A chicken with its head cut off. That’s how we describe things that run amuck and things that don’t work right. You can piece together the best talents around for a team but without some direction, sans leadership, short of guidance they become, well, a chicken with its head cut off.

And so I set out to find such a leader. A man with a track record of success who could sew a head on this chicken-o-talent. My man:

Miller

Ralph Miller, Oregon State, 1970-89

• Home: Chanute, Kansas. Chanute HS.
• Stats: 657-382 (.632)
• Best Year: 25-5, 1981 Elite Eight
• Brag sheet: 1981 and 1982 National COY, 1981 and 1989 Pac-10 COY, Basketball Hall of Fame
• So here’s a guy who won everywhere he went. Coached at three schools over thirty-eight seasons and had just four losing seasons. But losses are irrelevant when talking Ralph Miller because he was a winner. People don’t name courts after losers and so they named a court after Ralph Miller. And here’s one of my favorite Ralphies (that’s what I call stats about coach): he won the conference COY award and then retired. Everyone loves it when the greats go out on top as Miller did and he’s owed daps for that. Don’t beat a dead horse. When it’s over, it’s over. Winner. Oh, and he’s in the Hall of Fame.