By Michael A. Lough

The Sports Report

centralgasports@gmail.com

          Nicki Miranda was there at the start, when Veterans rose as a high school, opened, and started sports.

          She was one of the first hires of the school’s first athletics director David Bruce.

          And now she’s among the last to leave.

Miranda’s Mark
Basketball
2011-2021
190-89
Final Fours: 2
Elite Eights: 4
State runner-up: 1
Region titles: 2
Playoffs: 8 straight seasons
Multiple region and area COY selections

Volleyball
2010-16, 2020
250-75
Elite Eights: 4
Sweet 16s: 7
Area/region titles: 6
County titles: 6
Multiple region and area COY selections

Soccer
2018-21 (partial 2020 season)
48-15-5
Sweet 16s: 2
Region titles: 3
Multiple region COY selections

          Miranda turned in her retirement papers to the Veterans administration in February as the school’s head girls basketball coach, head volleyball coach, head girls soccer coach, and head of the adaptive physical education department.

          “It’s time,” she said recently, before the Warhawks won their eighth straight region title, a streak started by former coach Haley Walker. “I bounced around for 15 years before we got here. I had considered it in the past year.”

          So when the Veterans’ girls soccer season ends, whenever that is, so does the Warhawks coaching career of Miranda.

          And it’s been the most successful one in Veterans athletics history.

          The Warhawks are on fourth boys basketball coach since opening. The only coaches left on that first overall staff are boys soccer head coach Matt Roth, and cross country coaches Shepard and Mitch Horton. Horton was the school’s first softball coach.

          Miranda was the school’s first volleyball head coach, and went 250-75 from 2010-16 and 2020, with four Elite eight and seven Sweet 16 trips to go with  six area/region titles.

          She took over the girls basketball program after the first season, succeeding Mark Gisseman. A state runner-up finish, four Elite Eights and two Final Fours followed, the program rising quickly to among the best in the state despite rising in classifications.

          Miranda was the school’s first volleyball coach, and gave that up in 2016, trading it for soccer. She took over volleyball again last fall.

          She leaves just short of averaging 20 basketball wins a year, which she likely would’ve reached …

          “Freaking COVID,” she laughed.

          The 48-year-old, who played and started in women’s basketball at South Carolina for three years, is leaving for pure family reasons.

          And economic.

          Her husband Tony recently retired from the Air Force, which is what brought the family to Houston County from Virginia in the first place.

          Both are from Florida, where their families are, and where they have some land just sitting there waiting for some action.

          “The house down the street with the same square footage and stuff, it sold in 28 days for a lot of money,” Miranda said. “The housing market skyrocketed. It’s a seller’s market. We were like, ‘let’s think about this.’”

          She had considered the change, and put it off, because of COVID-19 and because daughter Ansley was still in high school. Then, despite all the issues surrounding the pandemic, the Mirandas observed that the housing market was surprisingly and almost absurdly healthy.

          Son Austin, who played baseball at Veterans, is on academic scholarship at Florida State. And they had the land.

          “We’ve never been around (family),” Miranda said. “They’re not getting any younger. We haven’t been there for 30 years.”

          The workload of coaching three sports, teaching, heading adaptive PE, and the housing boom all came together in a perfectly timed storm.

          “There’s a ton of stuff I’m going to miss,” she said. “I love Veterans. I love the kids. I like the coaches. But at the same time, it’s kind of time.”

          Randall Owens, who was on the boys staff after a stint at Bleckley County following a successful run as Baldwin’s girls head coach, has been appointed as Miranda’s basketball successor.

          Christina Maloney, who has been part of the basketball and soccer staff, is taking over soccer, and Jill Nash – who has worked with former Georgia head football coach Mark Richt in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes – has been hired for volleyball.

          The soccer and volleyball teams will have big senior classes next year, but basketball will be in a rebuilding mode.

          All that, and only one parking spot opens up.

          “ ‘You should be helping me; That’s like four jobs I have to fill,’” Miranda said of a conversation with athletics director Mark Antley.

          The Mirandas house was under contract in less than a week, and they expect to close in the next week or so. They don’t have to vacate until mid-June, allowing for a little less stress during prom and graduation season, and getting Ansley ready for college basketball at Point University, between LaGrange and Columbus.

          And then? Moving and planning, and eventually, coaching on some level at some point is likely. Alas, Miranda is resuming that process full-time earlier than expected, thanks to the Warhawks’ frustrating 1-0 loss to Eagles Landing in the first round of the GHSA Class 5A playoffs. Miranda knew things were coming to a close, but the end came quicker than expected.

          “One of the seniors (Macie Wade) said, ‘You better give me a big ol’ hug,’” Miranda said of the postgame huddle. “And she latched on to me. It was extra long, and I got a little teary eyed.

“There’s all kinds of joy, because there was so much good.”