In a last-minute decision this summer, Siena College’s head cross country and track and field coach left for a job in Rhode Island. But as WAMC reports, it’s giving a Siena graduate a shot at the top job.
The Saints prepare all summer to run their best time of the season at the end of October. From long, hot runs to speed work and cross training, the student-athletes dedicate hundreds of hours over three months. But as the Saints were getting ready for the start of the season, they learned Nick Miller, formerly the team’s assistant coach, would be taking over.
If you ask the Saints, he didn’t miss a beat.
Miller was preparing for his seventh season at his alma mater when he got the news that John Kenworthy was leaving for Brown University.
Kenworthy says Miller’s knowledge and experience with the team has prepared him.
“I think the best part about Nick having this opportunity is that he’s been learning and growing for a long time. He has a foundation at Siena that is really stable,” he said. “He built a lot of the initial steps and initial progress with me as an athlete and then he’s been growing as a coach and as a mentor, as someone who can run this program at a really high level. So, I think he offers some unique things that I wouldn’t from an alumni standpoint, from an experience standpoint.”
Miller, a former Saints standout, is working to make the most of the opportunity.
As assistant coach, Miller often ran with the women, which he says helped him connect with the team. In his new position he knows the administrative side will take the away from time out on the road or trails with the team, but hopes the Saints know he is working to build relationships with them.
“I know that they'll come over the course of many hour-runs, out on the roads or doing a long run,” Miller said. “But I think, fortunately, there's a lot of older girls on the team that I have good relationships with. And my hope is just that, that they see us interact in a way that maybe surprises them. As far as like an athlete-coach relationship is, you know, I’m not some scary dude who sits in his office all day.”
Miller says while he has a stronger bond with the women’s team, he doesn’t worry about the men’s team feeling disconnected.
“I was a college boy, you know, I know what they're going through, I, you know, the, the conversations are still the same, the jokes are still the same,” Miller said.
He says the men view him differently because of his time as a competitor himself.
“The boys I think is a little easier, just because, you know, when they look through record books or whatever, like, my name pops up there,” Miller said. “And it's something that's like relevant to them and they have a tangible view of me as a runner, rather than where the girls are just like, this is just some guy who works here.”
Last cross-country season, the program had its first champion in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, fifth-year Olivia Lomascolo. On the men’s side, Brandon Olden, a senior, placed fourth at the same meet. Both teams snagged second place.
Miller wants to build on that success.
“I still want to be myself. And I think the only way that I can do this successfully and the reason I was successful as an assistant coach is because I tried to be as authentically myself as I could, while also doing the job to the best of my ability. So, John and I are different people with similar goals for the program. So, I think my leadership comes from a different place of like, where he was building something and did some things or would conduct himself in a way that, you know, he was building something from being a you know, he showed up as a 25-year-old and had to act a little different.”
Kyra Pellegrino, a first-year student, says coaches played a part in her decision to run for Siena. She was shocked to learn Kenworthy had taken another position.
“I didn’t think it was real,” Pellegrino said. “I thought everyone was like joking around, you know? And then I came on campus and it was real, but I feel like Dylan and Nick do, like, such a great job. I don’t know what it was like beforehand but like right now it’s really good.”
Dylan Brickner, who worked as the strength coach for Nazareth College’s cross country and track program, has joined as a part-time assistant.
Brickner, a former runner at SUNY Brockport, also worked as the Manager of Operations and Strength Coach at Next Level Strength and Conditioning in Fairport and served as Head Strength Coach for Empire Track Club, an elite distance track team in New York City.
“Although I'm not working every day, in the gym, like in the strength and conditioning facility, like I have been for the last four plus years, it has felt pretty natural just to transition into purely a running role,” Brickner said. “And I think here with the program at Siena, like a large part of what I do as the assistant coach is, managing a lot of like the ancillary stuff that we do so like, and programming and coaching in the weight room still, all of the extra routines that we do warmups cooldowns, like all of that is, is still largely through me. So, I'm in a fortunate and unique situation where I get to kind of blend two of my passions between running and strength and conditioning.”
Brickner is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and has worked with high school and college athletes privately.
Sophomore Jayson Chichelli trained under Kenworthy last year. He says the team’s reaction to Kenworthy’s departure reassured him that he made the right choice in choosing Siena.
“Our team chemistry is the best it’s ever been,” Chichelli said. “We’re all, I feel closer with everyone.”
Chichelli says he is looking forward to a successful season under Miller and Brickner.
“The team’s heading in the right direction,” Chichelli said. “Everyone’s happy, everyone’s putting in the work that we normally put in. Some minor tweaks to some end of the end of the year type of stuff. A little bit more volume within workouts and Siena should be able to show off at the conference and regional level.”
Siena will compete in the MAAC Championship at Twin Ponds on the Farm in Montgomery on October 28.
