The most recent addition to the Auburn basketball team, associate head coach Ryan Miller, has been brought on to the staff to help make Auburn a basketball power once again.
Miller, 37, spent two months on the Missouri coaching staff before he was hired by Auburn.
His reasons for joining the Auburn staff were his personal and professional relationship with head coach Tony Barbee and to help in the rebuilding of the basketball program.
Miller spent three years at Memphis as a basketball operations assistant while Barbee was an assistant coach there.
"I'm excited about Ryan joining our staff," Barbee said. "He is a close friend who I have known for quite a while now. He is going to add a lot to the program in all areas, from recruiting to coaching to relationships with players."
Before Miller was at Missouri, he was an assistant coach for New Mexico, and Miller thought his experience with rebuilding a program such as New Mexico's should give him an edge at Auburn.
"Before we took over the job (at New Mexico), the previous staff was last in the Mountain West Conference, and in five years there we won two regular season conference championships and one conference championship tournament," Miller said. "I will bring the experience of rebuilding a program that was traditionally good."
Auburn basketball has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2003, when the team made it to the Sweet 16 and was knocked off by eventual champion Syracuse.
The basketball team finished last season 15-16, 5-11 in conference play, and needs to improve greatly to repeat former successes.
"We're just trying to get our guys better every day through individual instruction," Miller said. "I'm trying to teach them things that I've learned in the past throughout my coaching stints."
Coaching at Auburn does not only entail teaching current players, but recruiting players for upcoming seasons as well. Miller is considered to be one of the top recruiters in the nation.
"We've got to get out there and recruit," Miller said. "We're trying to find talent that wants to come to a special place in Auburn University. We have a lot to offer, so we're just going to go out and recruit the best possible athletes that want to have success on and off the court."
Miller is familiar with playing on the court too, as he was selected to two all-state teams during high school and helped his team to a state championship in 1994.
Miller played collegiate and professional basketball through 1999 until he returned to Northern State in Aberdeen, S.D., to get his bachelor's degree in physical education in 2000.
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