MERIDIAN, Idaho — Back in 2017, Ivory Miles-Williams was celebrating a 1A state title and 1A Player of the Year honors as he closed his career with the Lapwai Wildcats. In southern Idaho, the Rocky Mountain High School boys basketball program was celebrating its run as 5A state champs.
Fast forward to 2023, and the two worlds suddenly collided. After the resignation of Brian Sweaney Miles-Williams was thrust into the role of interim head coach with the Grizzlies mid-season.
Less than two years prior, Miles-Williams was wrapping up his five-year career with the College of Idaho men's basketball team, where he ranks top-five all-time with 129 games played as a Yote.
A few weeks ago, Rocky Mountain dropped the 'interim' tag from Miles-Williams' title, officially making him the Grizzlies' head coach. Miles-Williams led Rocky to a 4-9 record to close out the year after stepping up mid-season.
Now, his dreams of earning the full-time job have come true. Miles-Williams gets a full offseason to start rebuilding a culture, provide some stability to the Rocky Mountain program and get the Grizzlies back to their winning ways.
"Making sure I'm holding the guys accountable and making sure they have fun. The interim tag's not on there anymore, so I'm blessed for sure to get an opportunity to coach these guys behind me," Miles-Williams told KTVB. "This is our first day and we're gonna go all the way until July. So, we'll see if these three months can get us prepared for next season."
KTVB was in the gym as Miles-Williams and the Grizzlies began workouts and preparation for their 2023-2024 run. Junior shooting guard Zack Seeger said the new head coach's experience and leadership could propel Rocky Mountain back to the top, somewhere they are familiar with as back-to-back 5A state champs (2017 and 2018).
"The main thing that excites me is how young he is, which some people might not think that's a good thing, but to me, I feel like we can make a better connection," Seeger said. "We know what he's done, and it's not that far in the past, so he knows the current game and I think this year can be a great year to rebuild that chemistry and brotherhood that Rocky stands for. I think that's our biggest thing to focus on this year."
Outside of the Rocky gym, Miles-Williams was of course thrilled for College of Idaho head coach Colby Blaine and the Yotes' NAIA National Championship squad. Miles-Williams spent five years in Caldwell, where the trophy now resides.
"It was awesome. They were on a roll and it was nice to see their togetherness throughout the year, and how much fun they were having on the court," Miles-Williams said. "It was pretty nice to see Colby finally get it done. It was eight or nine years in the making, it's like we all won. Finally brought the championship home."
Watch more Sports:
See KTVB sports coverage in our YouTube playlist: