UT San Antonio Fall 2025 Commencement ceremonies were Dec. 15. This story is one in a series about the university’s outstanding graduates.
Rylee Miller enrolled at UT San Antonio to challenge herself both athletically and academically.
Along the way, she helped the UTSA Soccer team claim its first-ever American Conference Championship this past November — and also found her passion for a career that will allow her to give back to her hometown and inspire future collegiate soccer players.
“For Rylee to do what she did in her senior year, we were grateful to have her leadership and her overall commitment to the team,” said UTSA Head Soccer Coach Derek Pittman.
The Midland, Texas, native graduated Monday with a bachelor’s degree in medical humanities.
Near-perfect GPA
Miller was a two-time College Sports Communicators Academic All-District selection with a nearly perfect grade-point average, demonstrating her commitment to both competition and the classroom.
Before attending UT San Antonio as a transfer student, Miller was one of the cornerstones that created the foundation of the soccer program at Tarleton State University. She holds the distinction of scoring the first goal in Texans history and started all 37 games in her two years at Tarleton, logging 2,882 minutes of experience.
“I felt like UTSA was a higher-level program that could really challenge me, and it definitely did,” Miller said. “Coming here, I was able to get in classes that I needed to challenge me academically. There are a lot of resources and extra sessions here that helped me learn a lot more than I otherwise would have.”
Open mind
After transferring to UT San Antonio, Miller found herself in the UTSA Soccer lineup perhaps quicker than anyone expected in the 2024 campaign when Haley Lopez, who had started 18 matches for the Roadrunners in 2023, injured her hamstring just two games into last season.
“Rylee developed immensely,” Pittman said. “When she stepped in for Haley last year, I’m not sure we knew what her ceiling was. Every single time I asked her to work on something, she stayed after training to do those things.”
She also watched film and studied, and she asked questions about how she could improve, he said. “I pushed her like I do all our players. We don’t want them to stay status quo. Players like Rylee that have had an open mind to the coaching and the feedback continue to keep growing and improving.”
Miller said she appreciated the development she experienced — exactly what she was hoping for when she first reached out to UTSA for an opportunity to continue her soccer career. It culminated in a conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament this year.
“I’ve grown in a lot of different ways as a person and as a soccer player,” she said. “I think the coaching staff really helped me develop as a player.”
Sports field
At first interested in studying to become a physician assistant, Miller later shifted her interest to working in the sports field. After graduation, she plans to work in the management of a local sports complex and train youth soccer players in Midland.
“My whole life, I’ve been around sports and it’s all I know,” Miller said. “To have the opportunity to stay in that really excited me. That’s where my passion is, and I really enjoy being around that environment.”
Miller knows that the lessons she learned as a student-athlete at UT San Antonio will serve her well in her future career.
“I think the time management aspect of it will definitely help me in my job,” she said. “Just being able to balance being a student taking four or five classes, and also being able to focus on being a better athlete in my sport, participate in extracurricular activities like FCA [Fellowship of Christian Athletes] and SAAC [Student-Athlete Advisory Committee], and being involved in the community, taught me a lot about time management.”
“In soccer and in school, when you work hard, you see the benefits of that,” she added. “I’ll take that work ethic into my future job.”
Big year
Off the pitch, it’s been a big year for the Roadrunner, who married Cort Miller, a former baseball player at Midland College, in May. The couple met in Midland and were engaged in May 2024.
Miller said she’s certain her UT San Antonio degree will serve her well as she transitions to the other side of the sports world, looking to become an inspiration to those who aspire to follow in her footsteps.
“It’s great to get a college degree,” Miller said. “Medical humanities is not an easy degree. Being from West Texas, not a whole lot of Division I soccer players come out of Midland, and I’m excited to give back.”
