When it came down to choosing to remain as baseball coach at Seminole, or watch his freshman-to-be son's prep career, he was reminded of the old Harry Chapin song, Cats in the Cradle.
In the song, a 10-year-old wants to play catch with his dad, who doesn't have time. When he finally does have the time, years later, the son is too busy with his own life.
"You don't want to end up like that song," Miller said.
When his son, Matt, couldn't get into Seminole because of school choice, it was an easy decision. On Monday, Miller resigned as Warhawks coach after the four most successful years in school history, choosing to watch his son play baseball at Boca Ciega.
"It didn't work out for us with the choice program," Miller said. "But I've coached other people's kids for 25 years now, and its my kids' chance. I would be remiss not to see his games. I don't think that's fair to him."
Miller may end up as an assistant coach at Boca Ciega, but said he hasn't given that any thought.
With Miller at the helm, the Warhawks went 91-26 in his four seasons. Minus the 10 forfeits his team had in 2001 due to an ineligible player, his record was 101-16.
In 2001, he guided his team to Baseball America's national champion designation as the Warhawks went 31-0 on the field.
This year, he took Seminole to the state semifinals, finished 25-5 and earned Times coach of the year honors for the seventh time since he started coaching in Pinellas County 25 years ago.
"He was just an all-around great coach," junior pitcher Shawn Keill said. "He knows baseball. Look at his record at Seminole. That tells you something."
Miller also has coached at St. Petersburg Catholic, Northeast and Countryside.
At Northeast, Miller led the Vikings to three Pinellas County Athletic Conference titles, including an unbeaten mark in the 1990 regular season.
Miller, 387-126 for his high school career, isn't ruling out a return to coaching, but says for the next four years he plans on joining the ranks of baseball parent.
"(Seminole principal) Rick Misenti told me, which I thought was very good, that either way you make a decision, it can't be a wrong decision," Miller said.
