Mar 5, 2015 4 min read

Jon Miller’s coaching résumé has taken him to a number of winning programs to work under some of the best head coaches the WPIAL has to offer.

And now it has landed him at Trinity, where he hopes to establish the Hillers among those top programs.

Miller, 38, was hired unanimously Thursday night by the Trinity School Board to fill the district’s open head football coaching position at a salary of $7,577. He received a two-year contract and also a two-year contract to run the weight room at a $3,714 per year.

Miller replaces Ryan Coyle, who was fired in January after leading the Hillers to a 10-18 record and one playoff berth in three seasons. Trinity went 4-5 last season, including 3-5 in the Big Nine Conference.

“I just want to bring some pride and tradition back to Trinity,” said Miller, a former English teacher in the Canon-McMillan School District who currently teaches at Bethel Park. “Ryan Coyle is a great kid, and I feel bad how it happened for him. I don’t know if he deserved (firing) or not, but it is what it is. He’ll have great success later on in his career.

“We’re going to build on what he did and try to bring this community together. We want a program that we’re all proud of. We’ll coach them hard and try to have success on the field and in the classroom.”

The head coaching position is the second for Miller, a graduate of Peters Township High School and Gannon University, where he was an All-America defensive back. He previously was head coach at Moon High School (2009-10), going 3-15 before leaving to move to Florida.

Miller returned from Florida and spent the 2013 season as an assistant coach at North Hills before serving last season as an assistant under Jeff Metheny.

Prior to coaching at Moon, Miller spent one year (1998) at Erie McDowell, was an assistant at Canon-McMillan from 1999-2003 and six years at Upper St. Clair as defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach under Jim Render.

“I’m so appreciative of the guys I’ve been around,” Miller said. “Jeff Metheny is probably the hardest-working human being that I’ve ever been around. Obviously, (with) Coach Render, you’re not the best coach in the history of Western Pennsylvania for nothing. He’s just an amazing person. Pat Carey at North Hills, the traditions that they have established there and the things that he has done with Coach (Jack) McCurry, it’s going to help me here build some more tradition.”

Miller is aware of the battle that awaits him.

The Hillers had 55 players listed on their roster last season, but 20 were freshmen. The team loses 10 seniors to graduation.

“We’ve got to get people involved and excited about the program,” said Miller, who resides in North Strabane Township. “It’s a tough section. Thomas Jefferson is always going to be one of the best teams in the WPIAL. Every year is going to be exciting. They need to have a little belief in themselves.”

He believes the Hillers have the talent. They just need proper direction.

That begins at the lower levels.

“The kids are great. The kids are tough,” Miller said. “It seems to me to be a place where you can have a lot of success for a lot of years, have a lot of fun and build a sense of community. (We need to) bring the youth programs back up and get people to love football and enjoy being on top.

“Trinity is probably tired of always hearing about how good Wash High is. We want them to talk about us. We want to be on the front page. We’re not competing with them. We’re competing with Thomas Jefferson. We want to be better than the Ringgolds, better than the (Elizabeth Forwards) and to have the pride and go out and do those things and have the community support us.”