‘He’s Relentless in Everything He Does’: Why OSU Assistant James Miller Left a Program on the Rise to Join Steve Lutz

STILLWATER — James Miller was in a good spot working under Chris Jans, as the pair combined to lead New Mexico State to two NCAA Tournaments before moving to Mississippi State and leading the Bulldogs to a pair of Big Dances.

But then Steve Lutz, Millers’ longtime friend, got the job at Oklahoma State. Miller took a leap to join Lutz in Stillwater as the program’s associate head coach.

“Coach Jans was unbelievable to me,” Miller said. “I worked for him for six years. I honestly never thought I would leave his side unless it was for a head job. I love him as a person, and I loved working for him. Coach Lutz and I have been pretty good friends for 12 or 13 years now. So, when this opportunity came, I have goals and aspirations to be a head coach one day. I had been an associate head coach in the SEC. We had gone to two NCAA Tournaments. My mindset selfishly was, ‘Hey, if I can come here and help us get to the NCAA Tournament as an associate head coach in the Big 12, what other boxes can I check as an assistant coach?’

“That was kinda my thought process selfishly, and then wholistically, hey, it’s the Big 12. It’s Oklahoma State. There’s a lot of tradition here. It was a new challenge for me to be able to help one of my closest friends. So, that really excited me. If it was just some random place that didn’t have any tradition or it wasn’t with one of my best friends, I wouldn’t have done it. There’s no way. Like I said, I never thought I’d leave Coach (Jans’) side.”

Miller had some loose ties to Stillwater. He said he visited for homecoming during his college years, joking that he remembered a little bit of the weekend.

Miller was also the head coach at New Mexico Junior College from 2012 to 2015, where he coached Jeff Newberry, who would go on to play at Oklahoma State for two seasons and averaged double figures as a senior in the 2015-16.

“He loved Oklahoma State,” Miller said. “He loved his experience here. He spoke glowingly about the town and about the school.”

Without being in practices and meetings, it’s hard to tell what impact any assistant coach makes in the on-court product, but what’s undeniable about Miller is that he is an excellent recruiter — which then in turn helps the on-court product.

OSU landed four-star forward Latrell Allmond on Monday, a recruitment Miller had a lot to do with. As Allmond’s recruitment was coming to a close, Miller traveled out to Las Vegas a few weekends back for an event Allmond’s high school team was playing at.

“I think the investment, and the time,” said OSU assistant Keiton Page of what makes Miller such a good recruiter. “Coach Miller, he’s obviously one that we all learn from on a daily basis. The dude never stops. He’s relentless in everything he does. That’s game-planning, recruiting — just anything he does, he does it full tilt. A lot like Coach Lutz. Obviously if you take that approach into recruiting any kid, it usually works out because a lot of guys don’t have a motor, per se, like that. He’s full-go all the time.”

The Virginia/North Carolina area is one Miller appears immensely tapped into. Along with Allmond’s addition, there are four players on the current OSU roster who hail from one of those states.

Those aren’t usually spots where a lot of guys are traveling to OSU from, but Miller said part of his pitch on the recruiting trail is that Stillwater is a place where you can focus on school and basketball and can be a business-like trip for some guys.

“It’s like anything else, you just put a lot of hard work into it,” said Miller of his recruiting style. “You build relationships. Even in the transfer portal day and age, you have to have relationships with these young men, and they generally have to know that you care about them. Then you just look for the fit with coach and what our system is and the school. And once you do those types of things, usually it fits into place. …

“So, recruiting style is just relationships. This is the type of place where it’s not Miami. It’s not LA. It’s a different type of place, so you really want to have some genuine relationships with those young men and the people who are trying to help you get the players. That’s not really normal anymore in the climate, unfortunately.”

Given OSU has made just one NCAA Tournament in the past eight seasons, it could’ve been viewed as a risk for Miller to make the leap from a team he’s helped consistently get into the tourney, but he sounds confident he and Lutz can find similar success in Stillwater.

“Usually history repeats itself, and they’ve won big here in the past,” Miller said. “So, if we can get some good players in here and do it the right way, there’s no reason we couldn’t do the same thing. That’s my mindset.”