Justi Miller - Women's Golf Coach - University of Colorado Athletics

Justi Miller

Title:
Head Coach

Justi Rae Miller is in her third year as head women's golf coach at the University of Colorado in 1996-97, handling all coaching and recruiting for CU's young squad.

Miller, 29, accepted the position on Feb. 25, 1994. She came to Colorado from her alma mater, the University of Illinois, where she spent the previous three years as assistant coach for the Fighting Illini.

As coach of the impressively successful inaugural Buffs in 1994-95, Miller turned the avoidable rookie squad tribulations into valuable learning experiences for both herself and her players, laying a firm groundwork for the future success of the program. Colorado got a taste of that success during the 1995-96 season, when Miller oversaw a team that cut nearly seven strokes off its average round (92.14 to 85.41) and quickly became a strong competitor in both conference and national tournament play. In the fall of 1996, the Buffs continued that trend, dropping their stroke average to 84.64 and setting the stage for an even more impressive spring campaign. Miller, while proud of her team's accomplishments to date, sees room for further improvement as the still-fledgling Buffaloes continue to improve.

"Our goal is clear: Top 25 in five years, top 20 in seven," Miller says. "We are in year three right now. The players are coming, the scores are dropping. Now we just have to learn and become more confident."

As a player, Miller lettered four years for coach Paula Smith at Illinois. She was named the Fighting lllini's most valuable player three times and an All-Big Ten performer as a junior and senior, when she was team captain. She also earned the George Huff Scholar-Athlete Award as a senior, and was named to Illinois' All-Decade Golf Team for the 1980s.

She learned the game from one of the best in both high school and college in Tom Wargo, who is now a member of the Senior PGA Tour. He is no doubt proud of Miller's accomplishments, as she has competed on the collegiate, national and LPGA level as an amateur. Miller advanced to the finals of the Colorado Women's State Match Play in 1994, where she lost a tight match at Thorncreek Golf Course in Thornton on the tournament's final day. Miller was also the second-low amateur at the 1994 Colorado Open and won top honors at the 1995 Colorado Women's Golf Association Mashie Championship. Miller was the Illinois Women's State Match Play runner-up in 1987 and 1988. She currently carries a one handicap.

"Golf is a sport that takes a long period of hard work and effort, many, many balls on the range and lots of time on the short game," Miller said. "Sometimes the work doesn't feel like it is paying off, and the coach is there to assure a player that it is. Patience and a belief in your ability are the keys to success."

Miller earned her bachelor's degree in kinesiology and sports psychology from Illinois in 1989, and received her J.D. degree from Illinois' College of Law in 1993. She was admitted to the Colorado Bar in October, 1993. She has a variety of experience working with three different law firms.

As an assistant under Smith at Illinois, she was primarily responsible for coaching on the course (swing technique, short game approach, course analysis, mental imagery and routine), scheduling and recruiting with the women's team, which was ranked as high as No. 2 nationally in 1992-93. At the same time, she worked two years as a graduate assistant academic advisor in the athletic department. She was responsible for hiring 200 tutors and the scheduling of those tutors with some 250 student-athletes.

Those experiences and skills will help Miller as she and the second-year Buffaloes return to the links in the spring.

"We have two goals this year. One is to average a team score of 325, which means a few 310s and occasionally 330s in bad weather conditions," Miller says of the '96- 97 squad. "If we accomplish that goal, we will finish top 30 in the country this year." "The second goal is to continue to work together as a team and support each other."

Born June 13, 1967, in Centralia, Ill., Miller graduated from Centralia High School in 1985, where she lettered in golf, basketball and track.