The end of an era came in Chapel Hill this month. Quietly, with no fanfare, press coverage or flashbulbs, David Miller's tenure as head coach of Chapel Hill High School's baseball team came to an end. Most would be surprised to learn he is being fired. Not "being caught in lay-offs," as many teachers across the state are finding themselves. Not "resigning" to spend more time with his three 2-year-olds and wife.

Fired.

When David Miller accepted the baseball job in 2001, he took over a program whose field was in disarray, whose players lacked confidence and a team that struggled to win five games a year.

In Miller's nine seasons, the Tigers won three conference championships (their only three since 1980), had the only 20-win season in recent memory, and qualified for the state playoffs seven times.

The CHHS baseball field has been improved immensely under David's watch. A chain-link backstop, more an eyesore than a safeguard, was replaced by brick-work and netting. A cinder-block "press box" was torn down in favor of a safer, more functional box. Team dugouts were overhauled, with new benches and personalized lockers. A single batting cage was expanded to four, then covered with a roof for greater utility. New stands were installed. Surrounding areas were landscaped with trees, hedgerows and other plants. The playing surface itself was taken from a weed-ridden dust-bowl to a lush, green field as good as any high school's. Most impressive of all was a mammoth scoreboard that now overlooks a large tiger paw behind left field. It required fund-raising usually reserved for Rams Club pledges.

Most remarkable, though, was that 90 percent of the improvements were done personally by David Miller and his staff and players. Apparently, some administrators who wanted more personal control of this didn't like the way the work was done. But ask any worker in the Facilities Department at Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, and they'll tell you, with admiration, that Coach Miller spent more time improving his athletic field than any other employee in the system.

Since 2001, David Miller has coached 18 baseball players that have gone on to play ball in college, including seven Division I athletes, an Ivy Leaguer and two ACC players. Currently, two former Tigers are pitching in the minors. His teams learned every facet of the game, and each young man graduated as a very knowledgeable and talented baseball player. More important, however, is the impact he made on the lives of his athletes. Anyone who has played for Coach Miller has learned the value of hard work, integrity and responsibility, not to mention the importance of academics before athletics. In other school systems, they would name the baseball field after him. In Chapel Hill, he gets fired.

And what's the reason school administrators give for letting him go? The answer boils down to the school board alcohol and drug policy. That is to say that David Miller is being fired because he took a stand against high school students drinking alcohol and abusing drugs.

Many parents affiliated with the program were confused to learn that Coach Miller was being punished for attempting to enforce a team policy stricter than the school system's policy. As word spread of Coach Miller's firing among the coaching community, disbelieving coaches from other districts repeatedly said the same thing: "Only in Chapel Hill."

And it's true. While administrators enjoy the prestige of overseeing the best schools in the region, they stumble and bumble so much in managing their athletic programs that a negative reputation has grown around the state. What the CHCCS administration chooses to ignore is that baseball coaches aren't exactly beating down the door to take a job in Chapel Hill. Why would they, seeing what's happened?

For all that he's gone through, it's not David Miller who will suffer the most. He is too good a coach (and math teacher) to not get picked up shortly by another school. Wherever he goes, rest assured, he will do a lot of good for student-athletes, while here, talented juniors and seniors will no longer benefit from learning the game from David.

Miller finished out his summer doing what he always did: teaching young men the game he loves, never letting on that this season would be his last. Word got out, as it always does, and players and parents were able to say "thank you" after his last game. One night later, in a meeting with CHCCS Superintendent Neil Pedersen, the vast majority of past and present Tiger parents (their sons were barred by Pedersen from attending) voiced their displeasure. For all their effort, the words seemed to fall on deaf ears. They couldn't understand why administrators, whose job is to make decisions in the best interests of the students and community, would ignore the wishes of those very same students and their parents.

Only in Chapel Hill.