Quick Chat: Robert Miles
August 12, 2020 | Football, General, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
Robert Miles came to Georgia as a walk-on football player in 1977 and has been in Athens ever since. He was a starting defensive end on the 1980 national championship team and has been contributing to Bulldogs athletics ever since.
In his current role as director of the Life Skills Program for the UGA Athletic Association, Miles from Day One starts preparing student-athletes for life after college. It's rewarding and valuable work, Miles said during a Quick Chat on Tuesday. He also talked about working during the coronavirus pandemic, going fishing, picking berries and much more.
Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: The obvious question is, what have the past four or five months been like for you?
Miles: Zoom conference calls, FaceTime and even some Webex meetings, a lot of those types of things. You're having the phone conversations like you and I are having right now, but when you can do it virtually it kind of adds a little bit more closeness to it, when you can see the people you're talking to.
Frierson: As somebody that is so used to interacting with so many student-athletes, to not have them around in person for so long, what was that like for you?
Miles: It's been a transition because that interpersonal contact, that voice inflection, that look you see and all the things you pick up in person, I'm missing that and I'm missing sharing that with the young student-athletes that I interact with. That's just making my day when I can come in contact with someone and say, "How's your mother doing?" "What's going on back home?"
There are those little things that personal touch can add to it, as opposed to the most business-like Zoom conversation or even a FaceTime conversation, when you get down to brass tacks and then you move on. A pause in the conversation in person isn't awkward, but a pause in a phone conversation, it's like, OK, are they distracted? Did I miss something or say something wrong?
Frierson: How have you been spending your time away from work? Have you picked up any new hobbies or reacquainted yourself with any old ones?
Miles: The second one as much as anything else; I have done work around the home because I'm there more. You see things and you see things on a more constant basis, as opposed to getting up, leaving the house, being gone for a while, coming back, eating dinner and going into your evening routine. Now, I'm there, I see something, I do something about it.
And just recently, I've even picked up a fishing pole again. I hadn't done that, except on a couple of vacations, in many years. Now, I'm making my way around Athens to a few fishing holes that I've found around town. That's quite enjoyable.
Frierson: Have you and Melvin Robinson done any fishing together? When I did one of these with him a few months ago, he talked about how into fishing he'd gotten during the shutdown.
Miles: I have not connected with anyone because for the most part I've looked for the solitude in fishing. I've enjoyed going out by myself. I'll disclose this: Bear Creek Reservoir, I've discovered a bank out there that at a certain time of day, there's nobody around. And that is just like gold to me.
I'll go to Lake Herrick also, but there are more people around there. It's really just an exercise in casting and reeling back in when you go to Lake Herrick, you don't catch much [laughs].
Frierson: I grew up about 300 yards from Lake Herrick and went fishing there a few times, but I never came close to catching anything. I have found that it's the act of fishing, particularly fly fishing, that I enjoy far more than actually catching a fish.
Miles: Same with me, because I know that if I do catch anything, I'm going to release it. I'm just fishing for that act of casting and reeling it in and seeing the bob dip or trying out different things on the hook. That's what I'm all about right now.
Frierson: What's something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Miles: Fruit, the seasonal stuff. Fruit and fresh vegetables — I have morphed into, not a nutritionist, but I'm more cognizant of what I'm consuming, particularly when you have so much time. It's like, I don't want to wake up to eat, but when I do eat I plan it, finish it out and then consciously think about the next thing, and base that around what's available that's fresh.
I don't want to make too many trips to the store or the market, so you get some things for three or four days. Right now, fresh corn is being prepared in my house some way, somehow just about every day. I have conversations with my siblings about how the plums are just right and the Lady Finger peas are just coming in, so they're in season, and okra's just right.
I've even gone berry picking this year, during COVID, and that's something I haven't done since I was a child. I've gone to some berry picking farms and picked fresh blackberries, and that was just grand. I picked them, washed them clean and gave them to my son, and said, fix me a cobbler. I'm about getting things, giving them to my children and saying, do something with it. I enjoy that as much as anything else.
Frierson: Going back to your playing days, how would you describe yourself as a football player?
Miles: I was physically ready to perform, but I needed the film review and preparation. That was pretty much our team, we were a wise group of seasoned veterans for the most part, which a phenomenal freshman — and everybody knows who that is (Herschel Walker). That senior group with leadership and understanding of preparation and being in the right place, and taking the cues from our coaching staff ... knowing that they were going to put us in the right place.
We trusted the process, so when we lined up, I knew where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to do in that situation. Things would take place and it would be like, the coaches got me ready for this. Coach Greer had me ready for my position and Coach Russell had us ready within the whole defensive structure, so it was time to play.
Frierson: I'm not sure anything has evolved as much since you played as film study. Now, pretty much every moment can be captured and players can study film for hours on their laptops or iPads, whereas you all only watched film, and it was actual film, on the old projectors.
Miles: I can still hear that 8mm projector going back and forth, and remembering my G.A. (graduate assistant) days of splicing film together. Usually, it was a review of the whole practice session and we only had two photographers. ... There were only two cameras on the field, where now there are a half dozen cameras getting everything that's going on so that everything can be reviewed.
Frierson: In your role now as the director of the Life Skills program, it seems like that would be among the most rewarding things you can do in an athletic department.
Miles: It is one of those things. It's rewarding in that you're presenting something that student-athletes aren't familiar with, so you are a resource in areas that they don't even know they should be venturing into. We're getting young men and young women to believe that they've got to prepare themselves to leave here even though you just got here.
Even though they may be like, I'm glad to be in Athens and I want to concentrate on my academics and my athletics, you've got to prepare to leave here because that's the way the system is. I'm a rarity within it as someone who's hung around a long time, but as soon as you get here you can start looking to make that transition in some way or another.
You get to know the individuals as you prepare them for the totality of the experience. Some of them need a little at a time and some of them are ready for that message, but you don't know that until you get to know them and they get to know you.
Frierson: I grew up here in Athens and you've been here since the late '70s, so are you as amazed at the transformation around the UGA athletics facilities as I am?
Miles: Oh, most definitely. I can remember McWhorter Hall, the coliseum and the football practice fields — that was our (football team's) footprint. What is here now and what the student-athletes have the ability to take advantage of, I'm very happy for them and what this athletic association has evolved into with the facilities and what they can do for these student-athletes.
In my time, you came down those steps at McWhorter Hall and you walked through the back door of the coliseum, and everyone did that because everyone was in McWhorter Hall, so you walked across. And I can remember the next stage, coming out of the coliseum and walking on to the practice fields.
Frierson: I take it you don't miss those days of practice and early-morning workouts?
Miles: I miss Saturday afternoons between the hedges, but all that other stuff [laughs], I tend to want to just reminisce about it. I just miss Saturday afternoon at Sanford Stadium.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Staff Writer
Robert Miles came to Georgia as a walk-on football player in 1977 and has been in Athens ever since. He was a starting defensive end on the 1980 national championship team and has been contributing to Bulldogs athletics ever since.
In his current role as director of the Life Skills Program for the UGA Athletic Association, Miles from Day One starts preparing student-athletes for life after college. It's rewarding and valuable work, Miles said during a Quick Chat on Tuesday. He also talked about working during the coronavirus pandemic, going fishing, picking berries and much more.
Here's some of what he had to say:
Frierson: The obvious question is, what have the past four or five months been like for you?
Miles: Zoom conference calls, FaceTime and even some Webex meetings, a lot of those types of things. You're having the phone conversations like you and I are having right now, but when you can do it virtually it kind of adds a little bit more closeness to it, when you can see the people you're talking to.
Frierson: As somebody that is so used to interacting with so many student-athletes, to not have them around in person for so long, what was that like for you?
Miles: It's been a transition because that interpersonal contact, that voice inflection, that look you see and all the things you pick up in person, I'm missing that and I'm missing sharing that with the young student-athletes that I interact with. That's just making my day when I can come in contact with someone and say, "How's your mother doing?" "What's going on back home?"
There are those little things that personal touch can add to it, as opposed to the most business-like Zoom conversation or even a FaceTime conversation, when you get down to brass tacks and then you move on. A pause in the conversation in person isn't awkward, but a pause in a phone conversation, it's like, OK, are they distracted? Did I miss something or say something wrong?
Frierson: How have you been spending your time away from work? Have you picked up any new hobbies or reacquainted yourself with any old ones?
Miles: The second one as much as anything else; I have done work around the home because I'm there more. You see things and you see things on a more constant basis, as opposed to getting up, leaving the house, being gone for a while, coming back, eating dinner and going into your evening routine. Now, I'm there, I see something, I do something about it.
And just recently, I've even picked up a fishing pole again. I hadn't done that, except on a couple of vacations, in many years. Now, I'm making my way around Athens to a few fishing holes that I've found around town. That's quite enjoyable.
Frierson: Have you and Melvin Robinson done any fishing together? When I did one of these with him a few months ago, he talked about how into fishing he'd gotten during the shutdown.
Miles: I have not connected with anyone because for the most part I've looked for the solitude in fishing. I've enjoyed going out by myself. I'll disclose this: Bear Creek Reservoir, I've discovered a bank out there that at a certain time of day, there's nobody around. And that is just like gold to me.
I'll go to Lake Herrick also, but there are more people around there. It's really just an exercise in casting and reeling back in when you go to Lake Herrick, you don't catch much [laughs].
Frierson: I grew up about 300 yards from Lake Herrick and went fishing there a few times, but I never came close to catching anything. I have found that it's the act of fishing, particularly fly fishing, that I enjoy far more than actually catching a fish.
Miles: Same with me, because I know that if I do catch anything, I'm going to release it. I'm just fishing for that act of casting and reeling it in and seeing the bob dip or trying out different things on the hook. That's what I'm all about right now.
Frierson: What's something you could eat every day and never get tired of it?
Miles: Fruit, the seasonal stuff. Fruit and fresh vegetables — I have morphed into, not a nutritionist, but I'm more cognizant of what I'm consuming, particularly when you have so much time. It's like, I don't want to wake up to eat, but when I do eat I plan it, finish it out and then consciously think about the next thing, and base that around what's available that's fresh.
I don't want to make too many trips to the store or the market, so you get some things for three or four days. Right now, fresh corn is being prepared in my house some way, somehow just about every day. I have conversations with my siblings about how the plums are just right and the Lady Finger peas are just coming in, so they're in season, and okra's just right.
I've even gone berry picking this year, during COVID, and that's something I haven't done since I was a child. I've gone to some berry picking farms and picked fresh blackberries, and that was just grand. I picked them, washed them clean and gave them to my son, and said, fix me a cobbler. I'm about getting things, giving them to my children and saying, do something with it. I enjoy that as much as anything else.
Frierson: Going back to your playing days, how would you describe yourself as a football player?
Miles: I was physically ready to perform, but I needed the film review and preparation. That was pretty much our team, we were a wise group of seasoned veterans for the most part, which a phenomenal freshman — and everybody knows who that is (Herschel Walker). That senior group with leadership and understanding of preparation and being in the right place, and taking the cues from our coaching staff ... knowing that they were going to put us in the right place.
We trusted the process, so when we lined up, I knew where I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to do in that situation. Things would take place and it would be like, the coaches got me ready for this. Coach Greer had me ready for my position and Coach Russell had us ready within the whole defensive structure, so it was time to play.
Frierson: I'm not sure anything has evolved as much since you played as film study. Now, pretty much every moment can be captured and players can study film for hours on their laptops or iPads, whereas you all only watched film, and it was actual film, on the old projectors.
Miles: I can still hear that 8mm projector going back and forth, and remembering my G.A. (graduate assistant) days of splicing film together. Usually, it was a review of the whole practice session and we only had two photographers. ... There were only two cameras on the field, where now there are a half dozen cameras getting everything that's going on so that everything can be reviewed.
Frierson: In your role now as the director of the Life Skills program, it seems like that would be among the most rewarding things you can do in an athletic department.
Miles: It is one of those things. It's rewarding in that you're presenting something that student-athletes aren't familiar with, so you are a resource in areas that they don't even know they should be venturing into. We're getting young men and young women to believe that they've got to prepare themselves to leave here even though you just got here.
Even though they may be like, I'm glad to be in Athens and I want to concentrate on my academics and my athletics, you've got to prepare to leave here because that's the way the system is. I'm a rarity within it as someone who's hung around a long time, but as soon as you get here you can start looking to make that transition in some way or another.
You get to know the individuals as you prepare them for the totality of the experience. Some of them need a little at a time and some of them are ready for that message, but you don't know that until you get to know them and they get to know you.
Frierson: I grew up here in Athens and you've been here since the late '70s, so are you as amazed at the transformation around the UGA athletics facilities as I am?
Miles: Oh, most definitely. I can remember McWhorter Hall, the coliseum and the football practice fields — that was our (football team's) footprint. What is here now and what the student-athletes have the ability to take advantage of, I'm very happy for them and what this athletic association has evolved into with the facilities and what they can do for these student-athletes.
In my time, you came down those steps at McWhorter Hall and you walked through the back door of the coliseum, and everyone did that because everyone was in McWhorter Hall, so you walked across. And I can remember the next stage, coming out of the coliseum and walking on to the practice fields.
Frierson: I take it you don't miss those days of practice and early-morning workouts?
Miles: I miss Saturday afternoons between the hedges, but all that other stuff [laughs], I tend to want to just reminisce about it. I just miss Saturday afternoon at Sanford Stadium.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
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