Ron Miller

Ron Miller (1944 – June 5, 2023) was an American fencing coach and the founder and head coach of the fencing team at UNC Chapel Hill. Over the course of his career, he recorded 1,602 wins across 52 years, making him both the longest tenured coach at UNC and the winningest coach in NCAA history.

In 2024, Miller's book, The Ultimate Guide to the Ultimate Sport of Fencing, was published posthumously. https://a.co/d/0e1iNIQW

Early life and education As a student, Miller was competitive in high school in basketball, football, wrestling, and track, while fencing at a local YMCA. He originally wanted to be an architect, but after a frost wiped out his family's crops, he had no money for architecture school.

While in graduate school, Miller had written a paper on the kinesiology of fencing and a professor of his put him in touch with the chair of UNC's physical education. Miller moved to UNC as a physical education instructor Under his leadership, UNC won eight conference titles from 1971 to 1980. He maintained his team GPA above 3.0 for his 52 years Miller was two-time NCAA Coach of the Year and in 2017 was honored as a Priceless Gem at UNC, “in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the University of North Carolina.” In 2023, he was inducted in the USA Fencing hall of fame.

Death Miller died from complications of melanoma on June 5, 2023, at the age of 78.