ROSEMONT, Ill. — Spend a few minutes around first-year Nebraska basketball coach Tim Miles, and it's easy to understand why the freshest face in the Big Ten also happens to be the most refreshing.
Miles, 46, carries himself with the kind of enthusiasm and joyful demeanor you would expect from your favorite uncle, not a Division I coach living in a cutthroat environment that requires winning to maintain job security. That isn't to say other college basketball coaches don't have fun. Miles simply is a different breed.
Case in point: How many coaches extol the virtues of listening to Jock Jams, Volume 2 to anyone within earshot? ("A very strong CD," Miles said.)
How many coaches take a panoramic photo on their phone of reporters at an introductory Big Ten media day press conference and post it to their Twitter account for more than 30,000 followers? ("Thank God I don't judge myself on what response I'm getting on Twitter because I've bombed a whole bunch of times," Miles said.)
And how many coaches can put a genuinely positive spin on taking over a basketball program that hasn't reached the NCAA Tournament in 15 seasons and hasn't finished better than tied for fifth in league play since? ("I just look at probability," Miles said. "I mean, we haven't been there since '98. Somebody's got to put one in play. It might as well be me.")
This is the Tim Miles with whom only a portion of the country has had any familiarity in years past because Miles coached at stops that don't appear on the typical college basketball roadmaps. He has had to work his way up from the very bottom.
Miles, who grew up in South Dakota, began his coaching career as an assistant at Northern State in Aberdeen, S.D., making $3,000 a year. He remembers his mother asking then why he wanted to coach basketball.
"And I said, ‘I want to turn Notre Dame into a real basketball school,' " Miles recalled. "I thought I would like a real challenge."
Miles' first head coaching job came in 1995 at the NAIA school Mayville State in North Dakota. He moved on to Division II Southwest Minnesota State, North Dakota State and finally Division I Colorado State for five seasons, where he became best known for tweeting during halftimes of games.
Everywhere he went, Miles left the program in better shape than when he started. Colorado State was 7-25 and lost all 16 conference games in his first season in charge. The Rams finished 20-12 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season.
"I've coached places nobody has ever even heard of," Miles said. "But they're always the same challenges. I don't know that people always want to hear that, but it is. It's establishing your culture, your expectations and that discipline that goes with those things on an everyday basis."
If Nebraska players had grumblings or concerns about which man would replace Doc Sadler, who was fired as Cornhuskers coach in March, they were doused the minute they met Miles.
"It's really fun to be just involved with him, just to know him," Nebraska senior forward Brandon Ubel said. "He has an energy and an enthusiasm in just about everything that he does. The biggest thing about him is that it doesn't fade. It's the same as when I first met him as he is today, which I'm sure it will be at the end of this year."
Ubel recalled an instance this summer when he was in the athletic offices at Nebraska to talk to an assistant coach. He walked by Miles' office and heard music blaring from his computer. Miles called Ubel into his office, where the two discussed Miles' vast music collection, from country to rap to Katy Perry.
"I was in there for probably two and a half hours, just talking about all the music he has, all the music he listens to, going back and forth on the things we might like," Ubel said. "It was a cool experience. It was fun. He's the kind of guy you can just sit and talk to for a couple hours at a time and just have a good time. That's something that's big for me."
Of course, the good time will prove short-lived unless Miles can orchestrate another program turnaround.
Nebraska finished 12-18 last season and 4-14 in Big Ten play, which tied for the worst conference record. The Cornhuskers return 6-foot-10 senior forward Ubel (6.7 points, 5.3 rebounds) and guard Dylan Talley (8.9 points, 3.3 rebounds). Beyond that, seven of the team's top nine scorers from last year's team are gone, and the Cornhuskers must replace 75.7 percent of their scoring overall.
Miles also will have to compete with just eight scholarship players this season, prompting most pundits to predict yet another last place Big Ten finish.
Other coaches believe Miles possesses the right blend of optimism, vigor and coaching ability to build the program from the ground up, even if the climb may be slow.
"I've got to think just watching him right now and being with him, how could you not want to play for that guy?" said Michigan coach John Beilein, who struck up a conversation with Miles this summer because both are St. Louis Cardinals fans.
"He's got a lot of energy, and he's positive with the way he talks. … People speak very highly of him. He came up a little bit like I did, coaching at some small colleges, and has been a head coach most of his life. While that doesn't work for everybody, it's worked for him."
Without question, Miles begins the 2012-13 season on the biggest stage of his coaching career. And he understands that, in the world of top-level college basketball, being a nice guy with a fun personality only gets you so far. In order for Nebraska to be recognized beyond its coach, it will have to achieve more.
"You can tweet all you want," Miles said. "You can say all you want. You can try and be funny or put out a video, whatever. It won't matter unless we win."
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