Rob Vanstone recalls fond memories of the late Ken Miller

Former Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Ken Miller has passed away at the age of 82.

The product of The Dallas, Ore., was hired as the Roughriders’ offensive co-ordinator in the Grey Cup winning season of 2007 under then head-coach Kent Austin.

Miller succeeded Austin in 2008 and guided Saskatchewan to Grey Cup appearances in 2009 and 2010. He resigned as head coach after the 2010 season but returned to the post midway through the 2011 season.

Saskatchewan Roughriders historian Rob Vanstone was on The Evan Bray Show on Thursday, reminiscing about the legendary coach.

“I’m not even sure you had to be a football fan to really love the man, or even know the man,” said Vanstone.

Vanstone said Miller was highly respected by his players.

“They just looked upon him as a father figure and as a friend,” said Vanstone.

“Ken Miller had a way of just extracting more from the players than maybe they even knew they had. It wasn’t an x’s and o’s situation when he was a head coach. He delegated all of that. He was just about managing the dynamics of the team, and he did it masterfully.”

Vanstone recalled the ending of the 2009 Grey Cup and the infamous 13th-man incident.

“That could have been a career end-er for a lot of coaches. But the way he handled it made it a situation (where) I think people rallied around him. The thirteenth man became a rallying cry instead of an albatross,” said Vanstone.

Vanstone said some of his favourite memories of Miller came from non-football interactions with the coach.

“I just think of the funny stories. How much he enjoyed a one-liner. How much he enjoyed a laugh. His reaction when he got a laugh. He just loved telling the joke, and then he loved the reaction to the joke,” said Vanstone.

Ken Miller was inducted into the Riders’ Plaza of Honour in 2022 and Vanstone was on the Plaza Committee during his induction year.

“It was a very easy choice. And to see how much it meant to him and to see how much it meant to the people to see him again,” said Vanstone.

Vanstone said Miller and his wife were very involved in the community in Regina and enjoyed giving back to the city.

“Ken spent five of his eighty-two years in Regina, yet it seems like he was one of us for all eighty-two of them.”