RANKINGS
EVENTS
I COMMITTED
COLLEGE
ABOUT
We’re sad to report a passing in the Tulsa Elite program as Cash Miller—the head coach of the 23/24 18U team—died on October 16, 2022, at the OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City after contracting pneumonia while waiting on an organ transplant.
He was only 43 years old.
Since his passing the girls have continued to #PlayFor Cash wearing bracelets that include a verse from the Bible, 2 Kings 20:5:
I have heard your prayers and seen your tears; I will heal you.
Jeff Fillali, the head of the Tulsa Elite organization, summarizes what many in the club program have felt over the last month.
“Please keep his family, players, staff and team in your prayers,” he says. “Cahs was a great coach and had such a passion for his players. He will be missed by many people.”
“While Cash did not receive healing in his earthly body as we prayed for, he did receive ultimate healing with our Heavenly Father,” writes Amanda Houska, the mother of 2024 player Rylee Jo Houska, who is on Coach Miller’s Fall 2022 roster.
The following tribute was written by Amanda in behalf of the entire Tulsa Elite team…
*****
How Coach Miller Got Into Softball
Cash Miller graduated from Midwestern State University in Texas. He began his coaching year in 2008.
He was a football and basketball coach for four years at Moody High School where he taught history from 2008-2012. He also taught at Prairie Valley in Nocona, Texas where he also worked with the Drama Department.
He was brought into the world of travel softball coaching by Kelly Hartman, who was looking to recruit Cash’s niece, Kinley Marek, for his Oklahoma Angels traveling softball team.
Cash began coaching with Kelly and later branched out to coach his own Oklahoma Angels team which turned into the Tulsa Elite 23/24 Miller team.
Cash loved encouraging athletes, helping them succeed in life and softball, and helping them live their dreams. He brought out the best in his players and loyalty was an enormous part of what he valued with his players and softball families.
The Tulsa Elite organization, the players, and the families who played for Cash will miss so much about him.
His passion for the game (he spent hours researching every team in a tournament to give our team the best advantage). His loyalty. His determination. His drive to help those around him.
But mostly they will miss the love he showed his players on the field and in their personal lives.
He was truly dedicated to each and every one of them and took a true interest in them as players, but more importantly as human beings.
He was more than a coach… he was family.
*****
Reigniting A Player’s Love for the Game
Coach Cash saved my daughter’s softball career and brought her back to the game she loves.
When we picked up with Cash in the Fall of 2019, Rylee Jo has lost her love for the game and was considering leaving the sport competitively.
She picked up with Cash and the Oklahoma Angels to get some experience in the outfield, which was not her normal position (she is a shortstop). Rylee Jo was looking to gain experience for high school tryouts where she thought her only option to make a 6A Varsity team would be.
In that one weekend of guest playing with Cash and the girls, she had fun for the first time since I could remember.
Coach Miller invited her to join their team and, from the moment she said “yes,” everything changed.
Cash pushed her. He pushed her to be herself, to love the game, to enjoy her teammates, and to remember: “It’s a Game!”
By the time our high school tryouts rolled around in the spring she was in love with the game and made Varsity… something she attributes to Coach Miller and his approach to coaching.
Now, after his passing, Rylee Jo misses the texts and phone calls to talk softball, to see how school ball was going, or to just check on her and see how life was treating her. She misses that he would just show up at a big high school game to watch and cheer for her.
Cash was the coach who would step onto the field between games to just play catch with her.
Our family misses the fact that every single victory, big or small, he was her first phone call outside our immediate family. He celebrated her successes and coached her through her failures. He had so much pride in all of his girls and was never afraid to show it to them or for them.
Today, Rylee Jo is a team captain for the 23/24 18U team and says she will always remember and appreciate the difference Coach Miller made in her life.
“Cash found me when I was at my lowest from a softball standpoint,” she begins. “I wasn’t enjoying the game and didn’t know if I had it in me to keep playing and trying to achieve my dream of playing college softball.”
“Coach Miller took me under his wing and singlehandedly helped me love the game again. He was the kind of person I felt like I could call about personal things if I needed someone to talk to. He always supported me no matter what decisions I made and I know he is so proud of me.”
*****
A Mentor to a Young Coach
Another example of his kindness and generosity was Coach’s bringing in Gavin, a 19-year-old young man, in with him last spring to help with the Tulsa Elite team.
Gavin is Rylee Jo Houska’s brother and he was interested in getting into coaching.
Coach Cash allowed him to fill in one weekend and, following the tournament, offered him an assistant coaching position. He wanted to teach Gavin all that he knew, share his knowledge, his passion for the game and his team, and all of his resources with the teen coach-in-the-making.
Coach Miller wanted to leave a legacy through Gavin; something that he, then, would then be able to pass on and share with another young person when he had grown into his own coaching roll.
In the short time Coach Gavin had with Cash as his mentor he learned so much.
Interestingly enough, from the outside looking in from a Mom’s perspective, Cash started with showing Gavin how to build and grow relationships with players. The girls have shared some of what he has done since Cash got sick: reaching out to them just to let them know he cared, checking in on them to see how they were doing, and going to softball banquets to support the girls.
But the one that stands out the most is the weekly report Gavin started with them after Cash passed: each week, the girls send Coach Gavin their Rose (something good), their Bud (something they are looking forward to) and their Thorn (something that is upsetting or bothering them). The “RBT” program.
I am told that he responds to each girl’s RBT with thoughtfulness and sincerity. While the RBT is new for the girls, the bonds he is forming with the team is something that Cash would be so incredibly proud of.
— Amanda Houska, Tulsa Elite 23/24 parent
*****
Current Tulsa Elite 23/24 18U – Miller Roster:
- Ally Gossett (2023)
- Ashlee Hogg (2023)
- Caylee Mann (2023)
- Charlie Zeigler (2024)
- Gabby Stauffer (2024)
- Jordyn Moody (2025)
- Kinley Marek (2024)
- Miranda Serrato (2024)
- Natalie Moreaux (2025)
- Rylee Jo Houska (2024)
- Taelynn Ballinger (2025)
Tournament Championships (2022)
- 2022 DCBP Sluggers Champions
- 2022 Shamrock Shootout Champions
- 2022 USA Spring Challenge – Runner Up
- 2022 USSSA May Classic Champions
- 2022 NTX Bombers Invitationals Runner up
- 2022 Top Gun Viper Division Champions
- 2022 FASA World Series Champions