Ira Miller returned to Yeshiva University, this time as head coach of the women's tennis team, in July of 2023.
No stranger to YU, Miller served as head coach of Maccabees men's tennis program in 2014 and led Yeshiva to the Skyline Conference Championship and its first ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament in school history.
One of the most successful college tennis coaches in the east, Miller previously served as head coach of the NCAA Division I New Jersey Institute of Technology men's tennis program from 2014 until 2021. He also coached the women's team at NJIT from 2014 until 2017.
Miller led the Highlanders women's program to its first ever appearance in the ASUN Conference Tournament in 2015 and then the team's first postseason victory the following season. On the men's side, Miller guided NJIT to its first ever berth in the ASUN Postseason after winning nine matches that year.
Since his time at NJIT, Miller served as the volunteer men's tennis coach at Army in the spring of 2023.
Yeshiva Women’s Tennis has thrived under Miller’s watch, seeing success both on and off the field. Over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, the Maccabees advanced to the Skyline Conference Playoffs, making it to the Semifinals on both occasions. On top of their team accolades, the Macs have been accomplished on an individual level under Miller. One player has been named First-Team All Skyline, while three have been named Second-Team All Skyline. Academic achievements have come as well, with the team earning back-to-back ITA All-Academic Team Honors, while 20 athletes have been named ITA Scholar Athletes.
Miller began his college coaching in 1985 at NCAA Division I Fairleigh Dickinson University and he guided programs there in three separate stints (1985-88, 1994-98, and 2005-12). He coached Drew University from 1998 through 2005.
At FDU, he won Northeast Conference men's titles in 1988, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2007, 2008, and 2012 and women's NEC titles in 1987 and 2012.
Miller was selected as NEC Coach of the Year in men's tennis seven times and was NEC Coach of the Year in women's tennis three times.
In 2012, Miller was voted as ITA (Intercollegiate Tennis Association) Northeast Region Coach of the Year for women's tennis.
Miller led FDU teams into the NCAA Division I tournament three times with the men (2007, 2008, and 2012) and the steered the Knights women's program into the 2012 NCAA Postseason. His 1996 FDU team was Eastern College Athletic Conference South Champions.
In Miller's seven-year tenure at Drew University, he led teams to seven Freedom Conference Championships, winning five in a row with the men (2001 to 2005) and two in a row with the women in 2004 and 2005. He was Freedom Conference Coach of the Year six times, five for the men (2001-05) and once for the women (2003).
Miller was inducted into the Fairleigh Dickinson University Hall of Fame in 2004 and into the Drew Hall of Fame in 2011 as coach of the school's 2001 championship team.
Coupled with the stream of success in competition, his teams have excelled as students, earning a total of 45 team academic awards from the ITA, which is the governing body of college tennis. His players have earned 159 ITA Scholar-Athlete awards as individuals.
His coaching extends outside the college ranks as well. In the 2023 Pan American Maccabi Games in Argentina, Miller was named coach for the United States Open Tennis Team. In the summer of 2022, he was the U18 USA tennis coach for the World Maccabiah Games in Israel. The team won gold and silver in girls singles, gold in girls doubles, and silver in mixed doubles. In United States Tennis Association (USTA) competition, he guided girls and boys age group 16 teams to a gold medal in 2006 and was the recipient of the 2006 ITA/USTA Eastern Section Campus Recreation Award. He also coached the United States boys and girls national teams in the 1999 Pan American Maccabi Games in Mexico City.
Miller, a cum laude graduate (B.A.) of Clark University and The American Film Institute (MFA), played four years on the varsity at Clark and was a team captain as a senior.
