Jason Miller joined the United States Merchant Marine Academy staff in October of 2022, bringing over 30 years of college lacrosse coaching experience to the Academy. He will serve as a Sports Specialist in the Physical Education and Athletic Department and coach the Mariners’ defense and goalies.
Prior to Kings Point, Miller most recently was the Head Lacrosse Coach at nearby Division I St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y., a position he held for 16 years between 2006 and 2022. The appointment at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy reunites Miller with USMMA Head Coach Dan Paccione. The two worked together at St. John’s for 15 of the 16 seasons.
Miller is the longest tenured lacrosse coach in St. John’s history, taking the Red Storm from re-instatement in 2005, to inside the nation’s Top 20 in 2013 & 2014. Miller mentored 31 ALL–ECAC & BIG EAST Conference players and 11 USILA North-South Game participants. Miller’s teams also thrived in the classroom with over 100 lacrosse players being named to the Conferences Academic Honor Roll during his time.
Miller’s time in Queens was highlighted by major upsets. In just his third season, the Red Storm upset #5 Georgetown 10-9, in what was the first of a long run of the Red Storm playing the role of “Giant Killer.” In 2012, the Johnnies again upset the Hoyas, earning the #4 Seed to the inaugural Big East Lacrosse Tournament. St. Johns opened the tournament by upsetting the #1 seed Notre Dame, 8-7, earning a bid to the championship game, where they eventually fell to Syracuse, 12-4. The Red Storm finished the season ranked #20 in the USILA Media Poll.
In 2013, the Red Storm earned upset wins over #17 Yale, and #7 Hofstra. The Johnnies then took to the road for a rematch in South Bend. Notre Dame entered the game ranked #1 in the nation, but St. Johns again pulled off the upset, 12-10. It marked the first time a St. John’s lacrosse team had ever beaten a #1 team and remains the biggest upset in program history. St. John’s rose as high as #14 in the national polls, marking the most successful campaign on record.
2014 marked the culmination of the most successful four-year span in the Red Storm lacrosse era, with Miller's 11-member senior class graduating with 28 wins to their names, the most since program reinstatement in 2005. Most notably, senior attackman Kieran McArdle ended a storied career with a record-breaking campaign which saw him named a Tewaaraton National Player of the Year nominee and USILA All-America second team pick for the second-consecutive year. Under the tutelage of Dan Paccione, the Red Storm's offensive coordinator, McArdle repeated as BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year and conference "Triple Crown" winner as he led the league in points (5.71), goals (2.86) and assists (2.86) per game. McArdle scored a single-season program-record 40 goals in 2014 and ended the year as St. John's all-time leader in career points, goals and assists as well as the first player in program history to record 200 goals, 100 assists and 100 goals in a career. In August 2014, after being drafted fifth overall in the 2014 Major League Lacrosse Collegiate Draft by the Florida Launch, McArdle was named MLL's 2014 Cascade Rookie of the Year.
Prior to St. John’s, Miller served as the Defensive Coordinator at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst between 2003 and 2006. In 2005, UMASS beat Syracuse University in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The upset ended a streak of 22 consecutive NCAA Final Four Appearances by the Orange. 2006 was the most successful season in UMASS storied history. The Minutemen entered the 2006 NCAA Tournament unseeded, before upsetting #2 Hofstra, #3 Cornell and #4 Maryland to reach the National Championship game, In the semi-finals, the UMASS defense held Maryland, one of the nation’s most prolific scoring offenses to just five goals. The Minutemen eventually fell to #1 Virginia, but their path is widely regarded as the toughest any team has ever taken in the history of the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament.
Miller is not unfamiliar with life at a federal service academy. He served as an Assistant Lacrosse Coach at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point from 2000 to 2003 under Hall of Fame mentor Jack Emmer. In 2003, the Black Knights won the Patriot League, earning a bid to the NCAA Tournament, before falling in the first round to Johns Hopkins.
Miller is also no stranger to Division III. He climbed the coaching ranks through assistant coach stops at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., from 1995 to 1997, and Springfield College in Springfield, Mass., from 1997 to 1999. The Pride won the ECAC Lacrosse Championship in 1998. Miller also served as an assistant coach at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where the Tigers were a NCAA Tournament Quarterfinalist in 2000.
A native of Rochester, N.Y., Miller played defense on the Springfield College lacrosse team and graduated in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in Sports Management. He earned a master’s degree in Education, with a concentration in Athletic Administration while serving as an assistant coach for the Pride Lacrosse and Football teams.
Miller and his entire family have made a commitment to education. His father, Richard, served as the President of Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., and his mother, Barbara, is a former English teacher. Miller’s wife, Mary, has been a teacher on Long Island and in Massachusetts for over 20 years. The couple lives in Rockville Centre, N.Y. and has three children, son Liam (17), daughter Maggie (16) daughter Catherine (12), and a 97-pound Chocolate Lab named Hannah (2).
