New Tulpehocken basketball coach familiar with surroundings, eager to get new season started

Tulpehocken’s new boys basketball coach grew up in Bethel, used to play pick-up games with Charlie Copp and coached previously at the school.

“It’s like a homecoming,” said 43-year-old Nate Miller, who was approved by the school board last week.

“When I found out (this job) was open, I was surprised,” said Miller. “I thought I had a good opportunity.”

Miller’s not the only one who was surprised when J.D. Ricapito, who coached the Trojans into the PIAA Tournament last season, abrupty resigned in late summer.

Tulpehocken went 19-7, finished second in Division IV of the Berks Conference and third in the District 3 Class 3A Tournament. The 19 wins are second-most in program history, trailing only the 25-6 mark compiled in 2006-07.

Four of the top six scorer’s from last year’s team, including 1,000-point scorer Bryce Mellen, have graduated.

Leading scorer David Bednarczyk is set to return after averaging 16.5 points per game as a junior. He shot 75.3 percent from the foul line and hit 45 3-pointers, tops in Division IV. He was an all-division pick.

He’s part of a small senior class and Miller knows the roster will be young but he’s still excited for his first chance to be a varsity head coach.

He’s been an assistant coach with four different programs over the last seven seasons, starting with Tulpehocken. He was Tigh Savercool’s junior high coach in 2015-16. He moved, along with Savercool, to Cedar Cliff the next season and coached in that program for four seasons, the first three as freshman head coach, the last as JV head coach.

He coached the freshman team at C.D. East in 2020-21 and was a JV/varsity assistant at Susquehanna Township last season.

Moving around so often was by design, he said.

“I appreciated everything that Tigh had ever done for me,” Miller said. “He took a chance on me. I learned a lot through him and his coaching staff. I wanted to expand my resume, to see how other coaches coached and attacked situations. (I wanted to be exposed to) different philosophies, and I got a lot of input (from different voices). That was big for me.”

He said Savercool, Cedar Cliff assistant coach John Ruby and Malcolm Wertz, recently named head coach at Susquehann Township, were big influences for him.(He coached at Cedar Cliff and in AAU ball with Wertz over the past five years.)

“Those guys stuck it out there for me,” he said.

Miller played basketball at Lebanon Christian Academy but got away from the game after college. About a decade ago his interest in the game was rekindled and he began coaching

“I love being part of the game and wanted to give feedback to the next generation,” he said.

Ricapito compiled a 39-51 record over four seasons, with the second-highest winning percentage in program history.

The Trojans’ trip to the state tournament last season was their first since 2007.