Rebekah Miller has always been a coach and a teacher, but that wasn’t always her plan.
“I was going to go to law school,” she said.
Miller is the new head volleyball coach at Seward High, taking over for Tom Pallas who retired at the end of the 2024-25 school year.
After graduating from Smith Center (Kansas) High School in 2007, Miller attended Hastings College and earned a degree in history, then went to the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
She played volleyball at Hastings, filling an outside hitter role for two years. She played all six rotations in high school, where she started out as a middle hitter and set the school record for blocks.
She started her career in Franklin, where she taught middle school history and was the head coach for volleyball and track.
“They hadn’t won in two years when I came,” she said. “My third year we had a winning record.”
A position came open in Smith Center where she and her husband Patrick could both teach and coach. That year saw them welcome their youngest child, Toby (now age 3), who needed a lot of medical attention.
“That was a nightmare year,” Miller said.
The family, which also includes Reagan (a second grader) and Theo (age 4), then moved to Falls City, where Patrick was the science teacher and she stayed home with the kids.
Both joined the staff at Seward in 2024.
Growing up, Miller participated in all the sports. When the opportunity came to coach volleyball at SHS, she jumped at the chance, she said.
While the Bluejays graduated some big weapons in 2025, she said those coming back should be able to fill their shoes. Many are multi-sport athletes and some play club volleyball in the offseason.
“I like a competitive, loud gym,” Miller said.
As a coach, Miller wants to put her players in a position to win. Team discipline is important, and she will set clear expectations, she said.
“It’s new but exciting,” she said.
