Episode show notes
Mike Siciliano, Dean of Students of the Upper School, and Director of Athletics, Doug Miller, have an in-depth conversation about the Athletics programs at Santa Fe Christian and what makes it so unique. Coaches at Santa Fe Christian strive to mentor all student-athletes to not only high performing athletes, but also awesome Christian human beings. At Santa Fe Christian there are both opportunities for students to excel who want to go on to play in college, and for all students to try new sports and join club teams with a focus on fun.
Mike Siciliano, Upper School Dean of Students, has a long history with Santa Fe Christian, sitting in several roles including alumnus, US history teacher, and football coach. As a student, Siciliano felt he had teachers and coaches who personally invested in him, and made a huge difference in his life. Now, he tries every day to continue that legacy for current SFC students, live up to the standard his teachers set for him, and have a lot of fun.
Doug Miller, SFC Director of Athletics, distinctly remembers God revealing his calling in life 30 years ago — to mentor and serve young people. Since then, Doug has made it his personal mission to passionately demonstrate God’s love and power through one of the best platforms for mentoring, athletics. Doug began his journey with Santa Fe Christian Schools in 1996 when both he and his wife Cammie chose to have their two sons attend the school. For the past 12 years, he has invested in countless lives at SFC through coaching several sports, most recently Varsity Track & Field and Varsity Football. What’s more, he loves to win in sports.
Highlights
0:00-1:00 – Introduction
1:00 – Meet Mike Siciliano
1:44 – Meet Doug Miller, Director of Athletics
3:57 – The athletics experience is really one of the defining parts of a student’s experience at Santa Fe. It’s a way for students to build relationships and see what God has in store for them. Around 85 percent of students participate in sports.
4:56 – What is the purpose of providing students with the opportunity to play sports? “Athletics at Santa Fe allows our kids to test and approve of their abilities, their talents, and what God’s doing in their life.
5:42 – Sports it really is a tool to strengthen kids in their walk with Jesus and their relationship with the Lord. And challenge them in a different way than academics.
6:16 – Mentorship: It’s about building a strong relationship between coach and athlete and building them up as people.
8:03 – There are athletic opportunities for all age levels and all skill levels.
9:55 – How is SFC so successful competitively against much larger schools? Consistency and a Godly focus are key.
12:39 – We invest in more than just creating athletes, we invest in the student’s heart.
14:20 – Encouraging a multi-sport adoption and trying new things with a focus on fun.
16:05 – Faith is component number one for SFC athletics.
● Helping athletes understand who Jesus is
● Missions trips
● Guest speakers like Drew Brees on faith and sports
18:48 – How Doug’s kids were impacted by the support of coaches at SFC and other stories of mentorship
21:34 – Balancing sports, academics and other extracurricular activities
23:21 – Supporting athletes who want to pursue college sports and scholarships
25:58 – Success students have had in the college and professional sports
27:21 – Doug and Mike’s stand out moments of student’s displaying the core values of an SFC student-athlete
29:35 – Displaying humility, courage, and grace in the face of defeat
32:40 – Reach out to Doug or Mike if you want to know more about athletics at Santa Fe Christian
Transcript
Mike Siciliano [00:00:04] Welcome to The Athletic Edge, a Santa Fe Christian podcast. It is one in a series of podcasts we’re doing to give you some insight into what we do at Santa Fe Christian and what’s important to us. Today, we’re going to be focused on SFC athletics. It’s a huge part of our experience and I’m going to be joined by athletic director Doug Miller. Doug, welcome to the show.
Doug Miller [00:00:25] Thank you, Mike. I appreciate that.
Mike Siciliano [00:00:26] We are excited today to talk about what is special about SFC athletics. What we do differently, how we get our athletes to perform at their highest level and create opportunities for them in the future, but also how we invest in who they are as a person, how faith is a big part of our program. Our goal with athlete mentorship and really just developing awesome Christian human beings. Doug, I know that talking sports for you is really difficult and it’s a big sacrifice. So, I’m super grateful that you’ve cleared some time in your schedule today to perform that sacrifice.
Doug Miller [00:00:59] Yeah, it’s tough, but I’ll get through it.
Mike Siciliano [00:01:02] Do you think they know that? That’s pretty much what we talked about all the time anyway. So, let’s introduce ourselves a little bit. My name’s Mike Siciliano, I’m the dean of students of the upper school at Santa Fe Christian. I have a long background with the school. I am a proud graduate of SFC shout out to the class of 2001. And in addition to that, I’ve spent some time at the school working in development. I was a teacher for a number of years, and now I’m in my current role. And of course, I am a coach as well, most recently and currently coaching the football team. Our athletic director, Doug Miller, also has a long history with the school. Doug wanted to tell him a little about yourself.
Doug Miller [00:01:44] A long history, exactly. Starting all the way back in 1996. I was a parent of some elementary kids and first got exposed to Santa Fe as a dad with my wife going to campus every day and seeing what Santa Fe had to hold for our family. It was pretty special. And then over time that turned into a volunteer assistant in athletics, helping some of the coaches get stuff done, whether it’s helping with chains in football or doing statistics, volunteering. And then that role evolved into becoming a booster club president. What can I do to help advance the school, the sports, to benefit the kids? And so, for about six years, I was the booster club president. When my kids were starting to graduate and move all the way through the school, I then took a job as the track and field coach, first as an assistant, and then the head coach. Loved doing that because I have a track and field background in high school and college myself. And then after my kids were completely gone and John Wallace took over the reins of the football program, I began assisting as a football coach. And for a while, I was both a track coach and an assistant football coach. And for the last eight years, I’ve been doing football only. And then effectively October 3, I took the job as athletic director and it is an absolute dream come true.
Mike Siciliano [00:03:20] Well, it’s a dream for us, too. It’s pretty fun to think back, Doug, about getting to know you. I mean, we first got to know each other when I was coaching Reed and man, you know, so many good memories and working together first as coach and parent. And then, as you know, seeing that evolve to now getting to coach on the same staff. And now you’ve been the athletic director. It’s pretty neat. So, thanks for being here. I’m looking forward to talking about this. I would say and I don’t know if you agree, Doug, but for a lot of our students, their athletics experience is really one of the defining parts of their experience at Santa Fe.
Doug Miller [00:03:57] I couldn’t agree with you more. And that’s why I’m investing so hard in it. I believe that athletics is one of the best, if not the best platform to build a relationship with these young people as they get ready to set forward out into the big world and figure out what they’re going to do, how they’re going to do it, what God has in store for them. And we have a big percentage of kids on our campus that loves sports, a higher than the national average. Nearly eighty-five percent, maybe just a little bit above that of our student body participates in high school sports. It’s very, very key to the kids and to our school.
Mike Siciliano [00:04:39] Yeah, and that’s a stat that goes back really several decades of most kids playing at least one sport. I know a lot of kids play two or more. So, Doug, let’s start with the big question. Why do we have sports in Santa Fe? What is the purpose of providing our students with an opportunity to play sports?
Doug Miller [00:04:56] Well, the obvious is it’s a physical release, right? We have these amazing bodies that can do unbelievable things and competition is fun. And it brings a lot out of us as young men and as young women. But I think that athletics at Santa Fe is a little different. We are faced with adversity. We are faced with competition. We are put in situations where we can’t control the outcome. And all we’ve got to do is lay our very best out and give it to God and see how it happens. And I think athletics at Santa Fe allows our kids to test and approve of their abilities, their talents, and what God’s doing in their life.
Mike Siciliano [00:05:42] Awesome. I mean, I know it really is for us a tool to strengthen kids in their walk with Jesus and their relationship with the Lord. And I think back, even about my own experience, how sports were a challenge in a different way than school was. It used a different part of me challenging sometimes my ego, it was very public. And so that was quite a venue for me to work on some of the parts of my character that that maybe I could hide a little better in the classroom and having Godly people help me, and that was huge.
Doug Miller [00:06:16] Yeah. You know, and it’s interesting because again, I don’t want to take away from what we do in our performing arts programs or academically because we nail those as well. But I think that the relationship between the coach and the athlete is unbelievable. And the proof in the pudding is when our kids go off and graduate after having played a sport at Santa Fe, every year dozens and dozens of kids come back to reengage with that coach, who is a life member while they were in Santa Fe. And we’ve got story after story of how kids come back, they reach out to the coach, in addition to the teacher. But they reach out to the coach and they go, hey, coach, you know the thing you taught me on the court? The thing that you taught me on the field? The thing that you said when we were on that hike together? Man, that proved so valuable for my success while I was in college or after college in my relationship with my wife. It’s really special.
Mike Siciliano [00:07:18] Yeah. And just to speak to that, when I graduated college, I got married, came back to San Diego. My basketball coach, his name is Randy Wright, won a bunch of championships here. We actually did a couples Bible study at his house with him and his wife during our 20s for a number of years. That relationship continued to pay dividends for me well past my time as a basketball player and in much more important ways. Which trust me, anyone who played basketball with me will tell you, you know, I wasn’t super impressive on the court. So that was for sure, you know, probably the most valuable thing that came out of my basketball experience.
Mike Siciliano [00:07:57] Hey, speaking of opportunities, Doug, can you speak just briefly, what are the sports opportunities at Santa Fe?
Doug Miller [00:08:03] Holy cow. This is an area where we’re pretty unique, even though we are, from an enrollment standpoint, a small school, we have virtually as many sports as any other school does in California, for that matter. At the high school level, we have fifty-five different teams, and that’s varsity, junior varsity, and freshmen across 20 different varsity sports. That’s at the high school level. And then we have about that many at the middle school level. And then if you’re coming in as an elementary school or lower school, you know, we have clinics as well. So, if you’ve got a child that’s coming to this school and you’ve never played lacrosse and you want to do that, whether you are lower school, middle school or high school, you have an opportunity to participate in a program. And then at the high school level, we are very, very competitive and we take it very seriously.
Mike Siciliano [00:09:01] Let’s talk about that because I think one of the most amazing things about SFC athletics is how successful it’s been able to be. And keep in mind where a school of four hundred and fifty students, we’re one of the few schools out there that doesn’t go out and recruit athletes. We play with the people who show up. And yet you look at some of the success, even over the past few years, we have the woman’s volleyball program that has won the open division, won division one a couple times, basketball team that’s won three out of four, division one championships. We have a football team that’s beaten schools like Torrey Pines and Morse and San Pascual and Monte Vista. You go down the list, championships in golf and cross country and women’s water polo. I’m sure I’m leaving some out. How is it that a school this small is able to be so competitive and in a lot of times against big, huge schools that are really way bigger than us?
Doug Miller [00:09:55] You know, that’s a really good question. And I think if you boil it down, let’s just look at football. Football is eleven on eleven. It’s 11 guys on offense versus eleven guys on defense. And so, it doesn’t matter if those 11 boys come from a school of thirty-five hundred or if they come from Santa Fe Christian at four hundred and fifty students. It’s evenly matched. And so, if you look at it, then take a step back. What are we doing with the individual that’s on the court or on the field or on the track or in the pool? And I think it comes down to coaching. It comes down to the teaching and the approach of developing that athlete from the first time we set eyes on them all the way through their departure and graduation from the school. We have kids and this is an area where we’re really different. When you come to Santa Fe, whether you’re middle school, high school or whatever, you get exposed to the program consistently all the way through your matriculation, through the program. You may be a freshman football player, but you are participating in and being coached by the same varsity coaches that a lot of instances have NFL talent and professional experience and so on. But there is a consistency in that teaching method and that relationship between the coach and the player. So, whether you’re a 14-year-old in ninth grade or an 18-year-old as a senior, you’ve got that consistent teaching, mentoring, and loving relationship. And consequently, as a result of that consistency, all the way through the process, the athlete is developing into the most that they can be. So, if I look at a big school down the street, a big public school, when you’re a freshman on a football team or a baseball team or a lacrosse team, you have a totally different coaching staff. And in many times a different playbook than you do on junior varsity, than you do on varsity. And so, the development process gets interrupted multiple times during the individual career. And when you combine that consistency with really smart Godly focused teachers and coaches were getting the athletes to perform to their very, very best. And I honestly think that that’s what it comes down to.
Mike Siciliano [00:12:21] I got to think too Doug that just knowing a lot of our coaches, the fact that they invest in the person, not just the athlete, makes a big difference for the kids as far as how they’re able to perform, how they’re able to grow in ways they didn’t think they could and the trust they have with the coaching staff.
Doug Miller [00:12:39] Without a doubt. I mean, it’s relationship first here. And if I want to coach a young man or young woman as an athlete in order for them to listen to me, they need to understand that I truly love them and that I truly care about them. And every one of our coaches is here because they want to love, and they care about these kids. They care about them not just as an athlete, but they care about their heart. It’s heart first and talent second. And once that relationship is established and you build on it, then the athlete does more, hears more, learns quicker. The communication is better. It’s a beautiful, beautiful formula for developing what God’s got in store for our program and for our families and for our athletes.
Mike Siciliano [00:13:30] Yeah. Hey, Doug, I think another thing that is worth some time. We have an interesting balance of athletes at our school. Right. So, on the one hand, we have dozens of athletes who have gone on to play college sports over the past few years. We’ve had a Gatorade National Player of the year in women’s volleyball. We have people playing professional athletics. You have a son that has been a professional punter in football. And we also have a whole bunch of kids who just show up to play who aren’t trying to get a college scholarship or go play professionally or maybe trying a sport for the first time just because that’s an opportunity they have at Santa Fe they wouldn’t have elsewhere. So, if you could you could speak to those two experiences and how we’re able to address both of those kids.
Doug Miller [00:14:20] You bet. So, first of all, we encourage a multi-sport adoption, even though a gal might be an amazing volleyball player. And that’s going to be what she does in college. We would really love it for her development and for her benefit if she wanted to try something out. Maybe she’d want to be a high jumper in track and field or try swimming. We encourage that because one of the wonderful things about Santa Fe is, we don’t cut. So, we will encourage an athlete to try multiple sports. Yes, you’re a volleyball player. Yes, you’re a football player. But try something else if you want. And when you do, you may not be good at it. That’s OK. We do not enforce cuts. You may not be the best person on the track team or you may not be the best person on the lacrosse team, but you’re going to be on the team and you’re going to have an opportunity to experience something different as you go through high school. And high school needs to be filled with as many experiences as possible. We still chase after championships, but we want to encourage participation. So, you can find out what you’re good at or where you’re having fun because quite honestly, it’s about having fun. That’s what we forget in sport this day. And we want every young man and young woman on that campus to be not afraid, unafraid and willing to try something if their heart desires it and have fun.
Mike Siciliano [00:15:50] Yeah, I love that. So, Doug, we mentioned it a little earlier about the role of faith in the athletics program. Maybe you could be a little more specific about how we interweave Christianity and the athlete’s relationship with God into our athletics program.
Doug Miller [00:16:05] Oh faith is component number one, whether the child is a new believer or was born to a mother and father that loved the Lord. They have an opportunity to know who Jesus is and what he can be for them. We communicate the importance and the value and the beauty behind the relationship between the athlete and who Jesus is. And we have daily prayer. Every one of our teams opens a practice in prayer. We have daily devotionals. We close our practice, we close our games in prayer. Our kids have an opportunity to go on missions trips, servant-hearted missions trips where we serve others as a team.
Doug Miller [00:16:49] A couple of years ago, the basketball team went to Thailand and served others. Heading down to Mexico on a home build, going to the Dominican Republic to teach kids how to play lacrosse. Being outwardly focused, having a servant heart is something that is important, and it is taught throughout all levels of our athletics, whether you’re a high school and varsity or your middle school, junior high or lower school. Understanding what God is in my life and what we’re called to do, athlete or non-athlete, faith is a huge component. So, in football, we have a pasta dinner the night before a football game. And typically, how that works out is all the kids, all the athletes go to a family member’s home who agreed to host the pasta dinner. We have a devotion. We talk about what God’s doing in our hearts that week, what our theme is. We may have a verse or a message as it pertains to that week and our competition. And typically, we’ll have a guest speaker and that guest speaker brings God’s truth and presents it to our kids. In the past, we’ve had guest speakers like Drew Brees, where he has come and spoken to our football team and said this is what Christ means to him as an athlete. This is what Christ means to him as a father, as a professional. And our kids have an opportunity to see that at the highest level, the validity of what Jesus is to these athletes. It’s part of every fiber in our body as coaches to make sure that these young men and women know who Jesus is. Know who Jesus is to them and how relying on Him will help them as they move through high school and then survive beyond.
Doug Miller [00:18:48] And I’ll give you an example of how it touched my family specifically. When my oldest son played football, and I think this was before you were there, two of his coaches were also teachers on campus. Steve Kim and Jon Litts. And Steve Kim, I think might have been an English teacher. And Jon Litts was a Bible teacher. Well, both those guys were also football coaches. And they touched my son’s life so much that when my son went through college and graduated and came back and met his wife and got married, he asked Steve Kim and Jon Litts to co-officiate his wedding. And it was just beautiful to see these guys who were loving on my son in an athletic setting, holding him accountable to be what he can be and mentoring him into his young adult life. When he came back from college and said, now I’m ready to take another step forward. He said, I want these two guys to hold me accountable as a husband. You know, we see that all over at Santa Fe. It’s just it’s fantastic.
Mike Siciliano [00:19:54] Awesome.
Doug Miller [00:19:55] One of the other stories that I just caught wind of, and I hear these types of things over and over again, I heard this from Chad Bickley, our head basketball coach. And he shared with me a story and showed me a text from an athlete that he had had I want to say 10 years ago. And the kid had a new faith, a new understanding of what Jesus was and wasn’t totally sure of what that meant. But as part of Chad’s commitment to this young man, while he was playing for Chad, Chad gave him a Bible, and Chad taught him how to read the Bible and literally just this last basketball season this young man, who’s probably twenty-nine years old, reached back out to Chad and said, you know what? That Bible that you gave me, those things that you told me when you were coaching me changed my life. And there isn’t a day that goes by where I don’t rely on that. And remember that. And that is so valuable, and it breaks my heart to know that so many coaches around the country focus on the athlete and not the heart of the athlete.
Mike Siciliano [00:21:06] Yeah, that’s awesome. I mean, those kinds of stories are obviously what we’re all about. So, I love hearing things like that. Hey, one other thing about our athletes, Doug, is they’re not just athletes. Right? A lot of our athletes are also amazing students involved in theater or band or all kinds of other extracurricular activities. What do we do to make sure that these athletes are balancing sports with the rest of their lives, just as we encourage our kids to participate in multiple sports?
Doug Miller [00:21:34] We encourage our kids to participate in everything that Santa Fe has to offer. We have an unbelievable performing arts program. And when I was a track and field coach, there were many times where I had athletes who said, hey, coach, I’d really like to be in the spring play and the spring play in Santa Fe is an unbelievable production. And I look forward to it every year, even as the athletic director. And so, as a coach, I knew that young man or young woman would have an opportunity to go try something that I couldn’t coach, and I couldn’t make them better. And I encourage them to do that. And so, we allow them to balance the athletics with the other interests that they may have. It may be performing arts. It may be an activity outside of school. And that may mean that me as a coach has to accommodate for that young man or that young woman’s desires and make some special concessions, if you will, and allow them to balance that. And it’s never bitten us, really to be honest, and giving our kids the ability to participate in performing arts or go on a missions trip to Thailand or Israel or Uganda is something that our athletics program embraces and really encourages. Again, because we’re looking for the total development of the young man or the young woman.
Mike Siciliano [00:23:00] Awesome. So, there are obviously a number of athletes at our school who really want a college scholarship and a number of families who would love that. Right? Who in some cases are counting on that. What do we do to help ensure our athletes are able to get exposure, to get those scholarships, and to put themselves in the best position to maximize their athletic opportunities?
Doug Miller [00:23:21] That’s a great question. And I think we do a lot and I’ve traveled around the country and I’ve met with lots of other coaches and athletic directors to try and see how they invest in their athletes. And I think we do as much, if not more, than anybody else out there. We are a high school program and we know that these kids want to go and play a sport and have the potential to be good at it. But when you go past high school and you go into college, you are recognized as a student-athlete. And so, the things that we do is, yes, we will develop that athlete to be his very best as an athlete. Without a doubt. But we will also do what we can to ensure that that individual develops as a student. You are a student-athlete. And I’ve seen circumstances where kids are very talented on the court or on the field, but academically, they’re struggling. And if I’ve got that relationship as a coach and I’m only holding him accountable to being a great athlete, then I’m falling short of being the best mentor I can be for him. So, we invest in the total human. I said that over and over again – to be the best brother, sister, friend they can be.
Doug Miller [00:24:40] But then when it comes to actually getting recruited and going to play college sport, we have coaches that take our kids on tours. I know one of our coaches every summer takes a half dozen athletes on an Ivy League school tour and we’ll show them Brown and Princeton and Harvard and Yale, all the Ivies, and get our kids that are interested in playing in that setting exposed to those coaches, not just USC and UCLA and Stanford and Harvard and Princeton and Yale, but small schools. Lewis and Clark in southern Utah and Azusa Pacific and you name it. We want to give our kids the very best and set them up to maximize their playing career, because at some point in time it does come to an end and we know that. But if there’s anything that we can do, helping them accomplish things through goal setting, helping them become the best physical specimen that they can be, being the smartest that they can be, we are very intentional as a coaching staff and an administrative staff to promote our kids to continue their career.
Mike Siciliano [00:25:47] So that said, Doug, I mean, what kinds of opportunities have our kids had over the past few years? I mean, what are some of the schools that have offered our students scholarships?
Doug Miller [00:25:58] Well, I mean, it’s pretty amazing. Again. Four hundred and fifty kids. Two hundred and twenty boys. Two hundred and twenty-something girls. We’ve sent more kids to go play at Stanford than anybody else in San Diego in the last five years. We’ve had baseball players go to USC. We’ve had football players and crew go to UCLA. Out east in Texas, in Baylor, small schools, big schools, faith-based schools, private schools. It’s unbelievable the opportunities and the things that our kids have been able to accomplish. I’ve been around Santa Fe in the last twenty-five years, I am floored at the number of kids that have gone to play college sports. I think the average, the national average is less than 5 percent. And we’ve got nearly double that.
Mike Siciliano [00:26:50] It’s awesome. So, Doug, I want you to think about your time with SFC athletics as a parent, as a coach, as the athletic director, as booster president as a supporter. What are maybe one or two moments that you’re most proud of that either represent SFC athletics for you or that just stand out as a wow, I’m so lucky I got to be a part of this?
Doug Miller [00:27:11] Wow. That’s a really unfair question, Mike. That’s a tough one.
Mike Siciliano [00:27:17] It was on the prep sheet, Doug. It was on the prep sheet.
Doug Miller [00:27:21] That’s like if my wife said, what do you like about me most? You know, there is a young man that I have an opportunity to coach with right now that is very special to me. His name is Jerry Harper, and he’s not the only one, but he’s one of many. And Jerry was the younger brother of another kid by the name of Jared, who one of my sons played with. But Jerry came to me when he ran track for me, and he made it really clear that he had aspirations in life to play college football, to run track and field in college, to get a scholarship, to do great things. And he wasn’t the best student, but he had an unbelievable heart. And where that kid is right now just brings tears to my eye. He did go on to get a football scholarship at Ohio Wesleyan. He competed in track and field at the college level as well. He came back to Santa Fe. He is now a coach on the coaching staff. So, he recognized the value of what the coaches were in his life. He’s now giving back to school and coaching. He is taking up a full-time job in ministry with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. He goes out of his way, day in and day out to pour into young men that may not have the potential that, you know, a division one athlete may have and prove to them that Jesus is alive and real in their life and love on them in the same way that he was loved by guys like you and the other coaches and teachers that were in his life. And so, he stands out in my mind as a kid who I’ve seen kind of come all the way through this. And now he wants to do it, too. And it just brings joy to me because it validates that God is amazing. And this is such a special setting.
Mike Siciliano [00:29:27] Well, that’s an amazing story. I mean, I know we both have a lot. I have one about your son.
Doug Miller [00:29:35] Ha, which one.
Mike Siciliano [00:29:35] Your younger son Reed. His senior year, we had a pretty good football team. That year we made it to the CIF championship game. And, you know, we lost when the other team kicked a field goal at the very end of the game. And it was a really disappointing night for all of us. I’m sorry even for bringing it up, Doug. But I remember your son, who was our starting center and a long snapper, you know, in the midst of the other team celebrating and our kids in tears, walking over on his own and going to shake every player’s hand on the other team, just because he wanted to congratulate them and be respectful and show them that we were different. And man, I just remember in the midst of, you know, kind of my grief in that game, watching him do that and thinking, man, that kid learned some things here. That is a Godly young man that has the courage to go over and do that in the midst of his grief. He taught me something that night.
Doug Miller [00:30:30] Yeah, that was a special night on so many levels. And I’ll say this, Mike, if there’s anything that I can say to you is it takes a village, and my wife and I parent our kids but from 8:00 in the morning until 5:00 p.m. in the afternoon, they were under the supervision and they were being led and mentored by people other than my wife and myself. And what my son did that night and what he continues to do as a married man who is about ready to expect his first baby in July. A lot of what he does and what he’s become is because of what guys like you and Nick Ruscetta and Brian Sipe and Jon Litts and the others, did for him through athletics. And I was sobbing that night when he went and did that. And the character and the type of guy he is came out. It was as a result of what you and what John Wallace and what others have done for him while he was at Santa Fe. That mission statement that Santa Fe says and has parents partnering together with administration to raise Godly leaders. Man, that came right to the front burner and hit me right between the eyes. That young man walking across the field, shaking his opponent’s hand after he just lost was not because Doug Miller was a great dad. It was because of what that school had done for him for 12 years of his life.
Mike Siciliano [00:32:03] Well, he’s a great young man. And I know he went on to be a long snapper at Stanford and had a great career up there, up there as well.
Doug Miller [00:32:11] And they beat SC a couple of times, too. So…
Mike Siciliano [00:32:13] Yeah, they lost a couple of times, too, though. Let’s not forget that, you know. So, Doug, it feels like you and I could talk about stories forever. And in fairness, we probably will as soon as we’re done here. But thanks so much for sharing with people interested in Santa Fe about our athletics program and about your experience. And of course, I think I can say that anyone who has any questions is more than welcome to reach out to you and talk further, correct?
Doug Miller [00:32:40] Oh, my gosh. Yes. If you went to the main SFC website my contact information’s out there. I’m an open book about what that school has done for me and my family for the last twenty-five years. The miracles of God, the thousands of families that I’ve been exposed to over the last twenty-five years. I can talk about our school forever and ever. And if you’re on campus, just come in. Come into my office and come say hi. And let’s talk.
Mike Siciliano [00:33:08] And then come to my office. And I can tell you all the stories about Doug he doesn’t want you to know.
Doug Miller [00:33:14] Stop. We’ll end it there.
Mike Siciliano [00:33:16] All right. Thanks, Doug, for being here. Thanks to our listeners for listening. Be sure to check out our other podcasts that give you insight into what we do and what’s important to us at Santa Fe Christian. And we look forward to hopefully talking with you in person soon. Thanks for listening.
