Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Ken Miller watches the action during the first quarter of the CFL Grey Cup game on Nov.28, 2010 in Edmonton. Ken Miller, a former beloved head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, has died. He was 82.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Ken Miller, a beloved former head coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, has died. He was 82.
The CFL team announced that Miller died Wednesday in Asheville, N.C., after a brief battle with cancer.
“Perhaps the only thing that matched his skill as a football coach was the way he made you feel in his presence,” the Riders said in a statement. “Whether you were just meeting him for the first time or knew him well, you felt his genuine kindness. We will miss him dearly.
“On behalf of Rider Nation we send our love and condolences to his wife Maureen, his family, friends and loved ones and everyone who had the privilege of knowing him.”
Miller was hired as Saskatchewan’s offensive co-ordinator in 2007, helping the Roughriders and head coach Kent Austin win the third Grey Cup title in franchise history.
The following season, Miller became a first-time head coach at age 66, succeeding Austin after he left to join the University of Mississippi as an offensive co-ordinator.
In four seasons as head coach, Miller led Saskatchewan to the Grey Cup in 2009 and 2010, losing both times to the Montreal Alouettes.
The 2009 match became known as the 13th-man game. The Alouettes won 28-27 on a game-winning 33-yard field goal by Damon Duval.
Saskatchewan appeared to have won after Duval missed a prior last-second attempt from 43 yards, but the Roughriders were penalized 10 yards for having too many players on the field.
“That loss in the Grey Cup is really a heavy burden for me, even to this day,” Miller said in 2018, according to the Riders. “I think about that situation and that game often, and sometimes I can’t bear to watch football on TV when the game is close. I just cringe, still feeling the emotion of that game.”
Miller, however, was lauded for how he handled the situation at the time, turning it into a rallying point for Rider Nation when 1,500 heartbroken fans met the team the following day at Mosaic Stadium.
“I am so proud of these men who are on the stage with me,” Miller told the crowd. “I’d like to say they’re all mine, but they’re not. They’re yours.”
Miller stepped down as head coach after the 2010 campaign but remained with the organization as vice-president of football operations.
He retook the top job on the sidelines after the Roughriders started 1-7 in 2011, before announcing later that season he would leave after the final game.
Miller finished with a 36-27-1 record for the fifth most victories in franchise history and was a three-time CFL coach of the year finalist in Saskatchewan.
Born in The Dalles, Ore., Miller started coaching in 1966 as a graduate assistant at Dickinson State University in Dickinson, N.D.
He later coached at the University of Redlands in Redlands, Calif., for over 15 seasons before working north of the border.
Before Saskatchewan, Miller joined the Toronto Argonauts as quarterback coach in 2002. He also coached Toronto’s offensive line from 2003 to 2005 and the defensive line in 2006.
The Alouettes hired Miller as an offensive consultant in 2017.
He was inducted into the Roughriders’ Plaza of Honour in 2022.