FORMER SE FOOTBALL COACH DEAD AFTER LIGHTNING STRIKE

Doug Miller wasn't in Cape Girardeau long, but Southeast Missouri State University football coach John Mumford said he definitely made an impact with the Indians' program.

Miller, who spent the 1996 season as a graduate assistant coach on Mumford's staff, died earlier this week in Colorado as he was struck by lightning during a camping trip.

"It's just a real tragedy. Doug was a fine young man," said Mumford.

Miller, who was 28, played with the NFL's San Diego Chargers for three seasons as a backup linebacker and was on the Chargers' Super Bowl team that lost to the Dallas Cowboys.

"For a young coach, he wasn't a screamer or yeller. He approached the intelligent side of the game," Mumford said. "Anybody who walks around with a Super Bowl ring, kids immediately respect you. He did a really good job for us."

Miller, who was only in Cape Girardeau one year, coached the Indians' linebackers. He was also a graduate assistant in the college of business while he attended Southeast.

Mumford said Miller had most recently been a restricted earnings coach at the University of California as he attempted to work his way up the coaching ladder.

"From what I understand, he was on his way to San Diego with a friend and they stopped to camp in Colorado," said Mumford. "They were just out camping and he got struck by lightning. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Mumford's ties with Miller, a native of South Dakota, actually run much deeper than the year he spent on Mumford's staff.

"I had recruited Doug when I was coaching at South Dakota and I got to know him then," Mumford said. "He ended up going to South Dakota State, making Division II All-American and then playing for the Chargers.

"After he was through playing with the Chargers, one of his former coaches told me he might be interested in coaching and that's how he wound up here."