It’s often been said that a point guard on the hardwood is an extension of a head coach. This is a mantra that has been instilled in Curtis Millage early in his basketball career. This week the former ASU player fulfilled his desired profession path and was named as Phoenix Shadow Mountain High School new head coach.
“When I saw the opening on the school district website, I just applied for it,” Millage recalled. “I knew it was a very good traditional program over there, winning four state titles in a row. They were a powerhouse team who competed against anybody, didn’t matter what level - they didn’t care. I watched them play, and I liked how they played very tenacious defense, and that they were disciplined, and played as a team.
“I talked to the school around the middle of June about my game plan and it was a good conversation, and a great meeting and they gave me an opportunity to be their head coach.”
Millage said that he truly caught the proverbial coaching bug back in his days at Los Angeles’ Southwest College, a program he led to the state championship in 2000-2001 averaging just under 23 points, 3.5 assists and 3.5 steals per game, while earning Southern California Community College Player of the Year honors.
As a junior college transfer at Arizona State, Millage finished his career eighth in points (853), tied for seventh in scoring average (14.7), tenth in field goals (301) and seventh in free throw percentage (.732) among two-year players for the Sun Devils.
His 17.4 points per game in Pac-10 play in 2002-2003 were instrumental in a 22-12 campaign in which ASU earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament. Millage averaged 19.9 points in the final 10 games of that year and nearly posted the (then) first triple-double in ASU history with his 17-point, 11-rebound and nine-assist performance in a win over Memphis in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“The coaches told me if you’re a playmaker, you’re the coach too,” Millage stated. “They told me that I had to make decisions out there and that they can’t make the decisions for you. So, I had to be able to make the decisions as a coach, and also as a point guard.”
In his two years as a Sun Devil, Millage may have been more of a combo guard during his Tempe tenure. Yet, under the guidance of then ASU head coach, Rob Evans, someone that Millage calls a “mentor” to this day, and an individual that has a great impact on his coaching philosophy, he learned quite a bit in understanding the flow of the game, floor spacing and getting his teammates involved. But these lessons certainly weren’t regulated to only one side of the floor.
“My number one thing is that defense wins games,” Millage declared, “and everywhere I played, that’s what I take pride in. And that’s one thing that I’ve seen about Shadow Mountain the few games that I watched; everyone took pride in their defense. I talked to (outgoing Shadow Mountain head coach) Mike Bibby and looked at his style. It fits what I like to do, which is get after it and being 94-feet aggressive. It’s a team game, and it’s not about just watching your man. I’m going to try to implement my little system of defense in there and just keep it going.”
Millage has admired the job Bobby Hurley has done with ASU and foresees a “great future” for both the program he played for and the Sun Devils’ head coach. He hopes that his ties to ASU can help him in his new endeavor as he’s viewed as someone who already has ties to the Valley of the Sun.
Additionally, the fact that he played professionally for the last 14 years in nearly every corner of the globe from Germany to China is another life experience that Millage expects to help him in his new job.
“You have great European players in the NBA,” Millage said, “and it’s going to implement a good amount of what I’m trying to do at Shadow Mountain, teach these kids on both sides of the court. I know I never played in the NBA or anything like that, but I also studied, played against these guys, and show them what it takes. When you’re playing in Europe, it’s a much more physical game. You have to be strong, you’re far away from home, and it’s pretty much cutthroat. If you don’t do your job, you’re going home, simple as that. It’s not like in the NBA where you sign these contracts, or you’ve got all the hype and you have a bad one game or two games, you still got a chance to keep playing.
“Europe is a totally different thing, it’s mind over matter, and you just got to be strong and be able to take whatever challenge comes in front of you.”
The 2019-20 season will surely be a season of transition for Shadow Mountain as they lose two all-state guards in Jaelen House who’s headed to Millage’s alma mater in Tempe and Jovan Blackshear who is Grand Canyon University-bound. Millage, however, isn’t fazed by this set of circumstances he’s walking into.
“I always expect challenges,” Millage admitted, “but I’m ready. I know we’re going to be ready, we’re going to get after it, we’re going to have a great game plan, as long as everyone buys into the system. It’s a program everyone wants to go to because you know they develop some great players. I just want to do the same thing with my system.”
