’s third loss in 23 games. It left North Hollywood tied for first place in the Mid-Valley League with Reseda.

Another blow came last week when Miller and Reseda Coach Jeff Halpern were forced to flip a coin at the City 3-A playoff-seedings meeting to decide first place. Miller called tails, and the coin came up heads.

After a 20-3 season that had begun with a thumping of highly regarded Granada Hills, a come-from-behind win over 4-A power Dorsey and nine consecutive wins, North Hollywood would take to the road in the first round of the playoffs.

But when one sits back to evaluate the 1989-90 Huskies and their attitude heading into tonight’s first-round game against Lincoln at Eagle Rock, an image lingers from that loss at Grant: Miller keeping his head when all about him people were losing theirs.

“I learned from John Wooden to never get too excited over wins or too devastated over losses,” Miller said that day amid the din. “It’s crucial that we can stay on an even emotional level.”

Steady as she goes. Through rough water and smooth, Miller--who as a UCLA student studied Wooden daily in the late ‘60s--guides North Hollywood with a firm hand. Sure, the Huskies tied Reseda, but it was the fourth consecutive year that North Hollywood had earned at least a share of a league championship.

The 8-2 league record was two games shy of most expectations, but Miller’s charges eagerly await the playoffs.

“All season long,” he said, “we’ve been waiting for this.”

One thing remains certain: Steve Miller is at North Hollywood to stay.

Play for Steve Miller and you can expect a phone call to your home on any given day. He’s just checking up, seeing how his players are doing.

Had a bad game the day before? Expect Miller to single you out at practice. To berate you? No--to talk to you, work with you and try his darndest to make you feel better about yourself.

Why would Steve Miller--who, ironically, was never good enough to make the varsity at North Hollywood--ever want to leave it?

It’s his boyhood home (He grew up at Lankershim and Huston.). It’s his alma mater. And he’s determined to keep it a winner.

“The number one thing for us as long as I’m the coach,” Miller said, “is that North Hollywood be respected.”

That should be the case given a number of factors. Success on the coaching level has seemed to follow Miller, who admits to an undying passion for the game, wherever he has gone.

“He’s by far the hardest-working coach here,” North Hollywood football Coach Fred Grimes said.

Says rival coach Levine: “Steve cares an awful lot about his players. And when you get someone who cares and knows the game, it’s a good combination.”

His players will vouch for his sincerity.

“When I see Coach Miller,” Husky center Dana Jones said, “I see a person who not only wants to win, but a person who cares. He wants you to keep your grades up. He really cares about how you turn out as a person.”

Compassion runs deep within the 44-year-old Miller. This season’s team--under Miller’s guidance--spent time helping out at a clinic for blind children.

“It develops something far more important than wins and losses,” Miller said. “The challenge is to take kids whose lives you can make better,” Miller said. “I’ve coached so many games, just thousands of them, so that the winning and the losing is so. . . . I mean, I love to win and I don’t like losing, but if you give your best, regardless of what happens, then there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

That philosophy sounds suspiciously like something from Wooden’s Pyramid of Success.

And credit Miller for obtaining the knowledge.

As a student at UCLA in 1966, Miller went to Wooden’s apartment (owned by Miller’s parents) in Santa Monica one night and asked the Wizard if he could sit in on practices and just absorb.

Wooden allowed Miller courtside and let the eager kinesiology student officiate scrimmages on Fridays. He studied under Wooden for three years.

“The thing that was most impressed upon me from Wooden was patience, repetition and a level of emotional stability,” he said. “I was absolutely amazed at the constant repetition of the same drill.”

Thus taught, Miller got a job coaching basketball at Emerson Junior High in Westwood, which never had a program to speak of. The school played in the state junior high championship in 1970, only his second year on the job. In the meantime, he became accepted by the then-Pacific 8 Conference as a referee.

More success followed rapidly. In 1976, he became varsity basketball coach at Fairfax. By 1979, he had won two City titles.

After coaching at Los Angeles City College, where he transformed a 1-26 program into the state’s sixth-ranked team by his third season, Miller soured on coaching at the college level.

“I hated it,” he said. “The type of student that plays for you is not the most secure individual. I didn’t like going to high school games and watching coaches drool over players, offering different things.”

Disenchanted, Miller gave up coaching in 1983-84. He taught at the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies and spent time staring into his soul. His original goal--to be a college coach--had been changed. What now?

In 1985, the varsity basketball job opened at North Hollywood. Miller jumped at the chance to come home to a simpler game.

Tonight, that journey continues. North Hollywood can make a forceful statement with a strong playoff showing. Miller knows that, but he also knows that, regardless of the outcome, the program will work to the best of his ability to have that chance every year. Four consecutive first-place league finishes speak loudly in his favor.

“I have nowhere to go,” Miller said with conviction. “I’m very happy. As long as I never lose my enthusiasm I have nowhere to go. This is a goal within a goal. I don’t feel like I’ve ever worked here because I love it so much. I’ve done my reffing. I’ve done my colleges.

“This is it. I want to make this place respectable.”