McConnell-Miller leaves Trinity for junior college
Trinity High School athletic director Ricci Rich knew there would be a day when he’d have to begin searching for a replacement to Hillers girls basketball coach Kathy McConnell-Miller. After all, coaches with experience as a head coach at the Division I college level typically don’t stick around at a high school job very long.
Rich, however, didn’t expect that search to begin next week.
McConnell-Miller, who guided Trinity to a 42-7 record, two trips to the WPIAL Class 5A finals and one berth in the state tournament in two seasons with the Hillers, has resigned as coach. She was hired Thursday as the head women’s basketball coach at Gulf Coast State College, a junior college located in Panama City, Fla.
“I did not see this coming,” Rich said. “I knew we wouldn’t be able to keep her forever because her ability is so above our level. I was just hoping we’d be able to keep her a little longer.”
McConnell-Miller did a marvelous job at Trinity, taking a solid program and transitioning it into an elite one by changing the Hillers’ style of play. Under McConnell-Miller, Trinity became a fast-paced, running and full-court-pressing unit.
In her first season, McConnell-Miller guided Trinity to a 21-5 record. The Hillers advanced to the WPIAL title game, losing to Chartiers Valley, which is coached by McConnell-Miller’s brother, Tim McConnell. In the state tournament, Trinity defeated Penn Hills and Great Valley before the season was shut down because of the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This past season, Trinity rolled to the Section 3 championship, winning all 12 league games. They returned to the WPIAL title game, losing again to Chartiers Valley. Only district champions advanced to the state tournament this year and the Hillers’ season ended with a 21-2 record.
The biggest win of the 2020-21 season was a 49-42 victory over Chartiers Valley in January, which ended the Colts’ state-record 64-game winning streak.
Four of the seniors on the 2020-21 team will be playing college basketball, including Courtney Dahlquist, the Observer-Reporter Player of the Year. Dahlquist will be playing at Campbell University.
“We will start a search next week,” Rich said. “The program is in good shape compared to when it was opened two years ago. We have good numbers all the way through the program. It’s a more appealing job because of what Kathy did. The situation we’re in bodes well for a coach to walk into. The kids have the work ethic.”
McConnell-Miller is a former college head coach at Colorado and Tulsa. She also served as an assistant at Pitt, Illinois and Rutgers and in the WNBA.
“She made an impact on the whole school,” Rich said. “Her initiatives, her personality, the college atmosphere that she brought to the program, how they did things at that level they did here, she did a lot of things for us.
“We knew this day was coming. We just wanted to hold on to a good thing for a while longer.”
McConnell-Miller was hired after Bob Miles, who had his job opened as the Hillers’ head coach. Miles coached Trinity to the PIAA title game in 2017. He is currently the head coach at Peters Township.