After more than 1,000 wins spanning 43 years as the coach of the Oregon Tech Hustlin’ Owls men’s basketball program, legendary Coach Danny Miles announced today that he will retire effective July, 2016.

A local, state and nationally recognized coach, Miles has led the Hustlin’ Owls to more wins than any men’s basketball coach in the nation, save one. His wins have not only earned him a lifetime of fans in Klamath Falls, they have also attracted national attention, with major coverage in The New York Times and Sports Illustrated in recent years. His hundreds of players over the decades, known as “Danny’s Boys,” admire their Coach as a fair and fatherly taskmaster who uses a sophisticated algorithm, called the Value Point System, to determine each game’s starters, based not just on points scored but on assists and other variables that add up to working as a team player.

“I was planning on coaching at least five more seasons, but due to some life changes I have decided to retire at the end of the 2016 season,” said Miles. “Leap years have been real good to us here at Oregon Tech (winning national titles in 2004, 2008 and 2012) and I would like to give a fourth national championship another shot. This time frame will also be much better for recruiting quality student-athletes to the program, along with the transition to a new head coach.”

No matter how you examine Coach Miles’ record, it’s stellar by any gauge: 1,004 wins, 14 conference championships, 17 national tournament appearances, 5 Final Four appearances, 4 National Finals, and 3 National Championships. And untold miles racked up across the Pacific Northwest and the nation in buses mostly and often in the type of road conditions that would intimidate the toughest long-haul truck drivers. The Hustlin’ Owls basketball team play home games in Danny Miles Court on the Oregon Tech campus, named after the Coach in 1995.

“I know I join all of the Klamath Falls fans, the Oregon Tech community, and the many current and former Danny’s Boys in feeling incredibly grateful to Coach Miles for his decades of commitment and sheer hard work,” said Oregon Tech president Chris Maples. “We will find many ways over the next two seasons to engage with everyone in Klamath Falls to find ways to honor the Coach’s legacy, and build a smooth pathway to continued success for the next coach and the many teams who will make us proud in future years.”

Maples said that he has not named a successor and will work with Coach Miles and Oregon Tech athletic director Michael Schell over the coming year to determine the best approach to appointing the campus’ first new basketball head coach in 45 years.

Miles began his collegiate coaching career in 1971 at Oregon Tech, believing he would coach the Owls for two seasons before moving on to a coaching career in college football. Miles now has 43 years under his belt, all at Oregon Tech. On February, 1st of 2014 Miles became just the second men’s coach at a four-year university to reach the 1,000 win plateau, and will have now have two more seasons to add to his overall mark of 1,004 career wins.

In addition to being named NAIA National Basketball Coach of the Year in 2004 and 2008, Miles was awarded the National Association of Basketball Coaches Coach of the Year in 2012 and was named the national winner of NAIA’s Champion of Character award for all sports in 2009. Miles was also honored as A.T. Slats Gill All-Sports Coach of the Year (2004) and has been named Conference All-Sport Coach of the Year on four occasions. In 2013 Miles earned the DNA Award at the Oregon Sports Award show, while receiving the 2013 Guardians of the Game Pillar Award for Advocacy from the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). Nominated in 2013, Miles is currently a Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame nominee.

During his tenure at Tech the versatile Miles was an assistant coach in the Tech football program and head coach of the baseball and softball teams. On four occasions, his baseball teams finished in the top three in District II. In ten years with the Oregon Tech softball program Tech won six conference championships including one trip to the NAIA Softball World Series.

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