Anniston, AL – Saks coach Jonathan Miller scores his 100th career football coaching victory in Wildcats’ rout of Talladega
By Al Muskewitz
Saks football coach Jonathan Miller is the kind of guy who doesn’t like people to make a fuss over. He just wants to go about his business, win some games, have some quiet influence over his charges and then go onto the next thing. But this time it was all about him or rather for him. There are certain milestones in a coach’s career worth celebrating and Friday night was one of them. Miller, the winningest coach at Saks in two sports, scored the 100th victory of his football coaching career in a 62-24 rout of Talladega in the Wildcats’ regular-season finale. He is now 100-31 in 11 seasons as the Wildcats’ football coach. He passed Jack Stewart as the winningest football coach in Saks history in 2019. He also is the winningest basketball coach in school history. Even at this point of his career he has won more games than many get to coach.
Among the active Calhoun County traditional football coaches, only the Smiths — Clint (Jacksonville), Jeff (Wellborn) and Steve (Piedmont) — have more career wins. The Wildcats made easy work of the milestone game. Gavin Doss rushed for 202 yards, Dorrien Walker rushed for 122 and both scored four touchdowns. They led 28-11 at halftime, then erupted for 27 points in the third quarter.
After the game, the Wildcats gave him the traditional water bucket shower and then gathered around him with a big “It’s Miller Time” banner in the background and presented commemorative plaques to the head coach and the two assistants who have been with him through it all, Wes Ginn and Craig Norton. “Obviously, I’m not a big fan of all that stuff,” Miller said. “It’s kind of a celebration for our whole community because there’s been a lot of people who played a big part in this. I’m not big on the banners and the plaques and all this kind of stuff, but I do take pride in the fact we’ve been able to be successful and been able to follow that up with three region titles and played all over the state in the playoffs. I’ve got a lot of good memories there. “A lot of people played a big role in this. We’ve had some great players come through here the past 11 years and without them this wouldn’t be possible. I’ve had numerous coaches with me. I’ve had Coach Ginn and Coach Norton who have been with me for every win. I’ve had former players who have coached for me and I’ve had great administration the whole time. All those things have played a big part in the success we’ve been able to have.”
He’s had only one losing season and it’s been the only year he’s missed the playoffs. He’s won at least two playoff games each of the last four years the Wildcats have gone to the playoffs. Not a bad run for a guy who initially wasn’t sure if this was the right place or time for him to become a head coach when then Saks principal Jody Whaley approached him about succeeding Clint Smith, who was leaving to take the head coaching job at Jacksonville. “When Mr. Whaley offered me this job and I was deciding whether to take it or not, I knew I wanted to be a football coach, but didn’t know it was the right time, right place,” he said. “A lot of people tried give me advice on what I should do, but the one thing that kind of stuck with me was real simple. “It’s hard to get a good job as a football coach where you can be successful. So, if you think you can get it done, then you need to take it. That, to me, was the best piece of advice I got 11 years ago and here we are 100 wins later.” [*** read more]
