Decades-long St. John's coach retires
COLLEGEVILLE — St. John’s running coach Tim Miles announced his retirement last week after 44 years of coaching cross country.
The namesake for SJU’s track program stepped down as the head of the track and field team in 2015, but has remained coaching the long-distance Johnnies in the years since. His announcement was not unexpected, according to a spokesperson for the school. The search for Miles' replacement has started.
"Tim has not only been one of the greatest coaches in the history of Johnnie athletics, he is also one of finest people to grace our campus," SJU athletic director Bob Alpers was quoted. "We will all miss Tim.”
Miles has been named Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference cross country coach of the year three times and his teams have finished in the top two in the MIAC meet 25 times in 43 conference meets.
Under Miles, the Johnnies won nine MIAC titles in 1981, 1982, 1983, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2006 and 2007. Seventeen Miles-coached teams have qualified for the national meet and recorded a top-15 team score.
"I consider myself the luckiest of the lucky, having been able to work with such wonderful people these past 44 years; my Saint John's co-workers and my coaching colleagues across the conference and the nation, but especially our Saint John's cross country and track and field athletes," Miles said. "The cream of the crop. Thank you to all."
Alpers called St. John’s a “better place” because of Miles, whose track teams were as successful as the cross country Johnnies. In 36 outdoor conference meets, SJU finished in the top two teams with Miles on 23 occasions and won the MIAC title in 1997, 1999, 2005, 2007 and 2011.
A 1976 graduate of St. John’s, Miles was an All-MIAC performer in cross country. He won the six-mile run as a senior and was conference runner-up in the steeplechase. He started as the cross country coach in 1979.
This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Tim Miles retires from coaching St. John's cross country
