It may or may not require the proverbial blood, sweat and tears but a certain sustained effort is necessary alongside some helping hands. A desire to help others and a pay it forward thankfulness isn't mandatory but hopefully present.
Meet Oakland born and bred Keenan McMiller who is now the point man for Merritt College men's basketball, officially succeeding the retiring Maurice Compton.
As the Associate Head Coach for the past five years, McMiller has reinvigorated the Thunderbird program.
Try:
* 5 winning seasons
* 3 state playoff berths
* 1 state final four, the first for the Thunderbirds since 1955
* 29 players total including four this year on scholarships
* an 80% graduation rate
But how did he get there?
McMiller switched back and forth between public and private entities at both the elementary and high school levels. Thus began the need to get along with fellow students of all varieties.
Early on, his mother provided a cultural calibration. "She had me focused on art and music -- not sports."
But as they are wont to do, athletic endeavors crept in and a sense of self was discovered.
"When I played baseball, it came easy for me and I found out I was super competitive." McMiller was a pitcher, third baseman and leftfielder.
"I also liked football and I taught myself basketball."
It was the latter that prevailed.
Roundball proved irresistible because "the cool kids were playing it. There was something about it," McMiller remembered.
"In sixth grade, I was one of the tallest kids so I played a lot of post and learned early." It was a time of bigs such as Akeem Olajuwon, Patrick Ewing and Derrick Coleman showing skill and versatility in the NBA.
"I picked things up watching the game like how to play fundamentally," adding with a laugh, "But I didn't always exhibit that."
Another admittance: "talent wasn't a problem -- I learned composure."
Finishing 12th grade at California High in San Ramon, McMiller recalled, "It was a predominately white school but sports connected people of all sorts."
Earning a basketball scholarship was a possibility as Loyola Marymount and other DI universities were interested.
"But I wasn't mature," McMiller explained. "My grade point average was pretty good but I didn't take the SAT."
His coach at the time wanted him to attend Santa Rosa Junior College but Chabot College and the late Tony Costello won out. It should be noted that the Gladiators made the playoffs that year.
McMiller then transferred to Merritt for his sophomore season, playing on a team that reached the Elite Eight.
After those two years, programs such as Utah State, South Dakota and Chaminade became involved.
However, family issues "made me feel I needed to be close to home."
So he headed to San Francisco State.
It was there that a divergence of sorts took place.
On the court, "It was kind of disappointing because mediocre results were accepted and hard work didn't really matter," McMiller said. "My high school and junior college teams were in the playoffs -- that's what I was used to."
Plus, away from basketball was an immersion into a different world.
"San Francisco State is a great school -- I learned a lot. But I didn't really hang out with athletes but rather with students from places like Mexico, Europe and South America."
Then one day, McMiller attended a job fair over at Merritt and found that the YMCA was looking for camp counselors. He seized the opportunity, got hired and "people liked how I handled kids." That led to his becoming a Youth Sports Director and McMiller then began putting on basketball clinics.
Just before graduation, St. Paul's Episcopal School in Oakland brought him in as a intern teacher in math and science as well as an afterschool counselor and his initial endeavor as a basketball coach.
"Those kids just worked so hard." His team finished 11-2 and then 10-4 in two years.
By that second year, "people were recruiting me to work elsewhere and I was thinking I need to consider coaching."
Through some contacts he developed, McMiller then landed a position coaching the Encinal High girls basketball team.
But all was not well -- "We were horrible our first year."
However Encinal offered some favorable components.
"We had open enrollment so any eighth grader could come plus Tagalog (the second language in the Philippines) was offered as a language course." That helped but, as usual, McMiller always went out of his way to introduce himself to a bevy of individuals.
"I built a lot of relationships."
One of those was with the now late Oscar Jimenez who ran the Mission Recreation Center Rebels team in San Francisco and had a number of players move on to attend Sacred Heart Cathedral.
"Oscar told me to come to a tournament and take a look at one girl in particular. She was DI all the way but needed help academically and with maturity. She transferred from Sacred Heart [to Encinal] and we went to Nor Cal that year and made the playoffs the next four years."
His coaching reputation was flourishing.
Eventually, some high school coaching friends of McMiller's got word of an opening.
"They said 'the Merritt job is going to open and you're an alumnus so go for it.' I met with Coach Compton and he hired me." That was in 2008.
What the Thunderbird program got was someone with a particular personal philosophy, one he finds that resonates:
"I want my players to have a great experience working hard. It's important to be consistent with kids as once you set a precedent you set a standard for how you do things. I find having consistent expectations allows players to buy in. But keep the message fresh because you never know when it will connect with them."
Mc Miller concluded, "I feel blessed from God to be able to work hard at something I enjoy, which is helping people. That drives me, helping other people get where they can be successful."
The blessedness should be of a reciprocal nature because of the success Merritt basketball has enjoyed since McMiller came aboard.
Yet he's just getting started.
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