Chris Caporale, sports@wolfrivermedia.com
Familiarity with the Bowler High School girls basketball program did little to help Gresham first-year head coach Vaughn Miller and his girls secure a victory in the teams’ first matchup this season.
On Jan. 14, Gresham fell, 49-33, to Bowler, where Miller had worked two seasons as an assistant coach under his brother, AJ, before accepting the Gresham job.
Vaughn Miller will get to show just how much his team has grown Thursday when the Central Wisconsin Conference-10 rivals meet again in Bowler.
“I expected him to turn their program around quickly,” AJ Miller said. “He’s a good leader, and that’s what they needed. He stepped up to the plate.
“I’m real proud of him, regardless of how he feels about getting beat on his home court. I’m real proud of the job he does, and he’s a good guy. He’s right for them.”
Now, instead of sitting on the same bench, the Millers will see other on the sideline twice a year.
“Me and my family, we laugh a lot, we mess around a lot,” Vaughn Miller said. “It was hard not to crack jokes mid-game and mess with him. It was fun. It was definitely an experience I really enjoyed. I’ll definitely cherish it.”
The familiarity between the coaches makes it difficult to surprise each other on the court.
“Nothing he did all game even surprised me to be completely honest. He didn’t catch me off-guard at all,” Vaughn Miller said. “I knew the inbounds plays he was running. He’s just got real good players.”
Right now, Miller is working on getting his players to be more active on offense, an adjustment from their previous coach, Nick Yaeger, who moved to the Clintonville program.
Yaeger’s offense was predicated on what players could do with the ball, while Miller looks for more off-ball action to create open looks.
Miller also knows that he has to build more depth to compete with CWC-10 leaders such as Bowler (17-4, 14-3 CWC-10).
Bowler will again be the heavy favorite when the teams and coaches meet at 7:30 p.m. Thursday. Gresham enters the game at 7-13, 4-13 in the CWC-10.
AJ, the older brother, is excited for the opportunity to coach against his brother with more at stake than just a conference victory.
“We’re both kind of competitive, so to me, it’s just another game, but to him, I can tell it matters,” AJ Miller said. “It’s good to see a young coach in our conference with a lot of fire.”