The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 2/4/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Rachel Dembrun Men's head basketball coach Tim Miles directs players on the court on Nov. 14. Miles became head coach in spring 2007 and has since rebuilt the program.

His title is coach. But only until last semester has that job description been completely accurate. More appropriately, Tim Miles was an architect.

After being hired to replace Dale Layer in the spring of 2007, Miles spent his first year and a half as the CSU men's basketball coach practically rebuilding an entire program, as the turnover of players he inherited was almost comical.

Of the nine who were eligible to return for Miles' first season, only two actually did. And only one of those had any significant playing experience.

Some players transferred to play for other schools. One left a year early for the NBA. Two lost their scholarships. And the rest simply left without much notice.

As Miles described it, the team was "gutted."

Though the Rams are a mild 7-15 halfway through this, his second season, there is still a sense of accomplishment for the program - one that was felt months ago before the season's first tip-off. It was back in October, Miles says, that he was finally able to get the program "caught up" from the dismal state it was in when he arrived.

"That's 18 months, basically," he said before a practice back in November. "... I felt like we finally got caught up this October to where it finally felt like this is how we run our program. Before that, we were constantly behind, constantly scrambling, trying to recruit, trying to get our guys here in order and acclimate them to what we expect, how CSU is academically - all those sorts of things.

"It takes a long time to catch up."

Rebuilding through recruiting

The long road to recovery traveled by Miles was primarily paved through the inexact science known as recruiting, which, because of the strictly enforced guidelines of the NCAA, is tough enough under normal circumstances. The circumstances Miles endured, though, were anything but normal.

Upon his arrival to Fort Collins, Miles had but a few months to fill 10 roster spots, something that is "unheard of," according to Matt Brewer, CSU's NCAA compliance director.

Continued...

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