New London — Maybe fate’s guiding hand gently nudged Glen Miller into this gym, this town, this night. Of all the gin joints Miller’s coaching career has taken him, there he was Wednesday night at Mitchell College, which sits in a nearly direct line across the Thames from the Groton neighborhood of his childhood.

He could go home again, and he did, for coaching win No. 300. Go figure: This career that began in New London and ping-ponged to Providence, Philadelphia, Storrs and now West Hartford, was back in the city with the St. Joseph’s Blue Jays, the Division III program Miller coached to No. 1 in the nation for a time last year.

And when the night ended, Miller walked into history, following a 123-65 win over Mitchell. It didn’t take him long once entering the locker room to get the water treatment, doused with a celebratory shower from his players, honoring the milestone.

“It's like I tell the players, I've just been so fortunate. The players win the game. So all the players that have ever played for me, I show my gratitude to them. It's a player's game. I'm so thankful for all the players that we’ve had over the years,” Miller said, drying himself off.

“There's so many great relationships with the different players over the years from UConn to Connecticut College, to Brown to Penn. And now here at USJ. A lot of fun. I'm really blessed to have been in the game this long and that I'm still enjoying.”

And to think it began a few miles from where No. 300 happened, across town at Conn. Coast Guard coach Kevin Jaskiewicz, Miller’s assistant for 13 seasons — Miller’s first 13 seasons — recalled that win No. 1 happened against Curry College in a tournament at Babson. Nonetheless hard times, those. Conn went 6-18 and 4-20 in the beginning of the Miller/Jaskiewicz regime.

Miller is 290-179 since, with undefeated regular seasons at Conn and St. Joe’s, an NCAA Final Four trip at Conn, leading Brown to its first postseason berth, leading Penn to the NCAA tournament and part of two national championships as an assistant coach at UConn. Last season at St. Joe’s, a program he built with Jim Calhoun, Miller was named the GNAC Coach of the Year, D3hoops.com Region 1 Coach of the Year and the NABC District 1 Coach of the Year.

“I remember those days. The 6-18 and the 4-20,” Jaskiewicz was saying Thursday by phone. “Glen was the same guy as he was when went undefeated. Attention to detail. Preparing his teams. Play hard. Defend. Be confident. The same things I tell my team now. I hear his voice in mine a lot.”

Jaskiewicz was awash in the old days again. He alluded to “doing the Coach K thing” at Brown, where they’d give the cold students — “Miller’s Maniacs” — hot chocolate and pizza as they slept outside to get the best seats for the game. Among their best memories came Feb. 15, 2003 when Brown snapped a 52-year road losing streak at Princeton, the longest such streak in NCAA history at the time.

“I have a phD in basketball because of Glen,” Jaskiewicz said. “I had no choice. Just being around him for so long. There’s no better experience.”

If coaching is Miller’s vocation, then loyalty is his greatest distinction. Even his current St. Joseph’s program reflects previous aspects of Miller’s life. Two of his assistants have UConn ties — Jeff Calhoun and Tyler Olander. Heck, even his manager, Lorenzo Rivera, is a former guard at Fitch, Miller’s alma mater. Miller still pays attention to his old friends, too.

“I don't even know why I went on the Coast Guard website the other day. I was probably checking up on Kevin because I know he's having a pretty good year,” Miller said. “And then I saw that (former player and Conn assistant) Tom Satran is on the staff and I was so happy to see that. So glad to see those guys back together and they’re doing a great job.”

An inquiring mind asked Miller if he spends time in reflection. Specifically: Does he regret leaving any one place? Does he regret leaving a Final Four program at Conn or the program he built at Brown that was headed to the NCAA tournament?

“It's not good to look back. I took those opportunities and tried to do the best I could,” Miller said. “Maybe I could have just found a way to win more. It's been a great journey. And again, I'm having a lot of fun right here. We're trying to build something special that coach (Calhoun) and I started years ago now.

“We're trying to build a program that can win a Division III national championship. I wouldn't say we're rebuilding, but we lost 70 percent of our scoring from last year. So we’ve had a few bumps in the road this year, but we're playing good basketball now.”

And yes, even on a night that called for reflection, Glen Miller was Glen Miller: going forward.

“I had the same upset stomach before tonight's game. It's like I go into every game thinking we can lose and you prepare the same as you do at the Division I level,” Miller said. “Here in Division III, the players are competitive and they want to win just as bad.

“I wasn't even thinking about 300 tonight. I didn’t even want to mention it. But obviously the players knew. I don’t know how they found out, but I tried to, you know, stay under the radar and kind of in the background and just coach.”

This is the opinion of Day sports columnist Mike DiMauro