Draco Miller, All He Does Is Win

By Robert Graham

“Al Davis said it best, just win baby, win,” sings Cordozar Calvin Broadus, Jr. (Snoop Dogg) in the 2010 inspirational anthem “All I do is Win.” The parallels between Al Davis, best known for his previous ownership of the Oakland Raiders, and Draco Miller (MS 06, BS 04), ENMU’s new director of Stadium Operations, are striking.

Both served as coaches and were tapped by their organizations to lead them through inceptive projects. Draco is a former greyhound athlete, Enrollment Services recruiter, Campus Life director and now, as the new director of Stadium Operations, is the one at the helm to carry the stadium across the goal line that matters: the threshold of longevity.

Draco helped the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority raise money during their “Pink Out Basketball Game” philanthropic event for cancer awareness. Participants paid $1 for a strip of tape to cover Draco, and all proceeds went to the fight agains breast cancer.

Photo by Kait Roberts

A Brownwood, TX native, Draco comes from a culture that lionizes not only excellence, but also service.

“Brownwood is a lot like Portales. It is family-oriented, the kind of place where you would want to raise your kids,” says Draco. The community is supportive in every way imaginable. One thing that stands out to me are my high school football games at Gordon Wood Stadium where it was nothing for 10,000 fans to come out for Friday night lights.”

What Draco remembers more are the early lessons his father impressed upon he and his siblings about service to the community.

“As a kid my father would have us, every year, go to Cecil Holman Park and re-paint the benches, swing sets, handle bars–everything. It wasn’t until my adult years I understood my father’s lesson to give to something greater than ourselves,” says Draco.

Draco Miller and St. Jude client Lance Fletcher during a past Up Til Dawn event.

Since 2010 Draco has served on ENMU’s Alumni Association Board of Directors. In his six years he has changed the culture on the board by introducing younger alumni to the organization, by inviting the ENMU president and vice presidents to meetings, while also increasing the number of student senators who attended the University’s government lobbying initiative, of which students and alumni play a crucial role.

Draco has also introduced far more students to philanthropy. As the recent advisor for ENMU’s affiliation with St. Jude’s Children Hospital, students raised $40,000 through the University’s ‘Up Til Dawn’ fundraiser, where participants show solidarity with children cancer patients by staying awake as long as they can for 24-hours. ‘Up Til Dawn’ brings the Portales-Clovis community together on annual basis, an indication of the event’s strength.

A member of the 1999/2000 Conference championship football teams, Draco also recalls the emphasis on community service from Eastern’s coaching staff.

“When I came to Eastern, Coach Elliott and the entire coaching staff emphasized the importance of giving back,” said Draco. “We had to do so many community service hours, even before the NCAA required it. We also won a national award for a peerreading activity.”

In 2014 Draco brought another national award to ENMU as the director of Campus Life, when Campus Activities Magazine recognized him as the National Student Advisor of the Year.

“This was the first time that ENMU has ever been nominated for these awards,” said Ian Kirby, Campus Activities Magazine Editor and Director of Customer Relations. “Normally, major Division I schools win this award, not small, regional schools. For ENMU to have beat out these larger schools was amazing.”

Draco took one organization from regional relevance to national notoriety and is excited to do the same for the stadium, arguably the most important University project that has been 50 years in the making.

“This is a project of possibilities,” says Draco. “It is flexible, as there are always things we can improve to let the stadium transform with the passage of time.”