The Eastern men’s basketball program took a step forward Monday, naming Mike Miller as its new head coach.

Director of Athletics Rich McDuffie said Miller will receive a three-year contract, pending the approval of Eastern President Lou Hencken and the Board of Trustees.

Miller, coming off a five-year stint as Kansas State’s associate head coach, said he’s excited at the chance to lead Eastern basketball in a variety of aspects.

“The key word there is ‘program,'” Miller said. “It’s always been very important to me to have a basketball program not have just a good team or one phase of it.

“We want everything. We want it all to come together.”

And while Miller will be the new face of the program, replacing Rick Samuels after 25 seasons, he won’t be the biggest factor in the program’s future.

“The players are the program,” Miller said. “They players have always been the program.”

Freshman guard Bil Duany said hearing those words gives the Eastern players immediate responsibility.

“When a coach says ‘the players are the program,’ it’s a lot of pressure,” he said. “But, it also gives a chance to show what we can do.”

Duane is part of what Miller described as a “core group of players in place.” Another one of those players, freshman center George Tandy, said Miller’s hiring will help the Panthers as they gear up for the 2005-06 season.

“We finally can get things established and start working for next season,” Tandy said. “Not having a coach, you might not be working on the right things.”

Miller said he was impressed with the Panther players’ work ethic, despite not having a coach to organize workouts.

The commitment to continue working, even with a shaky future, showed Miller what kind of players he’ll be inheriting.

“Everyone needs direction,” Miller said. “And, for a short time, they weren’t sure where it was at.”

The new direction has excited players, along with Miller. Freshman guard Bobby Catchings said he didn’t want to wait for practices begin.

“I’m excited to get started,” he said. “I want to get out there and workout now.”

Miller said he’s beginning individual workouts this week, forging relationships with current players, before organizing a strategy for the recruiting trail.

Also, Miller said he’d like to begin weekly meetings with players, but not to discuss practices or games.

“We’re not talking about basketball,” he said. “We’re talking about things off the court, so I can understand how I can help them.”

All of this translates to Miller’s vision for the Eastern program as a place that can be near the top of its conference annually.

“At Eastern Illinois, we want to be the class of the Ohio Valley Conference,” he said.

And Tandy said the players are confident it can be done.

“If he gives us what we need to do to get there, then we’ll do it,” Tandy said.