UNC Associate Athletic Communications Director, Retired
Dr. Beth Miller has worn many hats at Carolina: coach, administrator, fan, teacher, SWA, mentor, friend. As we celebrate a half century of women's sports at Carolina, we reflect on her many roles and duties during her five decades in Chapel Hill—from head coach of the volleyball team, to 30 years overseeing UNC's Olympic sports program, to being named the first Senior Woman Administrator in Chapel Hill.
"Dr. Miller undoubtedly left a mark on Carolina volleyball, and Carolina athletics as a whole," said Joe Sagula, current head coach of Carolina volleyball. "The program I took over, and its success, is due in large part to the foundation that Beth built. Her passion for Carolina and student-athletes, and her unwavering support for women's sports is truly special, and her legacy will always be a part of this program—and this department."
Volleyball, one of the original seven varsity sports designated in the fall of 1971 by the Department of Health and Physical Education at Carolina, is a big reason Miller came to Chapel Hill. She was hired in 1974, the same year the athletic department took over supervision of women's varsity athletics.
One of three professors recruited to teach in health and physical education by longtime department chair, Dr. Carl Blyth, Miller was named a professor at Carolina and also assigned to be an assistant coach for the volleyball team (then coached by Mary Frances Branch), and the basketball team coached by Angela Lumpkin.
"Dr. Blyth was looking to bring in women with doctorate degrees for the department, and I was fortunate to come in at the same time with two other very qualified women who would also be assigned coaching duties," Dr. Miller recalls.
Blyth, who had the foresight to bring in three great female faculty members, was crucial in creating the foundation for women's varsity sports in their earliest days and would ensure their success as they transferred to the Department of Athletics.
Miller, who describes herself as a "generalist," taught methods of education and teaching and initially had the two assistant coaching assignments. That early on, Miller probably had little clue the ultimate direction her career trajectory would lead.
Within a year of arriving at Carolina, in 1975, Miller was promoted to the head volleyball coaching position after Mary Frances Branch retired to concentrate on her teaching duties as a professor. Miller led the volleyball program to great success, including three trips to the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national tournament and two trips to the NCAA Tournament in nine seasons as head coach.
Under Miller's leadership, Carolina captured the first four ACC championships ever awarded in volleyball, winning in four straight seasons from 1980-83.
Donna Gutterman was one of the key players for Miller in the early years of her coaching career. She played volleyball for Miller at Carolina from 1974-77 and went on to earn her pharmacy degree in 1979.
In the fall of 1977, Gutterman was the co-recipient of the first athletic scholarship given to a volleyball player, sharing the grant with an incoming freshman. Her love of Carolina, and her generosity, have continued through the years as she has endowed a volleyball scholarship through the Educational Foundation and was a major contributor to the Dr. Beth Miller Volleyball Team Room in Carmichael Arena.
"I have so many fond memories of Dr. Miller and my time being one of her student-athletes at Carolina," Gutterman said. "Her preparedness and organization were paramount. She was relentless in the pursuit of making sure we were prepared for everything that we faced—on and off the court—and everyone appreciated her unending resolve to make us better."
As Gutterman was graduating, Miller's career was evolving and heading in many different directions at a rapid pace.
In 1978-79, athletic director Bill Cobey asked Miller to become the head softball coach. To handle two varsity sports at the same time, she gave up teaching in the department. Just a year later, the department's business manager, John Swofford (yes, that one) moved to a position in the Rams Club, and Cobey asked her to become the department's business manager, a post she held until 1987.
Though she gave up softball coaching at that time, she continued to coach the volleyball program through the 1983 season, wearing many hats at the same time to ensure success for her student-athletes and the Carolina athletic department.
Taking over as business manager, Miller never forgot her roots with the volleyball program. Her many memories of what it was like to compete and to survive in the early days of varsity women's athletics at the University is a glimpse of different time.
"I look at where our volleyball program is now and it's fascinating to think of how much growth there has been through the years," she said. "When I arrived we had a very limited budget. We made no overnight trips. Then, when we started to travel more, we would bunk four to five to a hotel room and we would travel solely by van."
Miller recalled driving only one 15 passenger van to road trips to save money and sharing uniforms and travel bags between both the volleyball and basketball teams to keep costs down. That has since changed, due in part to a crucial partnership with Nike.
"Now we can do so much more for our student-athletes," she said, "The Nike agreement for the department in the early 1990s was a key part of that."
That Nike partnership, of course, had much to do with what Dean Smith accomplished for the program. And it is not the only time Smith helped the volleyball program move forward.
When Miller first arrived Carolina, the squad practiced and played in the Women's Gym (now the Stallings Evans Sports Medicine Building). To practice and play in Carmichael Auditorium, home to men's basketball at the time, volleyball had to put up its own nets and anchor them for every event.
Miller wrote to Cobey and asked if floor plates could be installed in Carmichael to make the process easier.
"We had done our research knew the plates to anchor the nets could be installed without affecting the floor in an adverse way, so Cobey approached Coach Smith," Miller says. "Coach Smith's reply was do whatever was best for the volleyball program. He was always first class. He thought about the overall program first and foremost."
When women's sports came under the purview of the NCAA in 1981, Miller was named Carolina's Senior Woman Administrator, a title she held until her retirement in 2015—well over three decades. She is one of only three women to hold that post in Carolina history.
The NCAA's intent with the SWA position was to include more women in administration, and that certainly was Miller's strength.
Larry Gallo, current Executive Associate Athletic Director at Carolina, worked with Miller for almost all of her time as SWA.
"Beth is an incredible leader and friend," Gallo said. "She has been a major part of the success at Carolina—both with student-athletes and across the entire department. She has set the gold standard for SWAs across the country and has been recognized for it. It's been a privilege to work with her."
In 1984, she handed over the coaching reins of the volleyball team to focus on administration. In 1985, she was named the assistant athletic director for all Olympic sports, overseeing 24 of the 26 sports teams at the University at the time. Miller took over the women's sports from her retiring colleague Frances Hogan, and the men's teams from John Lotz.
"I always think about the championships of those 30 years in women's soccer, field hockey and of course the last-second win in basketball in 1994," Miller says of those three decades. "But in reality, some of the best memories involve seeing the coaches and student-athletes grow in their time at Carolina, seeing how they matured as players and people. I still hear from a lot of them after they have left Carolina, and keeping in touch with them and knowing what they have accomplished in life comprise lasting impressions that more than anything mark my tenure at Carolina."
Miller's successors with the volleyball program went on to great heights as well. Peggy Bradley-Doppes coached the team for six seasons from 1984-89, winning ACC championships her last two years before moving to coach at the University of Michigan, then shifting her career to administration with a long tenure as the athletic director at the University of Denver.
Then, there was Joe. Joe Sagula was hired as the volleyball coach in 1990, taking over the Tar Heel program after a stint at the University of Pennsylvania. He has been here ever since.
"When we hired him, it was clear to me that Joe cared deeply about his student-athletes," Miller says. "He was knowledgeable and had great expertise. I felt he was a great fit with the philosophy and the priorities in the athletic program at North Carolina."
That certainly has been true, as Sagula has led UNC to seven ACC championships and 14 NCAA Tournament bids in his tenure in Chapel Hill. He has enabled the program to stay at the high level initially established by Miller in the 1970s.
"We wouldn't be here without Dr. Miller," Sagula said. "We are still so grateful for her guidance—even in her retirement—and I'm so proud to call her a friend and colleague to this day."
Although years into her well-deserved retirement, Miller still can be seen at many Olympic sports events across campus. She is still active in Chapel Hill, always available to lend a hand, offer a piece of advice, or just give a round of applause for current teams, student-athletes and staff.
Wearing many hats over five decades is not easy: coach, administrator, fan, teacher, SWA, mentor, friend.
But, Dr. Beth Miller can wear them all.
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50 YEARS—Wearing Many Hats: Beth Miller, Volleyball And The Carolina Success Story - University of North Carolina Athletics - UNC Athletics
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