A Tribute to Andy Miller

Seminole Boosters, Inc. and Robert Andrew Miller Entered the World Together in the Fall of 1951

By Charlie Barnes

Seminole Boosters was born in the lounge of the old Cherokee Hotel downtown as local business leaders sought to organize support for the athletics program. Andy Miller was born into a solidly Seminole family that has only grown and expanded since then. Miller’s mother, father and uncles were all part of the early iteration of the new Florida State University. His wife Cindy, his brother and sister, his children, his grandchildren, his in-laws of all stripes and varieties, all wear the Garnet & Gold.

In 2021, Seminole Boosters, Inc. and Andy Miller will mark their 70th Birthdays together.

After graduating from FSU, Andy Miller became a rising star in the Motorola Corporation. He was so successful in the territory along the Panhandle that the company wanted to transfer him to the larger market in Jacksonville. But Miller wanted to remain close to his family in Gadsden County and Tallahassee.

Booster Board Chairman George Langford interviewed Miller to head the newest version of Seminole Boosters, Inc. Langford laughed, “Andy was so young, he still had milk on his breath.” But Langford also said he saw in Andy Miller a young man bursting with energy, an aggressive spirit with a sense of vision beyond his years.

Langford might as well have been looking in a mirror. Sergeant Langford the young tank driver came ashore on D-Day, June 6, 1944, and followed Patton until the end of the war. After Law School he founded Municipal Code Corporation, and built his dream into the most comprehensive and successful iteration of his business in America.

Following the near collapse od Seminole football in 1973, George Langford and FSU President Stan Marshall collaborated on a bold plan to rebuild the program from ground zero. The original Seminole Boosters organization had been successful raising money and selling tickets throughout the coaching tenures of Tom Nugent and Bill Peterson.

Following Peterson’s departure in 1971, Athletic Director Clay Stapleton disbanded the Seminole Boosters, and replaced their efforts with an ineffectual substitute under his control. Stapleton left following the 0-11, 1973 season.

In 1974, Stan Marshall and George Langford envisioned a ‘new’ Seminole Boosters as an authorized, independent ‘direct support organization’ with their own Board of Directors. They were to be the fundraising arm of the University, but separate from the Athletic Department. That scenario was exactly tailored to someone of Miller’s aggressive, entrepreneurial bent.

In March 1975 Miller’s reputation, and Langford’s belief in him, was such that Florida State University turned over its entire collegiate athletics fundraising apparatus to Andy Miller when he was only 24 years old.

Miller attributes much of the Boosters’ success to the principle that they are a bottom-line organization. “Hal Wilkins (President of the FSU Foundation in the 1970s) advised me never to take chances with our Board,” Miller says. “There are no freebies; no honorary memberships. Everyone on the Booster Board is expected to either give big money or raise money, preferably both.”

It is no accident that for 45 years many if not most of the University’s $1 million donors have served on the Seminoles Booster Board of Directors.

Miller’s leadership included maintaining laser focus on the business at hand. He instructed his staff, “Our job is simple. We will take full advantage of every win, every opportunity that Bobby Bowden provides.”

Under Miller’s direction, the Boosters have raised more than a billion dollars in contributions – it has moved so fast that no one has been able to keep track of exactly how much.

In 1987, Miller recognized that escalating Scholarship costs would out-run the University’s funding capabilities. Miller created the Seminole Boosters Scholarship Endowment and made those gifts a focus of the vast Booster volunteer network. The Endowment that started with zero dollars in 1987 is now valued at north of $70 million. The Endowment will continue to grow until the Athletic Department no longer needs to write an annual check for scholarships out of the general budget.

Miller also created FSU’s licensing and affinity programs, with the income dedicated to growing the Scholarship Endowment.

In 1988, Andy Miller and his Board and University President Bernie Sliger shared a grand vision of Doak Campbell Stadium becoming a signature feature of the University, to include four entire Colleges and a host of student and administrative services. It would also serve to expand and upgrade the athletic department facilities, increase the number of income-producing skyboxes and serve as an iconic monument to the strength of the University around which Florida State alumni and fans could rally for generations.

This inspired vision of a massive public-private partnership energized all Florida State loyalists. The proposal would have to pass muster by the Board of Regents, and the Florida legislature who would have to provide funding. Florida State counted on influential friends and alumni to move the dream forward.

Legislators wanted Florida State to prove that they could raise money on the scale needed to underwrite such a colossal enterprise. Once again, in 1989 FSU called on their ‘boy genius’ Andy Miller to assume temporary leadership of the FSU Foundation and conduct a very focused capital campaign to raise $10 million before a six-month deadline imposed by the Legislature.

Miller and Bernie Sliger along with Jim Pitts and George Langford organized an eleven-member cadre called ‘The A Team’ – a group characterized as our modern Praetorian Guard to secure this magnificent gateway for future generations of FSU students. The campaign itself was code-named ‘The Yorktown Project,’ referring to a successful strategic initiative during the Revolutionary War.

Under Miller’s guidance, the eleven members of ‘The A Team’ blew past the $10 million goal and raised $56 million in six months before the April 1990 deadline. In November, the Board of Regents approved FSU’s proposal for funds for University Center, and the Student Senate met to overwhelmingly approve resolutions supporting the project.

The Seminole Boosters’ cherished volunteer campaigns had long been the hallmark of their fundraising success. Thousands of Seminole Booster volunteers throughout the United States and the wide network of Seminole Booster Clubs were still producing remarkable fundraising totals, but unfortunately not enough to meet the voracious demands of a growing athletic dynasty. The Seminoles’ funding needs soon increased from millions, to tens of millions, and it was up to the Seminole Boosters, Inc. to raise the money.

Those increasing demands forced Miller to shift the focus of his professional staff from volunteer campaigns to major capital gifts. In 1989, an outside capital campaign consultant advised Miller that he ‘did not see and $1 million gifts to Seminole Boosters in the near future.’ Miller thanked the consultant, and ignored him. “We know where the money is,” he said. In 30 years, there have been around 100 individual gifts of at least $1 million each to Seminole Boosters.

It was Andy Miller’s vision that financed and brought to life the largest contiguous brick stadium complex in the United States. It was Miller’s vision to clad the stadium in classic Jacobean architectural style, reflecting the original look of the old campus. Subsequent University Presidents including D’Alemberte, Wetherell, Barron and Thrasher all agreed that future construction will echo that architectural style.

And, where not long ago where there were acres of old and abandoned warehouses near the football stadium, there is now an entire village of shops, restaurants, hotels, bars, student housing and fan-friendly, game-day gathering places. ‘College own’ is intended to bring fans closer to the stadium and create an enhanced game-weekend experience for Seminoles who must travel to the games. Those investments by Seminole Boosters have already began returning dollars to grow the Boosters’ Athletic Endowment.

Observers have marveled at Florida State’s success. How did the only university to begin playing football from scratch in the last 75 years and win a National Championship (three actually, since you’re counting) manage to move ahead faster than so many other old-line programs?

It’s a good story, and the answer is worth contemplating for those who will follow in Miller’s footsteps.

An unexpected surprise 40 years ago in faraway Nebraska provided penetrating insight into the success of Seminole Boosters.

In 1980 the Cornhuskers were the pride of the state of Nebraska, and the Omaha World Herald newspaper conducted a nation-wide survey of major collegiate fundraising organizations, fully expecting that the results would affirm their assumption that the Big Red ranked as high in fundraising as they did on the gridiron.

They were in for a shock. No doubt, Cornhuskers were disappointed that Nebraska did not rank among the national leaders. But the greatest surprise was that fledgling power Florida State’s Seminole Boosters ranked #6 in the nation in terms of numbers of contributors and money raised.

How could it be that mighty Nebraska ranked dead last among the members of the Big 8 Conference? And how in the world could the Seminoles – a team that had never won a major bowl – rank among the nation’s elite?

Here’s the surprising answer. Five of the top 10-ranked collegiate athletic fundraising organizations were schools in the ACC. We Seminoles were still a decade away from joining the ACC but we were in that company when it came to fundraising.

The ACC was the nation’s premier basketball league. Basketball programs generated enough income to sustain themselves, but their arenas were tiny compared to the vast, sprawling football stadiums of the SEC, Big 10, Big 8 and PAC 10. Basketball alone couldn’t support entire athletic programs.

Nebraska had sold every seat in their 76,000+ seat stadium for generations. The Cornhuskers were swimming in football money, as was every other major gridiron power. Ticket sales and television made their athletic department Booster programs a luxury instead of a necessity.

In fact, both Texas and Notre Dame sniffed haughtily at the Nebraska survey, each saying that they did not need to engage in annual fund drives.

But those Atlantic Coast Conference schools learned how to raise money because they had to, in order to sustain their athletic budgets. In his first year on the job, Andy Miller exchanged visits with the IPTAY Club at Clemson, the Wolfpack Club at N.C. State, the Rams Club at North Carolina and the Gamecock Club at South Carolina – all of those among the Omaha World Herald’s Top 10.

Media personality and sportswriter Jim Crosby noted that Miller told him, “I remember a time when we went to a local bank and borrowed a half million dollars to be able to pay the payroll. We had no cash flow and had spent all our ticket revenue and Booster contributions. We didn’t have a nickel.”

But Andy Miller and George Langford and the rest of the newly formed Golden Chiefs, plus an army of recruited volunteers, learned how to raise money in ways not required of the older, more established football schools.

Then the financial landscape of big-time college athletics began to change. Costs rose exponentially: scholarships, coaches salaries, the race to build competitive facilities, even the impact of Title IX requirements all contributed to an insatiable demand for more money. You’ll not be surprised to learn that even Texas and Notre Dame now conduct substantial annual fund drives to support athletics.

Schools that never had to raise money professionally wanted to know how it was done. Soon, athletic representatives from major athletic powers were seen visiting Tallahassee to learn how Florida State and Andy Miller’s Seminole Boosters structured their fundraising.

Florida State University has showered Andy Miller with every honor they could think to offer: He’s in the FSU Hall of Fame; was tapped for the Circle of Gold; he’s received the Moore-Stone Award, the Sliger Award and the Joanos Award. And when they ran out of awards, they shifted to facilities. Nearly two decades ago, the two-story convention space in University Center was officially designated Andy Miller Hall.

Andy Miller’s reputation as ‘the boy genius’ of 1975 was well earned. But the boy genius is now a grandfather. His long tenure was brilliant and transformative, his influence felt through the corridors of Wescott and extending across generations.

What they’re saying:

Bobby Bowden, Former Head Football Coach: I was at Florida State for 34 years and now it has been 44 years and when I look back at the progress over that time, you can attribute a lot of it to Andy Miller. He was a great builder.

He had just been appointed to head up the boosters the year before I got here. I thought he did a lot of great things but the best was the designing of the Florida State stadium. He was the guy who put that together. It most certainly made a big difference. When I came here we seated 41,000 and half of that was empty seats. Andy got on that project and along with our success in athletics, he kept side by side improving and developing Florida State’s facilities.

People came to a Florida State game in 1976 to an erector set, which was like sitting on steel and air between, and he turned that thing into a palace, and he did, a palace! I can’t tell you how helpful that is in recruiting.

It is just going to seem different. There’s a guy who had his position for all my career here at Florida State. What it tells you is me and him are getting old. A guy as successful as him, the only way he leaves is to retire.

Leonard Hamilton, Head Basketball Coach: Andy Miller was a visionary in college athletics whose ability to see into the future helped thousands of student-athletes compete at an extremely high level and, more importantly, earn the degrees from Florida State University. His legacies are many – from the University Center Complex, to Heritage Grove to CollegeTown. Andy will be remembered for so many things that helped shape this great university but none will be more important than helping so many young people grow into adults because they received a quality education.

Bob Davis, Chairman of Seminole Boosters, 2019-2020: In going over the history of the Seminole Boosters it is amazing how far we have come. Andy is truly a visionary as well as totally dedicated to Florida State University.

From the very early years when about $20,000 a year was raised to today where we have raised nearly $93,000,000 for our Unconquered Campaign in 2 1/2 years as well as almost $15,000,000 a year for our annual fund. It is truly amazing what Andy’s leadership has accomplished.

He is a dreamer. Who could have ever anticipated Doak Campbell Stadium going from the erector set stadium to what it has become today? The Seminole Boosters have truly become the most diverse fundraising program in college athletics.

We have built baseball stadiums, softball and soccer complexes, an aquatic complex and the first Jack Nicklaus Legacy golf course in the United States. Not just athletic facilities but housing facilities for students-athletes. The Champion’s Club is one of the largest club seating projects in the country. And CollegeTown includes not only first-class housing but an entertainment and commercial complex that are amazing.

When I think of FSU sports these are two names that will go down as the reasons we have been so successful. Coach Bobby Bowden and Andy Miller have put FSU on the map in Collegiate athletics.

Nylah Thompson, Former Seminole Booster Chair, Current Unconquered Campaign Co-Chair: It was great to work with Andy and see another of his visionary projects, the Dunlap Champions Club, open during my term. Without Andy’s leadership Seminole Boosters would never become the entrepreneurial organization it is today. We have been truly blessed to have had Andy leading Seminole Boosters for the past four decades.

Dave Hart, Former Director of Athletics: Well Andy is a friend. Our friendship developed as we worked together for nearly 13 years. Those were still some formative years for the university and the athletics department and Seminole Boosters played a key role in the growth when you look at the impact of Seminole Saturday in Tallahassee.

Andy was an idea guy. I always enjoyed sitting down and brainstorming various concepts. Once Andy set a direction, he knew where to go and how to get things done. When we planned the facilities enhancements, he and I would look at where we were and where we needed to go, and the role Seminole Boosters would play, which was a critical role in accomplishing some of those goals. We never one time had a disagreement on issues. Andy trusted me to do my job as Director of Athletics and I trusted him in his role. And it worked well.

There were a lot of accomplishments spread over 13 years. The facilities enhancements, the Dynasty Campaign, all the campaigns we worked on, side by side, hand in hand. In those days we did the spring tour with 30 stops and they all included golf so we were together a lot on fundraising trips, brainstorming, and then implementing what came from those brainstorming sessions. We spent a lot of time together.

Pam and I have so many fond memories of our time there and Andy and Cindy were a big part of it.

We really had a great staff and you have to have great people to accomplish great things. We got along very well together all pulling in the same direction. A lot of what was accomplished was through Andy’s ideas and putting those ideas in motion and working hand in hand.

Barbara Palmer, Former Women’s Athletic Director: Right after I became women’s Athletic Director, I went to see him in his office and was surprised to find his office was a studio apartment. His files were in the bathtub. He was an absolute rookie and look where he has taken this organization. He was absolutely the best in the country.

Back then, there were a lot of people, mainly men, who were very concerned about women’s athletics and the effect it would have on the Athletics budget. Andy took progressive positions, hiring the first woman fundraiser, Debbie Derzypolski, and that was the springboard for creating endowed scholarships for women’s sports.

I just love Andy and what he has done for Florida State University.

I understand over time things change. I am truly sorry to see Andy retire because he has done an absolutely fantastic job. He certainly deserves retirement for all he has done for FSU and I wish only the best for him and for his family.

Dr. Joe Camps, Former Chairman and Board of Trustees member: Andy was ahead of his time and history will prove it. I don’t think people fully appreciate what he has done. He was one of the most energetic, methodical and passionate people I have ever known. He was always looking to generate revenues that would support the program. He was not focused just on philanthropy because we were not rich with wealthy donors, so he created ancillary income for the university as well.

His ideas for the University Center will go down as unparalleled. I remember Andy when I was a freshman football player. I remember the 0-11 and 3-8 seasons, when he started, and from that Andy built a dynasty in philanthropy and giving. We didn’t have one here before Andy and that is why I say he is one of the most successful people I have known. He was unselfish. He was Unconquered. He embodies the spirit of Unconquered.

This dude was incredible and yet he was unselfish. Everything he did he did with the university at heart and that’s what matters most to me.

Lawton Langford, Former Chairman and MICCO Donor: Andy Miller is a rare combination of a person who has great vision, and who can execute that vision. Naming just a few of Andy’s visions: University Center; CollegeTown; Burt Reynolds Hall; and the list could go on. There are many great ideas, but few that become reality.

Andy’s magic is his humility, his devotion to FSU and his ability to attract the right person at the right time and get them to volunteer their time. We used to tease Andy about always having the perfect person as Chairman of the Boosters to handle whatever might be the issue of the year. Looking at the list of past Chairmen, you’ll see a fabric of influential people woven tightly together and bonded by Andy Miller.

It’s rare for a person to last in an organization (especially one as political as a university) for 46 years! There were several attempts by people in very powerful positions who wanted to make a change in the Booster leader, but because Andy’s motivation was always “what’s best for FSU” he always prevailed and we benefitted by his extended tenure as the Booster CEO.

Finally, Andy’s humility is under-appreciated. The Seminole Boosters are an organization led to greatness by Andy but he is reluctant to accept the credit.

So, Andy – and I speak for all of us – job well done and THANK YOU! It was a pleasure working with you.

Gary Walsingham, Former Chairman and MICCO: Andy Miller has always been looking for new things to make FSU better. He was always working on a deal and of course he always needed help which he wasn’t bashful about asking us all to help.

When I first got involved with the Boosters and going on trips, we would also play golf. I noticed Andy would always be playing tennis. I got Andy aside and told him, you don’t make business deals on a tennis court. The business deals are made on the golf course where you can talk to everyone. Andy didn’t say much but he started playing golf and I didn’t see him on a tennis court again.

Les Pantin, Former FSU Board of Trustee member: After Bobby Bowden nobody in the history of FSU has done more for Florida State than Andy Miller. Not only the fundraising but the vision to see the University Center, CollegeTown and so on. We’ve been friends for more than 40 years. I used to stay at his home before we were married. We joke abut both being from Havana. I am from the big one (Cuba). He is from the little one (Florida).

DeVoe Moore, MICCO: You will never find another one like him. I’m talking about creative. I’m talking about dedicated to the point he is working diligently in the spirit of Seminole Boosters and the athletic department and the students trying to build a better program. Look at the football stadium. It wouldn’t have been built without Andy and the Boosters and all of the staff who have worked with Andy.

Andy is the type who can put CollegeTown together and I don’t know you’ll find someone like that. Give Andy credit for it. CT is very important. He talked about it way before it was built, whenever I donated the land. The reason for donating it was to develop it the way it was developed and Andy could see it. We had conversation about doing something that would create revenue for scholarships for the future.

He and the Boosters went to bat and got it done. You have to give Andy a lot of credit for being motivated and energetic to where he was able to accomplish what he did. You can’t give him all the credit but you can give him the credit for leadership and knowledge for development of a better program. You have to give the credit to the whole staff. He was the leader who saw it.

Larry Strom, Chairman of the Legacy Campaign: There are certain people you meet in the business world who have credentials and Andy Miller is one. I don’t even want to think of where we would be without his vision and his hard work. Andy is one of a kind. We wouldn’t be in the position we are without him.

I was in Sarasota running a dealership and he came to see me because he knew I love Florida State. I knew a pro when I saw a pro and I knew he was one. Andy is a Florida State man and I feel very blessed to know him and to share the love of our school with him.

Lee Hinkle, FSU Vice President of University Relations: There have been so many dedicated employees that worked at Seminole Boosters but it was Andy’s leadership and tenacity that catapulted FSU sports to among the elite in collegiate athletics. He was like a chihuahua chewing on your ankles. He was relentless in his pursuit of donors who would fund projects and programs to attract the best student athletes and coaches in the country.

Andy Haggard, Former Chairman and FSU Board of Trustees member: I do not know how many times in the last 15 years I have said to people – whether we are walking across the campus, at the University Center or in the stadium – ‘No one meant more to Florida State than Andy Miller.’

Over the years, I’ve been around a lot of dedicated Seminoles – Jim King, Bernie Sliger, TK Wetherell – but no one has done more than Andy Miller.

Andy loved it. He worked hard. Florida State meant everything to him.

Ken Cashin, Former Chairman: Steve Jobs once said, ‘If you are working on something that you truly care about you don’t have to be pushed. The vision pulls you.’

In the early 1970s, Andy Miller saw a vision for FSU that most people thought impossible and he pulled all of us toward that vision of greatness.

Start with building a nationally-renowned fundraising organization for athletics, creating the idea and executing the plan that lead to the DeVoe L. Moore University Center and transforming a rundown industrial neighborhood into a thriving CollegeTown District are but a few of Andy’s initiatives that have advanced our University. Andy is a true visionary that made the Seminole dream come to fruition and I am proud to call him my friend.

Jim Pitts, Former Vice President of University Advancement when the University Center was built, currently Director of International Programs: Andy Miller is a visionary with an entrepreneurial spirit. He has had a major impact on the development of the university. He has been involved in many significant projects for the benefit of the university and athletics. These projects included land acquisition, University Center, University Center Club, and the multiple phases of CollegeTown to mention a few. The University is a better institution because of Andy Miller.

Gene Deckerhoff, Voice of the Seminoles: I first met Andy in 1975. His “office” was a tiny corner office in the Hecht House. He and Ted Ooutz (sic) were the total staff of the new Seminole Boosters.

As Color Analyst for the Seminole Radio Network in 1975, Andy and I spent many hours and a few beers talking FSU Football and his plans for raising money for FSU Athletics. We won just 3 games that season: Utah State, @ Clemson and @ Houston. As I recall, Andy and I along with a lot of our fans, celebrated the win at Clemson before and after the game – we flew commercial and not with the team.

In the Fall of 1983 Andy hired me to produce the Bobby Bowden TV Show and coordinate the Seminole Radio Network. Always thinking a step ahead of most, he gave me the title of Director of Electronic Media for Seminole Boosters, Inc. DEM-wit. Thanks Andy. With those responsibilities, Andy had me join Charlie Barnes as part of the Bobby Bowden Spring Tour.

In 1989 I was offered the job as play-by-play announcer for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Andy was my boss. Bobby Bowden was my coach. Andy thought the exposure in the Tampa Bay area would be a huge PLUS for Seminole Boosters. He said YES. Coach Bowden agreed to do his television show when ever I scheduled it – sometimes at 3:00 in the morning after a Seminole away game so that I could handle my Buccaneers Radio assignment. No other Head Coach would have agreed to do that. Bobby said YES. I will be forever indebt to Andy and Bobby for giving me the opportunity – 32 years ago! Thank you.

On April 14, 2014, Andy sponsored and witnessed my initiation into the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity – Delta Lambda chapter at Florida State University. We are Pike Brothers for life.

Two years ago I met Andy’s Havana HS basketball coach in the Home Depot parking lot. Since Andy and I both played basketball in high school, I was curious. I asked “Coach, how good of a player was Andy?” His answer – “He could shoot free throws pretty good!”

Andy Miller. You are the BEST. One of a Kind. Thank you for all you have done to make Seminole Boosters the best Athletic Fund Raising organization in the country. And thank you for being my friend.

God Bless. And Go Noles!