Rancho Alamitos’ Miller Resigns as Football Coach

Saying he feels unappreciated, Mark Miller resigned Thursday as Rancho Alamitos High School football coach because of a disagreement with Principal Tom Robins about teaching assignments.

Miller, who coached the Vaqueros to an 11-3 record and the Southern Section Division VII final this past season, resigned during a meeting with Robins.

He said he and Robins had a disagreement over whether Miller should coach athletics or teach math during the school’s sixth period.

“I don’t feel appreciated here,” said Miller, who has a 43-25-1 record at the school. “The main incident that provoked it was that he (Robins) took me out of sixth-period athletics to teach math. I felt it would be detrimental to our football program.”

Said Robins: “We ran into a philosophical difference on what he should do during the off-season. We had a need for a math teacher in (sixth) period. Mark is a good math teacher, and we had to meet the school’s needs.”

Miller, 37, said he will continue teaching math at Rancho Alamitos.

His six seasons as the Vaqueros’ head coach were not without controversy. Opposing coaches have accused him of running up the score, and the Vaqueros forfeited a victory this season for using an ineligible player.

Miller said Robins cited several things “he wasn’t pleased with about me” during their meeting.

“Maybe I run off at the mouth,” Miller said. “We started firing at each other. He said, ‘I heard you run up the score’ and that I had made a comment at our football banquet that (upset) some people.”

Said Robins: “I don’t think that should be mentioned. We want to handle this in a professional manner.

“I thank Mark for his contributions. Some of the things he has done are admirable. We ended our conference with handshake. It was a very productive conference.”

Miller, who lives in Trabuco Canyon, plans to seek another coaching job, probably in South County.

Rancho Alamitos also loses three all-county players--running back Jeff Byrd, the county’s all-time single-season rushing leader; quarterback-defensive back Marshall Brown, who’s headed to Fresno State as a flanker, and linebacker Leon Vickers, who has committed to Stanford.

“I’m not leaving the program down at all,” Miller said. “We have five starters on the offensive line back, all the starting wide receivers back, and three linebackers.”

Miller graduated from Magnolia High in 1973 and Redlands in ’77. He was Magnolia’s head coach for three years, and was an assistant at Pacifica and Rancho Alamitos.

He won 63% of his games at Rancho Alamitos, the best mark in school history.

“I think my kids appreciate me,” he said. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just being a big baby about this.”

Robins said he has set no agenda for finding a replacement for Miller.