Associate Head Coach Steve Miller

With three NCAA National Championships already on his resume, Steve Miller looks to add to that total as he joined the University of Minnesota men’s hockey program as its associate head coach in July 2022.

Miller was honored with the American Hockey Coaches Association’s (AHCA) Terry Flanagan Award in 2009, which recognizes an assistant coach’s career body of work. In all, he has been a part of three NCAA titles, 20 NCAA appearances, six regular season conference titles and six playoff championships during his collegiate tenure.

Motzko and Miller coached together on the international stage guiding Team USA to a gold medal at the 2017 IIHF World Junior Championship with an undefeated 7-0 record. They added a bronze medal leading the team in 2018. Miller has continued to coach at the event, adding a silver medal in 2019, two more gold medals in 2021 and 2024, and will be on the staff for the eighth time in 2025. They also served on the same coaching staff at Miami University from 1991-93.

In his first year with the Maroon and Gold, Miller helped the Golden Gophers reach the NCAA Championship game after winning a Big Ten Conference regular season title. Thanks to a deep and talented defensive corps guided by Miller, Minnesota held opponents to the nation’s sixth-best goals against per game at 2.3, while the group combined for 147 points on 30 goals and 117 assists offensively. The blue line featured three players that stepped into the National Hockey League the next season in Brock Faber (Minnesota Wild), Ryan Johnson (Buffalo Sabres), and Jackson LaCombe (Anaheim Ducks).

The Gophers reached the NCAA Tournament for the second time in as many seasons under Miller’s tutelage, falling in the NCAA Sioux Falls Regional final in 2023-24. On special teams, Minnesota recorded the third-fewest power-play goals allowed in program history, giving up 18 in 39 total games. He has coached three All-Americans, 15 All-B1G selections, and five B1G All-Freshman honorees since joining the Maroon and Gold’s coaching staff.

A native of Sun Prairie, Wis., Miller most recently served at Ohio State as its associate head coach for five seasons (2017-22) and helped the team to an NCAA Frozen Four appearance in 2018, his first campaign with the program. The Buckeyes claimed their first B1G regular season title in 2019 and earned an at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament. The next season, OSU was 10th in the PairWise rankings and poised for a program-record, fourth-straight NCAA Tournament appearance before the remainder of the 2020 season was canceled for the COVID-19 pandemic. While at OSU, he coached All-Americans Tanner Laczynski and Mason Jobst, who is also the all-time leading scorer in Big Ten conference games, along with 18 players that earned All-B1G honors.

Prior to joining Ohio State in 2017, Miller enjoyed successful stints with both the Air Force Academy (2015-17) and Providence College (2014-15). As director of hockey for Air Force, he helped the Falcons capture the 2017 Atlantic Hockey Championship and advanced to the NCAA Regional final. At Providence, he was the associate head coach and helped the Friars claim their first-ever national championship with a 4-3 victory over Boston University in the 2015 title game.

Miller spent 19 and a half years as an assistant and associate head coach with Denver as the team won back-to-back NCAA Championships in 2004 and 2005. During his time at DU, the team won three WCHA regular season championships and claimed the WCHA Final Five title four times. With the Pioneers, Miller coached and recruited 45 NHL draft picks, 65 all-league selections, 17 All-Americans and two Hobey Baker Memorial Award winners, Matt Carle (2006) and Will Butcher (2017). The 2004 Denver team also was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame Class of 2014. While not on the Pioneers’ staff for their national championship in 2017, he was an integral part of building the team as he coached or recruited 18 players on the squad.

Miller began his coaching career at his alma mater, St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minn. The squad won the 1989 MIAC playoff championship and advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament.

He moved from there to Miami University, where he spent three seasons under head coach George Gwozdecky. Along with Motzko, an assistant coach, the Redhawks won their first CCHA title in 1993 and made their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

As a student-athlete at St. Mary’s, Miller played three years of varsity hockey. He was named the team’s Most Inspirational Player as both a sophomore and senior and earned Most Improved Player honors as a sophomore. In 1988, he helped the Cardinals to their first MIAC Championship in 23 years and the team set the school record for victories in a season (22), a mark that still stands.

Miller, who was inducted into the Sun Prairie High School Wall of Success in 2008, and his wife, Heidi, have three children, a daughter, Alexis, and sons, Cole and Connor.