Matt Weiner (@mattweiner20) – Basketball Beat Reporter
San Jose State head coach Tim Miles took the podium in Thomas & Mack Center on March 9 after a heartbreaking loss to Fresno State in the Mountain West conference tournament.
He cocked back and delivered a warning shot:
“We are going to come back next year bigger, stronger and better.”
He aimed and fired another one.
“Enjoy it while it lasts because we are going to come back next year and we are going to get bigger, stronger and better.”
And just in case nobody heard him, a third and final shot rang out.
“The opponents can enjoy it while it lasts because we are going to get bigger, stronger and better.”
The Spartans entered as the last seed with one conference win and faced a Fresno State squad led by Mountain West All First-Team center Orlando Robinson.
SJSU took Fresno State to overtime and were one bucket away from what would’ve been the biggest conference tournament upset in Las Vegas that week.
One offseason later
He now sits across from me, same intensity in his veins, but a calmer voice carrying his thoughts.
Behind him on the window sill is a box of Wheaties with Tommie Smith’s silhouette gracing the cover. Holding his same fist up in the iconic pose honored with a statue by Dwight Bentel Hall on San Jose State’s campus.
“Even now I get emotional about it,” said Miles, entering his second year as a SJSU’s men’s basketball head coach.
“I think what I was in the locker room with our team is who I was in the press conference with the media trying to show that resolve of, ‘we are going to build this. We are tough-minded people. This is going to take tough-minded people to build this the right way.'”
And it takes an even tougher-minded person to lead the way.
12 people have served as SJSU’s men’s basketball head coach before him, but only three of them – most recently Stuart Inman from 1961-66 – left with a record of .500 or better.
In the 21st century, head coaches Phil Johnson, George Nessman, David Wojcik and Jean Prioleau have gone 208-478.
It’s an unfavorable position, but it’s one he’s on a first name basis with.
Miles quipped on FaceTime to SJSU football head coach Brent Brennan, “’Brent, I’m starting to think they are going to call me Coach F.E.M.A.,’ you know Federal Emergency Management.’ I only take over disasters.’”
Taking a disaster and turning it into a prideful, winning product is how Miles got started in this line of work.
“When I took over Mayville State, my very first job, they had been 2-22 the year before I got there, 2-22 the year before that, so 4-44. Then we flipped it and went like 35-22,” said a passionate Miles.
At Southwest Minnesota State, a program that had a single winning season out of the last 16 before Miles, he led the Mustangs to four-straight winning seasons.
Improvement clung to Miles every step like a shadow when he took over at North Dakota State.
Its president told Miles, ‘I think we might go to Division I.’
“North Dakota State had been talking about going Division I for 15 years,” said Miles.
You’ll be shocked to know what happened next.
“Seven months later we go Division I without a conference,” said Miles, who notched an NCAA tournament bid in his last year before leaving for Colorado State in 2007.
There’s a resume that proves Miles can reach down from earth and pull the Spartans out of purgatory. But that ascent won’t be done in just one offseason.
And certainly not after a year in which a handful of games were played with a lineup that dressed out six players due to COVID-19 protocols and injuries.
“Literally I was worried about fielding a team,” said Miles.
The Tim Miles creep, crawl, walk, run process
SJSU men’s basketball is now in what Miles’ hopes to be the “walk” phase of a ‘Creep, Crawl, Walk, Run’ process.
Mountain West honorable mention Omari Moore, and Alvaro Cardenas, will help advance that process.
“I’m a more vocal person than Omari. I try to hold people accountable more, that’s just how I lead,” said Cardenas.
The heat from Cardenas balances out the cool from Moore.
“I try to lead by example with different things that I’m doing,” said Moore, “I talk to different guys on the side and talk about attention to detail.”
Moore and Cardenas join Tibet Gorener, Trey Anderson, Myron (MJ) Amey Jr. and Ibrahima Diallo as the only returners.
“Now that some of us are coming back we already know what to expect,” Moore later added, “We can help these new guys transition and make things easier like that and we can help build what we already built on last year.”
Amongst newcomers are transfers Kellen King (University of Missouri-St. Louis), Sage Tolbert III (Temple) and Robert Vaihola (Fresno State).
Vaihola will join incoming freshman Max Allen to help seven-footer Diallo attack the glass and defend a conference stacked with super bigs.
“They’re positional players, they are not big shot blockers like Ibs [Ibrahima Diallo], but they are much stronger than what he have had in the past,” said Miles.
A shot-blocking, rebound-vacuuming big was missing for much of the season with Diallo sidelined with a knee injury.
It caused severe blemishes, with wing players like Anderson having to hold their own against Mountain West behemoths David Roddy (Colorado State), Graham Ike (Wyoming) and Will Baker (Nevada).
“I think we are foundationally better at defense and rebounding and you have to be,” said Miles.
Locking down on the basics will be a significant step taken toward better basketball. Moreover, a bigger step to flooding the seats of Provident Credit Union Event Center.
“Fans need to understand, ‘You can truly make a difference in the outcome of a game,’” said Miles. “Our students can come in and create energy and create stress for the opponent.”
Miles wants fans to know they can be a part of Spartan basketball F.E.M.A. as well.
“You can take solace in knowing you’re part of that success,” said Miles.
Matt Weiner is a beat reporter for SJSU men’s basketball