OXFORD — Glenn Box didn’t holler.
He wasn’t overly animated when the Miami RedHawks gave up six straight points to Akron right out of the gate Wednesday night.
That’s really not his style — at least during games.
The Miami women’s basketball coach leaned back against the Millett Hall scorer’s table with his arms folded and kept coaching the way he normally coaches.
“It’s one of those things where you’ve got to think about what you’re going to say in that moment,” Box said.
He didn’t say much.
He decided to let the rest of the first quarter roll through.
“You’ve got to be careful with what you say because I know who they are,” Box said, “and they have fight.
“Me saying anything more to them right now … because I already know that they’re feeling the pressure.”
Box knew his RedHawks were ready to win though.
They were ready to bounce back after letting a 15-point lead slip away in a deflating loss at Buffalo four days prior.
“I felt like I just needed to let the game play … let the game play out,” Box said. “I didn’t need to do anything extra. What I needed to do is my job in regards to putting them in the right position, and eventually, the game’s going to play out the way it’s supposed to play out.”
It played out in favor of Miami.
Maya Chandler knocked down a 3-pointer and the RedHawks were in the lead, 8-7, with just under four minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
Miami never trailed again in a 76-54 victory over Akron, moving the RedHawks to 11-6 overall and 4-3 in the Mid-American Conference in Box’s second season at the helm.
“Every great coach has a pulse of their team,” Box said, “and they know what the team needs in that moment.”
‘I grew up in locker rooms’
Box is from Cairo, Ill., which always sported competitive high school athletics programs.
He would attend games with his grandparents when he was a youngster.
“All the way up until seventh and eighth grade, I grew up in locker rooms and on benches and just being around that sort of thing,” Box reminisced while sitting in Millett Hall’s film room that converts into Miami’s press conference area.
He enjoyed watching basketball.
But coaching?
“I never had any desire to do it,” Box laughed.
“There are so many layers that you’d have to unravel. I mean, it’s a book.”
Box earned his associate’s degree in elementary education at Rend Lake in 1996 and went on to obtain a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Southeast Missouri State in 1998.
He began his coaching career in the Cairo school district before entering the college ranks.
“I left and went back home — basically to reset and restart,” Box said. “Ended up falling into a previous coaching job I had and did that for one more year.
“I offered to become an assistant coach at the JUCO level.
“From there, I went to Western Michigan and then to St. Louis, from St. Louis to Akron, from Akron back to St. Louis, from St. Louis to Indiana, and from Indiana to here.”
During the time he spent at Western Michigan through his time at Indiana, Box was an assistant coach.
“I think at Indiana I learned the most because I was on the biggest platform you could be on,” said Box, who enjoyed multiple Sweet 16 runs and a trip to the Elite Eight.
“We achieved a lot, and I had a lot of responsibility — which was really good for me. I was basically a head coach in an assistant coach role. Everything I do now, I pretty much did at Indiana.”
And Box thanked current Hoosiers coach Teri Moren for that.
“She gave me a lot of freedom,” he said. “She entrusted a lot in me. She allowed me to grow. She didn’t try to stop my development
“I learned on the fly. I learned the X’s and O’s of just being in certain situations at that level. I learned a lot about the psychology part of it.
“It was awesome learning grounds, training grounds for me. When I went to Indiana it gave me an opportunity to elevate my platform, and I took advantage of it.”
Right at home
That’s when Miami called.
“Every time a job came up, I was getting calls, but nobody would pull the trigger,” Box said.
Miami did.
“They took a chance on me.”
Box was named the 10th head coach in Miami women’s basketball history on May 8, 2023.
“I didn’t give it much hesitation,” he explained. “I knew I wanted to be here because I ultimately wanted to be wanted.
“I knew that I could do it. I just needed an opportunity. They gave it to me. I’m grateful for that.”
It wasn’t the easiest of situations for someone who just accepted his first Division I head coach job.
Box was handed a program left in disarray — and scandal. Previous women’s basketball head coach DeUnna Hendrix had resigned amid an intimate relationship with an athlete after four years at Miami.
Players transferred. The program turned into a skeleton.
“It was so bizarre. It was wild,” Box said. “But it wasn’t because of all that.
“Yeah, there were only a couple times where parents may have asked about it. My answer was, ‘I had nothing to do with it. Like, I don’t know anything about that.’”
It was wild because he — literally — “didn’t have a team, and I didn’t have a staff. My journey was so arduous that I couldn’t believe that I was here.”
It took Box a while to feel comfortable with the uncomfortable.
“It was so surreal because everything was on me,” Box said. “I was emotional. When I say emotional it was two or three days before I could even sit at my desk. I sat at a long table because it didn’t feel right that I was sitting at a head coaches’ desk.
“I knew I was ready for it. It was, ‘I can’t believe it.’ Like it actually came. I had a hard time.”
Box started to plug away.
Assistant coaches Ben Wierzba and Megan Belke were instrumental in aiding with recruitment and sculpting a format for the freshly-shaped RedHawks.
“Without them, this could never be possible,” Box praised. “They worked really, really hard. We had nothing. We were at the bottom. But we still did OK.”
With the return of only four players from the year prior, Miami went 9-20 in Box’s first season.
“I learned a lot that year with adjustments even more because we just were so shorthanded,” Box said. “I had to figure out how to score, how to be competitive, and it was such a struggle to be competitive.
“But those kids bought in, and they gave me everything they got. So I’m appreciate of them my first year.”
Now, in the middle of his second season, Box has been able to focus on the important thing.
Winning.
“I always tell them that we haven’t done anything,” Box said. “I don’t want to see any extra clowning or silliness because we haven’t done anything. Until we’ve won some games in the tournament, I feel like we haven’t done anything.
“I’m used to winning games in the tournament,” Box added. “I expect to be there. That’s what drives me for them — because I want them to experience all that good stuff. I want them to be able to experience it because I know they worked just as hard as those other teams that make it.
Box continued with a soft tone.
“But we’ve got work to do. We have to own the moment and own our time and continue to work to get better.”
