Following the Racers’ loss to Bradley during the second round of Arch Madness in the early days of March, three-year head coach Steve Prohm would resign following rumors that he would be fired after the season. Just two weeks later, Murray has their guy.
“It is a tremendous honor to have been named the next head coach of the Murray State Racers,” said new head coach Ryan Miller in an official statement. “The winning tradition set over the past 100 years is a testament to the outstanding people that have poured so much into this team.”
As an assistant at Creighton, Miller comes from the Greg McDermott coaching tree that has produced a plethora of successful coaches across division I including Darian DeVries (Indiana), TJ Otzelberger (Iowa State), Alan Huss (High Point), Steve Lutz (Oklahoma State), Eric Henderson (South Dakota State) and Patrick Sellers (Central Connecticut State).
“He’s one of the best in business. There’s no question about it,” said Miller. “The reason why his coaching tree has such great success is because he gives his coaching staff full run. I help him with all the offensive here, Coach Kellogg helps with all the defense, Coach Ziegler helps some of the special teams, and then we got a bunch of selfless coaches that don’t care who gets their credit, and he gives a lot of autonomy to each one of these coaches to really run practice, to run drills to so we’re in really good shape when we leave the program to be able to lead our own program.”
Creighton head coach Greg McDermott echoed that sentiment in a press conference during the NCAA tournament.
“It starts with recruiting good people,” he said. “To start with people that are passionate about the game and passionate about wanting to grow, and I’ve never felt that the guys that have worked for me wherever that were concerned about getting a head coaching job, they were just concerned about doing their job. I’m a little bit different, and I probably empower my assistants more than others, they have more responsibility. They have more of a voice in practice, and I think I owe it to them for their development to allow them to do that, because I got to [in my career].”
At the conclusion of Creighton’s season whether it be Saturday against Auburn, or further on down the line, Miller finds himself just a four-hour drive down the interstate from his new home, nestled in small-town Western Kentucky. On his arrival to Murray, he looks to get right to work at the opening of the transfer portal on Monday.
“I’ve hired my GM, Ernie Kuyper, hired coach [Brendan] Mullins, and they’re really boots on the ground for me while we transition, and the portal opens March 24 which is Monday, and hopefully we’re still playing, if not, I’ll be in Murray.”
Alongside Mullins, Miller has brought in Alabama State assistant Mardracus Wade, who also played in the South region in Lexington in the NCAA first round.
Miller is expected to agree to a $450,000 per year along with $175,000 for media participation. Along with other bonuses featuring academic success, MVC championships, postseason appearances and Coach of the Year accolades, Miller’s buyout will be up to $1.5 million if he leaves before April 2026, decreasing every year.
We just obtained details on Ryan Miller’s contract at Murray State:
It’s a 4 year contract worth $450,000 per season, with an automatic one-year extension in 2026.
Another extension in following years if the team wins an MVC regular season title or makes it to NCAA Tournament
— Logan Whaley (@LoganWhaleyWPSD) March 18, 2025
As for the rest of the team, while most are graduating, Miller looks to retain the few that have not entered the portal as of yet.
“Well, they’re currently on spring break, which is pretty good deal for me personally,” he said on Thursday. “What I’ll do when I get back and get on the ground in Murray is meet with each player individually, and see what their goals are, and then see where our roster is at, and try to build that roster this Spring, either through the portal or through high school kids, probably through the portal, just because ‘get old, stay old,’ and we probably have to be old to be able to compete in a great conference.”
While the Racers have already lost rotational players in KyeRon Lindsay and Patrick Chew to the portal, juniors Alden Applewhite and Justin Morgan remain rostered after being key bench pieces to the team last season. Starters AJ Ferguson and Nick Ellington, who are seniors this season, are still up in the air as to their eligibility for next year.
As for style of play, Miller brings the long-successful Creighton offensive system into the Bluegrass state to reinvent the Racers’ offense that finished 10th in the Missouri Valley this season according to KenPom efficiency numbers.
“ Yeah, obviously they had great success in the OVC transition, which is always hard,” he sad. “Coach Prohm did an awesome job transitioning from the OVC to Missouri Valley Conference, but it is a different conference, different style of play, different type of coaches, more of a kind of a Big 10 style of play, but I’m looking forward to getting down there and really executing our game plan as far as personnel and also what kind of plays we’re going to introduce, sets we’re going to use, what kind of motion in the offense we’re going to give the guys [and] what kind of defensive principles. We’re going to be high execution team, very similar to Creighton, and we’re going to put a good staff together, and we’re going to go recruit big time players and hopefully have a lot of success.”
That success starts to be determined on Monday with the opening of the transfer portal floodgates, where Murray State looks to be a big player.
