Minnesota Sports fans lost two legendary coaches these last few days. Ray Miller and Jerry Burns.
Ray, a long time pitching coach who worked for the Orioles, Twins and Pirates. A highly regarded pitching coach, he was known for bringing improvement to the pitchers he coached at many stops over his career. His successes as a pitching coach twice led him to be promoted to manager, where he was much less successful. He managed the Minnesota Twins (1985–86) and the Baltimore Orioles (1998–99), each for less than two seasons and with a losing record each time, compiling an overall managerial record of 266–297
Miller made his minor league debut with the Lexington Giants in 1964. He was subsequently acquired by the Cleveland Indians the following season. Miller never reached the Major Leagues as a player. The highest level he attained was Class AAA,with Portland, Wichita and Rochester from 1969–73.
In his final season at Rochester, he was a player-coach, and then became minor league pitching instructor for the Red Wings' parent club, the Orioles, from 1974–77.
At the close of the 1977 season, Miller agreed to join the coaching staff of the Texas Rangers, whose manager was former Baltimore third-base coach Billy Hunter. But in January 1978, the Orioles' pitching coach position opened unexpectedly when George Bamberger was named skipper of the Milwaukee Brewers. Miller was let out of his Ranger contract and succeeded Bamberger for the pennant-contending Orioles. He worked under managers Earl Weaver and Joe Altobelli and coached for O's teams that won the 1979 AL Championship and the 1983 World Title. Miller tutored 20-game-winning pitchers such as Jim Palmer, Mike Boddicker, Mike Flanagan, Steve Stone and Scott McGregor during that period. Not to shabby.
The success of the Orioles' pitching staff made Miller a sought-after managerial candidate and on June 21, 1985, he received his first opportunity. Billy Gardner, who had led the Twins to a disappointing 27–35 record, was fired and Miller took control of the young Minnesota ball-club. Although the Twins improved to 50–50 over the remainder of the season, they performed so poorly (59–80, .424) in 1986, Miller was replaced as skipper by Tom Kelly. on September 12.
Miller subsequently returned to the coaching ranks, spending ten seasons as pitching mentor of the Pittsburgh Pirates (1987–96) working for Jim Leyland and one (1997) back in Baltimore under Davey Johnson . When Johnson resigned at the close of the Orioles’ AL East Division championship season, Miller replaced him as manager. However, over the next two seasons (1998–99), the Orioles played ten games under .500 and he was fired in favor of Mike Hargrove in November 1999.
Miller returned as pitching coach of the Orioles in 2004–05, and the Baltimore staff showed improvement under his tutelage. However, he was forced to the sidelines by successful surgery to repair an aneurysm, and was succeeded in that role by Leo Mazzone in 2006.
He was inducted into the Orioles Hall of Fame five years later on August 7, 2010
Miller died on the evening of May 4, 2021, he was 76.
Jerry Burns , or as KQRS listeners might know him as Uncle Coach Burnsy.
He played in college for the Michigan Wolverines before becoming a coach. He was the head coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1961 to 1965, compiling a record of 16–27–2, and for the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL from 1986 to 1991, tallying a mark of 52–43 in the regular season, and 3–3 in the postseason. Between his head coaching stints Burns was a defensive assistant (1965–1967) for the Green Bay Packers, helping the team win Super Bowls I and II, and Offensive Coordinator (1968–1985) for the Minnesota Vikings, where he coached the team to four Super Bowl appearances.
Before his first game as a college head coach, Iowa was named the number one team in the AP Preseason Poll. Iowa started the season by winning their first four games in 1961 before losing their next four. In their final game, the Hawkeyes defeated Notre Dame 42–21 for the team's fifth win in six years over the Irish. Iowa finished the season 5–4, their last winning record until 1981.
In 1962, Iowa defeated both Michigan and Ohio State, the only time in school history that the school had defeated both teams in the same year. However, the Hawkeyes won only two other games and posted a 4–5 final record. The school's final game of the season against Notre Dame was canceled on account of the assassination of JFK. The Hawkeyes finished 1963 with a 3–3–2 record.
A 3–0 start in the 1964 season quickly turned sour, as the Hawkeyes lost their final six games. Burns was now in real danger of being fired, but Iowa had several players returning in 1965 and the Hawkeyes were expected to be very good. Before the 1965 season, Playboy Magazine picked Iowa as their Preseason Number One team and predicted a 9–1 record. Instead, Iowa finished the year 1–9 and, before Iowa's final game that season, it was announced that Burns would not be retained in 1966.
Of his firing, Burns said, "I want to be emphatic. I hold no ill feelings toward anyone. I hope, I sincerely hope, Iowa has great success in football in the future. If I can contribute to that future, I will." After his final game, his players hoisted him on their shoulders and carried him off the field, despite the loss.There were those who insisted that Athletic Director Evashevski wanted to return as football coach and that rather than helping Burns to succeed, Evashevski hampered him with rules and regulations that were not in force when he was the coach. But Burns ultimately said, "If we have failed, and we have, I'll take the responsibility for that. It is not the players' fault. They have done the best they can." He had a 16–27–2 record at Iowa.
Burns was 38 years of age when he was fired at Iowa. He moved on to the Green Bay Packers and served for two years as an assistant coach to Vince Lombardi in 1966 and 1967 when the Packers won Super Bowls I and II. When Lombardi retired after the 1967 season, Burns was hired by Bud Grant of the Minnesota Vikings. Grant hired Burns to be his offensive coordinator. Burns served as Minnesota's offensive coordinator for the next 18 years, from 1968–1985. During that time, the Vikings made the playoffs 12 times, won 11 division titles, and played in four Super Bowls, losing all four.
When Grant retired from coaching for the second time in 1985, Burns was named as the 4th Head Coach of the Minnesota Vikings on January 7, 1986. He coached Minnesota for six years, from 1986 to 1991. Burns compiled a record of 52–43 and led the Vikings to the playoffs three times. He helped the Vikings win the division title in 1989 and led them to the NFC Championship game in 1987. On November 5, 1989, Burns gave a profanity laced tirade during a postgame press conference where he defended his offensive coordinator, Bob Schnelker, despite the fact that the Vikings' Rich Karlis kicked a then league record-tying seven field goals en route to a 23–21 overtime victory over the LA Rams
On December 4, 1991, Burns announced that he would retire from coaching after the 1991 Season, he finished his final season with an 8–8 record. He has been nominated for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but has yet to gain the votes necessary for induction. In 1998, Burns gave the Hall of Fame induction speech for Paul Krause, a defensive back he coached both at Iowa and with the Vikings.
Burns died on May 12, 2021, at the age of 94 due to a variety of ongoing health issues at his home
