1,000 blessings
- Updated: January 28, 2021
JCA’s Miller scores his 1,000th combined career boys and girls coaching victory in 65-44 Senior Night victory over Valley Head
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
JACKSONVILLE – Tommy Miller admitted he hasn’t slept very well the last couple nights. On top of all that has been going on in the world to make a man worry, the Jacksonville Christian basketball coach had a very important victory hanging over his head.
Miller should sleep a little more comfortably Thursday after his Thunder turned back Valley Head 65-44 for his 1,000th career coaching victory combining his tenures as a boys and girls varsity coach.
There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary in the locker room afterwards, except maybe for taking a few pictures.
“He acted pretty normal about it,” senior Drake Shew said. “He acted like he’d been there before.”
Well, he has – 999 times before, to be exact.
The victory gave Miller an all-time varsity basketball coaching record of 1,000-573. He got his 400th victory as a boys coach during last week’s Calhoun County Tournament.
“It was just kind of a relief, really,” he said. “I don’t really know that I feel any different except for the feeling of relief. My blood pressure the last two days has been bouncing off the wall; it used to not be that high. I was up two or three times during the night. This was just one more thing. There’s so much going on this year.
“I really didn’t know how big a deal it would be. All I knew is there’s not just a ton of people who’ve won 1,000 varsity basketball games; I knew that was something unusual. There are two things about it – one, you’ve got to win them to get that far and, two, you’ve got to be old.”
Coming into the season Miller, 66, needed 10 wins to reach the boys milestone and 14 for 1,000 in a six-decade coaching career that goes back to Ohatchee. He has been at JCA since 1988, coaching everything at the school that has a ball attached to it.
He has 148 more wins as a football coach (JCA and Pleasant Valley), and there’s no telling what his all-time all-sports wins total would be with his softball and baseball victories.
“The last couple weeks every time I turned around somebody was asking about it so that’s when I believe it started to weigh on me a little bit,” he said. “It’s a little more a relief.”
Scott Morgan has been tracking Miller’s basketball record longest. He has been marking the inside of a manila folder with season record each year snice Miller arrived at the school and they’ve tried to recognize the significant milestones along the way.
The JCA assistant principal and assistant coach said the milestone they reached Thursday “means a lot.”
“I look at it as I’m the winningest assistant coach in Calhoun County,” he said with a hearty laugh. “I feel very fortunate and very blessed to be working here and working with Coach Miller, helping him. I’ve tried to do everything I can to help him. I don’t want him to think about it, that’s why I do it.”
It was only since they reached 990 did the magic number get “discussed more.”
“It’s a big event,” Morgan said. “Most people don’t know because they never reach that. I have a friend in Gadsden who coached for a lot of years and he made a big deal about his 300thwin – or the newspaper did. They were very nice. They didn’t put in there he had 900 losses.
“One thing with coach Miller is his winning percentage is so good. You know, it takes two things: You have to have some strength to get through this many years and you’ve got to be pretty good at it. They kind of go together.”
The way the game went actually kept Miller’s mind off the milestone until it was over.
The Thunder (14-6) got off to a slow start and Miller actually pulled his starters for the final three minutes of the first quarter as they fell behind 7-4. The first group returned to start the second quarter and after tying the game went on an 18-0 run to take control.
“It messed with us,” senior guard Tanner Wilson said of Miller’s mass substitution. “It made us want to play harder.”
“I knew what he was trying to do and he was right for taking us out,” Shew said. “I was just telling all our players we needed to focus on what we needed to do and that was to win by any means necessary. I think that was his point the whole time.”
Landon Wills had eight points in the run, Tavian Alexander had seven and Wilson had three. Alexander led the Thunder with 19 points and 13 rebounds. Wills had 12 points and eight rebounds, and Wilson had 10 points and seven steals.
“He’s put so much time into us and I’m just really excited to see him get 1,000 wins,” Shew said. “I know he’s put in the work. He’s pushed us every day to be where we are and I know he just wants the best for us. And we want the best for him.”
Jacksonville Christian 65, Valley Head 44
VALLEY HEAD – Eain Bain 4 0-0 9, Jordan Burt 3 0-0 7, Mason Best 1 1-2 4, Chandler Johnson 1 0-2 3, Hayden Fletcher 3 1-3 7, Lane Ingram 3 1-1 9, Gentry Grisham 0 0-0 0, Ethan Webb 2 0-0 5, Gavin Bain 0 0-0 0. Totals 17 3-8 44.
JACKSONVILLE CHRISTIAN (14-6) – Tanner Wilson 3 4-5 10, Ethan Fair 1 0-0 3, Ethan Burrage 2 2-4 8, E.J. Kidd 0 2-2 2, Tyler Doggrell 0 0-0 0, Tavian Alexander 6 5-8 19, Landon Wills 4 1-4 12, Drake Shew 4 0-0 8, Mason Johnson 1 0-0 3, Braxton Brown 0 0-0 0, Cam Moses 0 0-0 0, Brodie Clay 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 14-23 65.
Valley Head 14 4 14 12 – 44
JCA 10 22 16 17 – 65
3-point goals: Valley Head 7 (E. Bain, Burt, Best, Johnson, Ingram 2, Webb); JCA 9 (Fair, Burrage 2, Alexander 2, Wills 3, Johnson)
Technical fouls: Burt. Fouled out: Fletcher. Total fouls: Valley Head 18, JCA 11. Officials: Pratt, Shirley, Railey.
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