Al Miller Coach 1983

Al Miller was born December 17th, 1936 in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He attended East Stroudsburg State College where he played on both the soccer and basketball teams. He was a midfielder who earned second team All American recognition in 1958 and 1959. While he starred as a soccer and basketball player, his first job was as the Albright College golf coach. He gained his first soccer coaching position with New Paltz State. He spent five years with the East Paltz, winning three New York Conference Championships.

In 1967, Hartwick College hired him. In his six seasons at Hartwick, he took the team to a 64-12-3 record and a 1970 Final Four appearance. Several events led to him moving from the collegiate to the professional coaching ranks. Tom McCloskey, a wealthy Philadelphia businessman was interested in owning a professional sports team. While attending the 1973 Super Bowl, Lamar Hunt broached the subject of McCloskey starting a North American Soccer League franchise in Philly. The NASL awarded McCloskey a team to begin play in the 1973 season. With very little time to prepare, McCloskey, and his general manager Bob Ehlinger, hired Al who was both a successful collegiate soccer coach and from the Philadelphia area, as the Philadelphia Atoms first coach.

He decided to build the Atoms around a core of native U.S. players. This was significant in that most NASL teams used U.S. players as goalkeepers or bench warmers. He took Bob Rigby with the first pick in the 1973 NASL college draft. Rigby went on to become one of the best goalkeepers in the NASL. In the second round, Al selected Bobby Smith who was selected as a second team All Star his rookie year. He then took his team to England to train. While there noticed several English players who he thought could help his team. He negotiated an on loan arrangement for Andy Provan, Jim Fryatt and Chris Dunleavy. The selection of Al Miller proved to be a significant advantage for the Atoms. His decision to use U.S. players made the team immediately popular in Philadelphia. He was also personable became media darling. Besides creating a team popular with the fans, he also created a talented team which ran to a 9-2-8 record and a spot in the playoffs. In the semifinals, the Atoms crushed the Toronto Metros 3-0, then easily handled the Dallas Tornado 2-0, to take the 1973 NASL title.

Al continued his contributions to U.S. soccer when he brought Francisco Marcos into the Atoms. Marcos had played at Hartwick when Al coached there and he now gave Marcos his first taste in soccer management, a skill he would develop over years in the NASL, then as the founder of the United Soccer Leagues. In 1974, McCloskey promoted Al to general manager, a position he held in addition to his coaching duties. In 1975, Al was named head coach of the U.S. national team. He was 0-2-0 in his two games with the team.

In 1975, he drafted Chris Bahr who became the 1975 NASL Rookie of the Year and later became a standout National Football League placekicker.

Al was unable to replicate his 1974 success and the team slowly became a drain on McCloskey’s finances. In 1975, he sold the team to a Mexican group. With the change in ownership, Al elected to move to the Dallas Tornado. He spent the 1976 through 1980 season with the Tornado, gaining the playoff semifinals in 1980. After Dallas lost that semifinal match with the New York Cosmos, he announced his resignation as coach in the locker room. While with Dallas, he had a hand in giving another significant individual his start when he drafted Glenn Myernick with the first pick of the 1976 College Draft.

He then moved to the Calgary Boomers, taking them into the playoffs in 1981. The Boomers folded at the end of the season and he found himself without a team until hired by the Rowdies. He took the team to a 7-23 record then resigned on October 5th, 1983 after disagreements with the team’s management.
After leaving the Rowdies, Al never again coached a professional team. Instead he entered team management with the Cleveland Force of the MISL. He oversaw the Force from 1984 until it folded at the end of the 1987-1988 season.

He then moved on to become the general manager of the United States Soccer Federation for a year. However, on February 22nd, 1989, Cleveland was awarded a new MISL franchise, the Cleveland Crunch. The Crunch hired Al as its general manager, a position he held for the next ten years. In July 1992, the MISL folded and the Crunch moved to the National Professional Soccer League. However, he continued with the Crunch until replaced by Paul Garofolo on February 22nd, 1999. In his ten years, the Crunch won three championships and lost another three title games.

ESPN later signed Al as a color commentator on ESPN's Mundial Sports. He also has narrated a series of films on soccer and wrote a chapter in the book Winning Soccer.

East Stroudsburg State College inducted Al Miller into its Athletic Hall of Fame in 1987. Hartwick college inducted him into its Hall of Fame in 1995. That same year, he was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame.