Chris Miller life and biography

Christopher James Miller is currently the Quarterbacks Coach for the Arizona Cardinals.

Former NFL quarterback Chris Miller begins his second season with the Cardinals as quarterbacks coach after being hired on 2/18/09. A veteran of 10 years in the league with three different teams (Atlanta Falcons 1987-93, St. Louis Rams 1994-95, Denver Broncos 1999), Miller is a former first-round draft choice (13th overall) by the Atlanta Falcons in the 1987 NFL Draft out of the University of Oregon.

In Miller’s first season with the Cardinals, he worked with quarterback Kurt Warner who finished the 2009 season with 3,753 passing yards and 26 TD passes, becoming the first quarterback in team history to throw for 20+ touchdown passes and +3,000 passing yards in three consecutive years.

Miller spent seven seasons as a player with the Falcons before signing with the Rams as an unrestricted free agent in 1994. He sat out of football for three years due to medical advice following concussions, but returned in 1999 with the Broncos for one season before finishing his career. A former teammate of Cardinals head coach Ken Whisenhunt while in Atlanta, Miller was selected to the Pro Bowl following the 1991 season when he threw for 3,103 yards and 26 TDs for Atlanta. He also played in two postseason games for the Falcons in 1991 and threw for 469 yards and three touchdowns.

He finished his NFL career with 1,580 completions on 2,892 attempts for 19,320 yards and 123 touchdowns in 98 games played (92 starts). He also threw for nine 300-yard games during his 10 seasons in the league.

Following his playing career, Miller served as an assistant coach at Sheldon High School, Churchill High School and Marist High School before being named the head coach of South Eugene High School in 2002 in his hometown of Eugene, OR. Miller led South Eugene to four straight playoff appearances after the school had 11 consecutive losing seasons prior to his arrival. He coached there for five years (2002-06) until getting out of football and serving as the executive director of Kidsports in April of 2006. Kidsports is a youth sports organization which provides athletic opportunities for 17,000 kids in soccer, football, volleyball, basketball, baseball, and softball for children from preschool through high school in his native Eugene, Springfield and surrounding areas.

During that time, Miller gained NFL coaching experience with the Cardinals as he served as a coaching intern under Whisenhunt during Arizona’s training camp in the summer of 2007.

As a collegiate at Oregon, Miller broke 13 school records held by NFL greats Dan Fouts, Bob Berry, and Norm Van Brocklin. As a senior, Miller set school marks for passing yards (2,503), completions (216), completion percentage (60.7), and total offense (2,549). He became the first Pac-10 quarterback to earn back-to-back first-team all conference honors (1985-86) since Jim Plunkett at Stanford (1969-70) accomplished the feat. Miller finished his career with 6,681 passing yards, 42 passing touchdowns and seven rushing touchdowns. He was named the MVP of the Hula Bowl and was the Offensive Player of the Game in the Senior Bowl in 1987 prior to being drafted.

An all-state prep player in football, basketball and baseball at Sheldon High School (Eugene, OR), Miller led the Irish to an 8-1 record and trip to the AAA playoffs as a senior. A former Punt, Pass, and Kick finalist at age eight, Miller was drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in 1983 and the Seattle Mariners in 1985. He played shortstop for Bellingham of the Northwest League in 1986 and batted .556. Miller was inducted into the University of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1999, the state of Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 2004 and Sheldon High School’s Hall of Honor in 2008.

Miller and his wife Lori have six children, daughters Jessie and McKayla, and sons Dillon, Mitchell, Matthew, and Michael.

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