George Rogers Clark welcomes the new boys and girls head soccer coaches. Renny Ross was hired as the boys head coach and Marc Miller was hired as the girls head coach.
Miller is a Clark County native who went to GRC. He was a four-year varsity starter on the boys soccer team and a four-year varsity basketball player. He helped lead the boys soccer team to a state final in the 2007-2008 season where they finished as state runner-up. That huge accomplishment has given him confidence and motivation moving forward into this upcoming high school season in the fall.
“Making that run to the state final showed me the standard it takes to reach that level,” said Miller. “The discipline, the resilience, the commitment and the sacrifice, it all shaped who I am today, not just as a player, but as a coach. Now I carry those lessons with me every day.”
Ross is from Baltimore, Ohio, where he went to Liberty Union-Thurston High School. He played soccer, baseball, and basketball for all four years in high school. He committed to Berea College to play soccer and baseball. After graduating college in 2000, he began his coaching career. He started as an assistant coach at Berea High School. Two seasons later, he was hired as the varsity head coach in 2002 and coached there until 2005, leading the team to two regional tournament appearances. He plans on using his past experience as a head coach to help him in this upcoming season.
“My past experience as a head coach helped to teach me the importance of team”, said Ross. “When a group of players believe in the process and in each other and buy into being a team, they can achieve more than they could think or imagine.”
From 2008-2011, Miller furthered his athletic career playing collegiate soccer at the University of the Cumberlands and later transferred to Union College. He played semi-professional soccer at the USL level for the Cincinnati Kings and Baton Rouge Capitals. Miller is the founder of Millatime Kickz, a soccer training program where he has trained many athletes throughout the region. He has big plans to help his players have the same opportunities to play at the next level.
“My goal is to develop our players in a way that prepares them for the next level both on and off the field,” said Miller. “College coaches look for players who are reliable, players who train hard, show up on time, and compete every day. We’re going to build those habits so it becomes part of who they are.I’ll also help guide players through the recruiting process, from creating highlight film, to reaching out to coaches using my connections and understanding what opportunities fit them best.”
After moving to Winchester in 2015 to plant Oasis Foursquare Church with his wife, Rachel, he began his Clark County coaching career. He has been the RDC middle school boys soccer head coach for the last nine years and has been on the GRC boys soccer staff for eight years. He plans to continue setting the foundation for his players at the middle school level so that they are ready to go once high school comes around.
“Over the past eight years, I have been the JV [junior varsity] coach and had several of our middle school players play JV while still at RDC or transition into GRC as freshman and been successful,” said Ross. “We will continue to encourage GRC players to be a part of the RDC program as student managers to help with the transition.”
