Wesley Miller is in his fifth season with the Northwestern State track and field coaching staff. The San Antonio native joined the NSU staff in the 2011-12 season as a graduate assistant in charge of jumps before becoming an assistant coach the next season, adding the combined events to his duties.
In his short time with NSU, Miller helped mold the Demon and Lady Demon jumpers into a formidable force in the Southland Conference. He’s guided two NCAA All-Americans, 11 Southland Conference champions, seven SLC runner-ups, 10 third-place finishers and 28 All-SLC performers.
The Southland Conference titles ended a 6-year drought in jumping event titles. During the past three seasons, no program has had more combined male and female jumps titles or total points in the league.
He produced NSU’s first Indoor All-American (in jumps or overall) in a decade with a fourth-place finish in the men’s long jump (Emmanuel Williams) at the 2014 National Championships, before adding another Indoor All-American in 2015 in the triple jump (Aaron Williams).
He has also coached 12 NCAA East Regional qualifiers, including eight in the triple jump and four in the long jump.
Triple jumpers under Miller’s guidance have improved an average of 3 feet, 5.5 inches during their time with his program and an average of 1 foot, 6.5 inches in the long jump. These improvements helped NSU lead the country in 2013 in the men’s triple jump as the only Division 1 program in the country with three male triple jumpers over the 50-foot barrier. This development also resulted in 59 individual top-10 finishes in SLC Championships, including 31 in the triple jump, in his three seasons.
Miller is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist through the NSCA, and has obtained USATF Level 1 Certification. He also holds his USTFCCCA Jumps Specialist and Combined Events Specialist Certifications. Miller was invited among coaches nationwide to attend the USATF Emerging Elite Coaches Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA, led by USATF jumps coach Jeremy Fischer.
The 2015 season proved to be dominant for NSU’s jumpers, both in national and conference standings. Indoors, Aaron Williams captured the SLC long & triple titles posting season bests of 24’ 7.5” and 52’ 4.5” respectively, while teammate ZhaQuan Porter finished third in the triple jump (49’ 1”).
Williams earned the honor of 2015 SLC Men’s Indoor Field Events Athlete of the Year along with a trip to Indoor Nationals in the triple jump, where he finished 14th in the country as an All-American. Lawrence Wallace also performed big producing a third-place finish in the men’s high jump.
The Lady Demons also jumped well indoors, finishing first (Porsha Thomas) & third (Breann Denson) in the triple jump at the SLC Indoor Championships.
In the 2015 outdoor season, with Aaron Williams and Porter redshirting, teammate Emmanuel Williams (who redshirted ‘14 Outdoor & ‘15 Indoor) picked up where his brother left off, winning the 2015 Southland Conference Men’s Outdoor Outstanding Field Events Performer of the Year.
Emmanuel won the long and triple jumps, posting season bests of 25’ 6.75’ and 50’ 11”. Thomas also won her fourth-straight triple jump title, posting a season best mark of 42’6.25” (ranked second all-time at NSU), while Denson finished second with a mark of 40’ 11.5” (ranked fifth all-time at NSU).
Miller also successfully brought back the multi events to NSU, including guiding Tanner Owens to a sixth-place finish in the decathlon as a freshman, the first points scored for NSU in a decathlon in over 15 years.
He also guided Aaron Williams to a 16-meter triple jump performance (52’ 6”) while competing unattached.
The 2014 season saw a resurgence in the Demon jump tradition with Emmanuel Williams securing First-Team All-American honors with a fourth-place finish at the Indoor National Championships.
He was also the first Demon since USA Olympian Kenta Bell in 1998 and 2000 to pull off the long and triple jump double at the Southland Indoors, posting marks of 25’ 7.25” (best mark in the SLC indoors since 1991) and 50’ 4.75” respectively.
NSU also had its first men’s and women’s double triple jump conference champions since 2000, repeating again in the 2015 indoor and outdoor seasons. High jumper Quinton Helaire also contributed, finishing third with a 6’ 8” clearance. Lady Demon Porsha Thomas won the SLC indoor title in the triple jump with teammate Taylor Walker finishing second.
The 2014 outdoor season saw a season-best mark in the women’s long jump by Kenyah McDaniels with a jump of 20’ 5.25” (ranked second all-time at NSU). Miller also guided the Demons and Lady Demons to three podium finishes at the conference championships, including the men’s long (third) and triple jumps (second), and the women’s triple jump title (first).
The 2013 campaign was NSU’s first full season with Miller at the helm. Indoors saw multiple All-SLC performances, including the first jumping event title in over six years.
He guided Jerrica Tillery to the gold in the triple jump with a mark of 40’ 2.25”, along with a podium finish in the high jump (third). Emmanuel Williams finished third in the men’s long jump (24’ 1”) with teammate Reginald Douglas placing second in the men’s triple jump (50’ 11”).
In the outdoor campaign, the jumps group enjoyed continued success, tallying five medals and dominating the horizontal jumps. The Lady Demons finished second (Sarah Jones) and third (Porsha Thomas) in the long jump.
In the triple jump, the women finished in the second (Tillery), third (Jones), and fifth (Thomas). The men also experienced success with third-place (Aaron Williams), fifth-place (Emmanuel Williams), and seventh-place (Porter) showings.
Additionally, Miller has coached eight Athletes to the All-Louisiana Collegiate Track & Field Team, voted on by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association, along with 10 Southland Conference Athlete of the Week honors.
Miller relentlessly recruits local Louisiana talent, athletes from Texas, other regional states, and junior colleges across the country. His focus is improving the depth and quality of the jumps program, while also recruiting and developing the combined events.
Prior to joining the Northwestern State staff, Miller was the head track and field and cross country coach at San Antonio Christian Middle School from 2008-2010.
During his time with the Lions, Miller coached his teams to three Independent Schools Athletic League Track and Field Championships in girls’ and boys’ 6th-8th grade divisions and one boys ISAL Cross-Country Championship in 2010. His student-athletes registered 73 podium finishes, including 24 event titles, at ISAL Championships and set 21 new records in three seasons.
A 2011 graduate of Texas-San Antonio, Miller received his Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology.
Miller is married to Kyle Zambrana of San Antonio. She is a physical education teacher at Lakeview High School. They are expecting their first child this December.
