The NIT will make you feel things.
Hopefully you don’t take that in jest.
It’s still college sports. It really does induce emotions.
Fourteen days ago, I had no opinion about Tim Miles. None whatsoever. I felt the same way about him that I feel about professional lacrosse. I knew he existed, and I knew what he did, but I wouldn’t recognize him if he passed me in an airport. I was wholly indifferent to Tim Miles.
Today, Nebraska fired Tim Miles, and I am sad they did.
I’m not a Nebraska fan. I don’t dislike them—I don’t know enough about their football program’s glory days to have an opinion on that front, but their fan base is intense, and in these wane years for Cornhuskers football and basketball, it’s hard to dislike a fanbase who cares, or the athletic department of said fanbase.
I say all this to make it clear that I had no reason to have an opinion on Tim Miles.
Then, thirteen days ago, Tim Miles tripped while he ran off the court after Nebraska beat Rutgers in their Big Ten Tournament opener:
When I first clicked into the video, without reading the caption, I thought it was Tom Crean, who, now that I think about it, kind of looks like Tim Miles’ hypothetical jackass of a younger brother who drives a nicer car and makes more money at his downtown law firm but has an unhappier family.
But it wasn’t Crean. It was Tim Miles. And he reacted like this:
It turned out this wasn’t out of character for Miles. It’s dangerous to make assumptions about basketball coaches as people—the profession is heavily reliant upon convincing people to believe you are a certain way—but at some point, actions add up, and Miles’ actions, from all accounts, add up to a perception of him as an optimistic, approachable, kind of dorky guy, and an inspiring coach.
I add in that last bit—that he inspired—because watching that home game against Butler, with the loud crowd and Johnny Trueblood’s moments and Nebraska’s star players defiantly holding their ground while their own athletic department seemed to want the season to be over already, it was hard to believe anything else. Teams don’t always show up to the NIT. Especially when injuries are what put them there. Tim Miles’ team showed up. And credit for that should go to the players, and it does, but it also goes to Tim Miles.
Miles will, I assume, be hired somewhere. He was fairly successful as Nebraska’s coach, at least in historical context. Had this team played against last year’s Big Ten, or simply caught one fewer bad break, he would likely be receiving an extension right now through 2024. In the meantime, though, he reacted this way:
So as one of the furthest people from Tim Miles, who has nonetheless been captivated by his saga these past two weeks, I’m sad he was fired. I liked having him around. I hope he still will be around.
I’m glad he’s out there.
