Fred Miller, ASU athletic director who fired Frank Kush, dies at 86
Former Arizona State University athletic director Fred Miller, whose 1979 firing of legendary head football coach Frank Kush triggered threats and a backlash against the university, died Sunday at his home in Oregon, his family confirmed.
MIller, 86, died of natural causes, his daughter, Trisha Thompson, told The Arizona Republic late Monday.
His death came four months after Kush died at age 88.
"He was just the finest man that was around," Thompson said. "He was a giant redwood, and when they fall, it shakes the forest floor."
An advocate for player safety
Miller played college football at the College of the Pacific and later earned his graduate degree at the University of Southern California. Thompson said her father's doctoral dissertation at Indiana University in the early 1960s was on helmet construction and avoiding concussions in football players. She said he was one of the earliest proponents of player safety.
Miller was hired as ASU's athletic director in 1971, and in subsequent years oversaw a major expansion of the university's sports programs, including the addition of numerous women's programs, as well as upgrades to facilities.
His tenure coincided with a period when ASU football was gaining more national attention and success under Kush, who had been head coach since 1958 and was highly regarded among boosters and fans for his hard-nosed methods and winning ways. His 1975 team finished the season undefeated and ranked second in the nation after a stunning defeat of national powerhouse Nebraska.
A few years later, Miller found himself in the middle of a stringing controversy involving the by-then legendary coach.
The flash point
A punter on the team, Kevin Rutledge, accused Kush of shaking his face mask and punching him during a 1978 game.
During a subsequent university investigation, some players supported Rutledge's claim and some assistant coaches said they were asked to lie to cover up for Kush.
Miller fired Kush on Oct. 13, 1979, for allegedly lying about the incident. The decision was made several hours before Kush coached his final game, an upset win over Washington. Afterward, he was carried off the field by the team.
The fallout from Kush’s dismissal was extensive, with Miller's family receiving threats. More controversy involving the program surfaced soon after.
Miller was fired in early 1980, and later that year ASU was placed on two-year NCAA probation with a one-year postseason ban in ’81 for a lengthy list of violations that occurred late in the Kush era. Lawsuits related to the Kush-Rutledge incident continued until 1986, but Kush never was found liable.
The impact
Thompson said the controversy never shook her dad, and she defended his decision to fire Kush.
"I don’t think that his moral and ethical compass was ever shaken," she said. "This was a man that every day made the right decisions."
When asked about her father's reaction to the news of Kush's death earlier this year, Thompson said, "He never spoke about it."
She acknowledged the period after the firing was difficult for the family, but said little more about that time.
Miller left Arizona and became athletic director at San Diego State University from 1985 to 1995 and continued his involvement in various NCAA efforts.
A return to the ASU fold
Even after he retired, he continued promoting working with youth athletics, Thompson said.
"He’s worked on community projects and, specifically, mentoring young men to be strong, good-hearted, hard working individuals," she said. "He was a very, very centered person in that way."
Miller was inducted into the ASU sports Hall of Fame in 1994.
Thompson said he was surrounded by his wife, children and grandchildren at his beach house in Nehalem, Oregon, when he died Sunday.
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