Dec 10, 2019 3 min read

Bob Miles casually sat on his thickly padded seat while watching warmups Monday night at Hiller Hall.

With Miles sitting on the same side of the court that the Trinity girls basketball team used while going through its pregame drills, one player after another approached him.

At the beginning of the summer, those same Trinity players were Miles’ players. That was until the Trinity school board opened up his coaching position after seven seasons, including the last six when he coached the Hillers to WPIAL and PIAA playoff appearances.

When Miles walked into Hiller Hall Monday, he was on the opposite end of the sideline, as an assistant coach for Peters Township.

“There was some excitement,” Miles said of the game. “It’s still the same gym, I was just sitting on the opposite end. I wish those kids nothing but the best of luck. They were so supportive to me.”

Miles had a 123-56 record as the head coach at Trinity and was the first to guide a girls basketball team from Washington County to a state basketball championship game. The Hillers lost to Archbishop Wood in the PIAA Class 5A title game in 2017.

Miles was hired at Peters Township in October but began working with coach Bert Kendall and the Indians, the defending PIAA Class 6A champions, the night of his interview to get his coaching job back at Trinity.

“Whenever I coached against Bert the games were always competitive,” Miles said. “I liked the way he handled himself. I liked the way his teams performed. He’s given me the opportunity to coach, not just be a figurehead.”

Multiple area teams reached out to Miles to join their coaching staffs, including a few within Trinity’s section. He didn’t want to remain in the same section as the Hillers.

Kendall said that after winning a state title last year, he and assistants Katie Kendall and Samantha Loadman agreed to add to their staff.

“After every year we talk about what we can do better,” Kendall said. “We didn’t want to rest on our laurels with last year’s run.

“In business and in basketball, anything I’ve ever done really, I’ve always felt you have to surround yourself with the best people,” Kendall continued. “When there was an opportunity to pick up somebody with a great track record that Bob had it was a no-brainer. I gained so much admiration in coaching against him that we didn’t hesitate.”

Kendall called Miles after he heard that his position had been opened in August.

The Trinity school board discussed opening the position at a meeting months earlier but multiple Trinity players attended and spoke on Miles’ behalf. Two months later, with a board not in full attendance and the same night the girls basketball team was setting up for its annual golf outing fundraiser, Miles’ position was opened.

Peters Township is 1-2 after losing to Trinity, 66-53. A young team with only two starters back from last season, the Indians begin Class 6A Section 2 play Thursday night when they host Baldwin.

“I love it. I really do,” Miles said. “It’s a totally different atmosphere as an assistant. You don’t have to worry about if parents are unhappy or any of that. I enjoy being an assistant. I sometimes miss having control during situations in the game. It’s Bert’s team. That is the way it should be.”