Steelers Now
Former Steelers tight end Heath Miller spent 11 seasons in Pittsburgh, recording 6,569 receiving yards and 45 receiving touchdowns and played a major role in the team’s Super Bowl XL and Super Bowl XLIII victories. After he was inducted into the Steelers’ Hall of Honor in 2022, the Pittsburgh legend is now on a new journey in his life’s work.
He’s still involved with the game, serving as the head football coach at St. Anne’s-Belfield in Charlottesville, Va. After going 4-5 in his first season as the team’s head coach in 2024, Miller led St. Anne’s-Belfield to a 9-2 record and an appearance in the state championship this season.
“I think we had a pretty successful season. Obviously it didn’t end the way that we wanted to in the championship game, but we can use that as motivation and also just take a step back and be really proud of what we were able to accomplish,” Miller told Steelers Now.
Miller, who retired following the 2015 season, unexpectedly became a high school head football coach. It just was the right opportunity at the right time.
“No, I haven’t given it a lot of thought,” Miller said when asked if he had aspirations of coaching after retiring. “Obviously, I love the game of football and knew I would be around it in same shape or form in the future. My boys are playing football and the opportunity presented itself with their school, and it worked out for me to be the coach.”
St. Anne’s-Belfield’s tight end/linebacker Ryan Steeper was in awe when he found out that a former NFL player would be the team’s next head coach.
“It was super surprising,” Steeper said. “We all knew he has kids at STAB, but we were in a school meeting one day and they said all football players stay behind. Our old coach, Coach Sandoe told us that he was leaving. Two days later they introduced Coach Miller to me and a couple of players that he’s going to be our new head coach.
“From the start he was pretty honest with everybody. You can definitely tell he wanted to win, but he wanted to win in the right way where he wanted players to be humble and kind, but to play aggressive and out-compete everybody.”
Miller retired a decade ago, so Steeper doesn’t have a recollection of his time with the Steelers. But he would often hear of Miller’s name around Charlottesville due to his standout career at the University of Virginia.
“No, I don’t really remember him (playing with the Steelers),” Steeper said. “Being from Charlottesville, you hear his name because he’s super popular at UVA. I never seen him play or anything, but I did an interview with a news station in Charlottesville and they were asking me if I ever seen film on him and they showed me a highlight reel of him. That was the first time I really saw him play.”
Miller played for two Super Bowl-winning...
