North Carolina State University Athletics
ATHLETIC ACHIEVERS: Archie Miller, Levi Watkins
7/12/2005 12:00:00 AM | Pack Athletics
July 12, 2005
• The fourth in an occasional series of former Wolfpack athletes who have worked their way up to other top jobs in college and professional athletics, either in coaching, administration or some other facet of operations.
BY Tim Peeler
RALEIGH -- During his career as a basketball coach, Herb Sendek has had a knack for grooming his assistant coaches for bigger and better opportunities. Six of his former assistant coaches are now head coaches on the Division I level, which is more than any other current coach in the ACC.
So it's no wonder that two of his recent former NC State players - Archie Miller and Levi Watkins - jumped at the opportunity to work for their alma mater and their former coach.
In the case of Miller, becoming a basketball coach was almost preordained in the womb. His father, John Miller, is a successful coach at Blackhawk High School in Beaver Falls, Pa., and his older brother Sean, another of Sendek's former assistants, is heading into his second year as the head coach at Xavier.
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So, even though he was just recently promoted from director of basketball operations to a full-time assistant when Larry Hunter left to become the head coach at Western Carolina, Miller isn't exactly a new face.
"He's been here eight seasons of our 10 year at the school," Sendek said. "In many ways, he's not new. He knows our system as well as anybody. He's the son of a coach. He has been in gymnasiums all his life. He has a great feel for the game. I think he is going to be a great recruiter. He has a great passion for that part of the game. He relates to our players exceptionally well. He's been there done that. I think it is really good for our program at this time to be able to have a former player on the staff."
"I am really excited about having him with us."
 Watkins joined the staff two days after earning his degree in business administration  |
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"In the back of my mind, I always knew that when I was done playing, I wanted to always be a part of basketball, either in coaching or in any other way that I could," said Watkins, who earned his Business Management degree in four years. "I talked to coach Sendek right after the season was over about me getting into coaching. He said he would do anything for me, to find a place for me.
"I told him I would love to stay here and learn from him. I already knew he was a great teacher from the players' standpoint. I knew how organized he is and how he prepares for anything he does in life. I told him for my first year here I would love to be at NC State. I am already familiar with it. I was ecstatic to learn that I have the opportunity to come here and be a part of the staff."
Sendek gave Watkins all of one day off after graduation in May before the former player started work with the program. That was fine with Watkins, who Sendek has often lauded for his outstanding work ethic.
"That's how I try to live my life, in all aspects, whether it is school work or anything I do," Watkins said. "That mentality was instilled in me by my mother, Shelia Brown. Now that I am working, I have the same attitude I always took when I was rehabbing: work hard and get the job done."
Watkins' job is mostly administrative, but he is looking forward to learning about the game from a coach's, rather than a player's, point of view. He's already learned plenty about long work days, and Sendek's demanding schedule. Miller assures him that he will learn even more about that when practice begins full throttle in October.
But Watkins believes he's up for the challenge.
"Obviously, Levi is not able to coach, given his position with us," Sendek said. "But it is great to have another former player on staff in an administrative role."
That's how Miller - who graduated in 2002 with a B.S. in Parks, Recreation and Tourism - got his post-playing start by spending a year as a graduate assistant for the Wolfpack following his five years a player. He then went to Western Kentucky as a full-time assistant for a season. But his life turned around a bit when Sean Miller became the head coach at Xavier.
The plan was for Sean to hire Archie as a full-time assistant. Archie was making his way off the recruiting trail to join the Musketeers when Sean called him with a slight catch in his voice. He had to tell his younger brother that Xavier's nepotism policies prevented him from hiring a family member for his staff.
"It was a setback," Miller said. "But it also ended up being the opportunity for me to come back here, oddly enough."
That's because Sean Miller hired former Wolfpack director of basketball operations Kenya Hunter as an assistant coach at Xavier. Sendek quickly offered that position to Archie Miller, who accepted quickly.
"NC State is always the place I wanted to be," Archie said. "If you look down the road in the future when you are just starting out, if there was any job you could have, this would be it for me.
"Working for my brother was something I wanted to do for a long time, but there are no guarantees that I will ever be able to do that. Besides, my interest really was to come back here."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
