Gray-Miller Focused on ‘winning the day’ as Texas Tech interim coach
Shimmy Gray-Miller has a contact list on her phone filled with coaches and athletic directors. She has a résumé on her computer waiting to be emailed at any time.
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But Gray-Miller hasn’t given a second thought about trying to find another job.
Gray-Miller was named the interim head coach at Texas Tech on New Year’s Day after Candi Whitaker was fired.
There is a chance Gray-Miller could be retained on staff when a new head coach is hired, but the odds aren’t stacked in her favor.
She’s been around long enough to know how it works.
But trying to help herself isn’t something Gray-Miller is concerned about right now. She’s got 14 people she cares more about.
“I can’t sit here and think about my plans in two months because it’s not about me, it’s about what I can do the help these kids get better today and help them learn valuable life lessons about dealing with adversity,” Gray-Miller said. “This is about a wonderful opportunity to help teach young women and do everything I can to help them salvage what is left of the season.”
The last year of Gray-Miller’s life embodies the transient nature of college coaching. By the time this season ends, she will likely be unemployed for the second time in 11 months.
Gray-Miller was on Florida’s staff for two years until head coach Amanda Butler was fired last March.
She joined the Texas Tech staff in April, yet stability didn’t last very long.
“This is my 19th year of college coaching, including one year at a junior college, and this is the craziest year I’ve ever experienced,” Gray-Miller said. “I’ve gone through so many tough things like a player having a heart attack at Washington and pregnancies at other places. I’ve gone through a lot, but this has been a really crazy year.”
Once Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt decided to make a change, he called Gray-Miller into his office and asked her to take over on an interim basis. He told Gray-Miller he wanted to see the players competing harder and feeling good about themselves again.
Gray-Miller and the remaining staff, which includes Texas Tech legend Sheryl Swoopes, knew they couldn’t make wholesale roster changes. They had to begin by changing the culture.
They wanted more energy at practices. They wanted players cheering from the bench and diving for loose balls on the floor. They wanted passion. They wanted fun.
“I give the players all the credit in the world. We’ve been asking them to do something that some of them hadn’t done since they have been at Texas Tech, and that is to play hard and be accountable for themselves and one another and to be disciplined,” Gray-Miller said. “That might seem like common sense for a basketball team at the Division I level, but really it hasn’t been the standard expectation here.”