Miller brings more than 30 years of soccer experience to the coaching staff, having worked for U.S. Soccer youth national teams, scout for the USMNT and at the college level. Most recently Miller has been working for the U.S. State Department as and envoy traveling on behalf of the U.S. and U.S. Soccer. Also of note is Miller has worked overseeing and coaching coaches, perhaps his appointment is not only for what he brings to the players/team but what he specifically brings to Heaps
The move to hire Miller, is an outside the box move and interesting one as well. Miller has a lot of youth and talent development experience. Miller's resume my indicate a shift to a youth movement under the new leadership of Heaps. Miller has not worked in top flight soccer yet with his vast involvement in soccer we hope he brings many connections to assist in player scouting and acquisition. The question we do ask is whether Sunil Gulati had any say in this move. We've heard Gulati may have been more influential than previously thought, with the deck chair reshuffling of the FO we thought his influence was gone but maybe not.
In addition to Miller the Revolution also announced the hiring of former Rev Nick Downing as the teams first ever strength and conditioning coach. Downing has been certified as a personal trainer since 2004 and has been strength coaching since 2005. It's a bit of a shock (but not really) that the Revolution have not had someone in this job before. Hopefully with the addition of Downing we'll see the end of the Revs falling apart late in the game like we saw all through last season.
I can't really knock either hire, so I won't, I wish both Miller and Downing the best of luck and look forward to seeing what they bring to the Revs in 2012.
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