Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 13, 1995                   TAG: 9501130093
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

MILLER GETS BACK INTO THE GAME

Alyce Szathmary gave George ``Killer'' Miller a big hug before introducing him Thursday as William Fleming High School's new football coach.

``His heart was in coaching. I knew that,'' said Szathmary, William Fleming's principal. ``He sat on the sidelines and agonized. He's a born coach.''

Less than six months after stepping down as head wrestling and assistant football coach to concentrate on his duties as an assistant principal, Miller is returning to the field. Miller will keep his administrative duties, but he also will be asked to make the Colonels competitive again in Roanoke Valley District football.

Miller succeeds longtime Fleming coach Sherley Stuart, who stepped down to concentrate on his duties as the school's athletic director.

Miller, 42, talked to his wife, Eva, about doing double duty once again at Fleming.

``She asked me if I wanted to do this,'' he said. ``She knows I'm a competitor, that if we lost she'd be the only one who could stand to be around me.''

Miller, though, doesn't plan to lose. He challenged his players Thursday to work during the off-season if they hope to be successful next year.

This school year has been a difficult one for Miller as he first watched Fleming's football team and then the wrestling team compete without his guidance.

``After going through a season and having not coached for the first time in 20 years, I felt like I had handcuffs on while I was sitting in the bleachers,'' he said. ``I've been in athletics for so long, it's a part of me.

``Not being able to coach this year, I felt there was a void. When I found out that Coach Stuart was going to retire, I expressed an interest in getting back into athletics again. I mentioned this to Mrs. Szathmary. They had to contact the necessary persons [at the Roanoke city schools' central office] to make this possible.''

Miller was very precise about what he believes it will take for Fleming to challenge perennial Roanoke Valley District power Pulaski County, while addressing.

Miller addressed about athletes from the Fleming school zone attending other public and private high schools in the Roanoke Valley in recent years - the decision of some Colonels athletes to transfer to other schools in the Roanoke Valley.

``We need the people of the community to support athletics,'' he said. ``Academically, you can't go anywhere else and get a better education. We don't need any of our athletes being recruited anymore. I don't want any of our athletes approached. [If so] it will be a personal thing.''

Miller plans to retain members of Stuart's staff if they wish to stay. Fleming's top three assistant coaches during the 1994 season were defensive coordinator Keith Smith, offensive coordinator Roland Lovelace and freshman coach Alvin Graves.