When Archie Randall left El Reno High School’s wrestling program to found a team at Oklahoma City University, Athletic Director Rocky Carter knew he faced a tough challenge.

Finding a replacement for Randall, whose accomplishments at El Reno were legendary, began with finding interested applicants.

Because of the prestige of the position and the pressures associated with it, Superintendent Jeff Mills said the district’s administration did not anticipate having many applicants.

“We ended up with six candidates. Three of them had head coaching experience and the other three had been assistant coaches,” he said.

After all of the interviews were complete, the school board voted Monday to pass the torch to Bobby Miller, who is currently the assistant coach at Midwest City High School.

Miller has been with the Bombers since 2004, and also serves as one of the assistant football coaches.

He is certified to teach history, which Mills said he would do at El Reno.

“His wife is also a teacher and she will be seeking employment in the area. They intend to make El Reno their home, which we like very much,” he said.

From 2001-2004, Miller served as an assistant wrestling coach for two years and as the head coach for one year.

During his tenure at Vinita, Miller coached ninth through 12th grades, and helmed the school’s summer freestyle program, which Mills said was important to the administration.

“We wanted someone who was going to continue that program and who was familiar with what we do in the summer,” he said.

While at Midwest City, Miller helped coach the Bombers to two third-place state finishes, one dual state second-place finish and one dual state championship.

In 2003, Miller was the Class 3A Oklahoma Wrestling Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year.

Before his work at Vinita, Miller coached seventh through ninth grade and high school wrestling at Locust Grove and had five national team members in the summer freestyle program.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Central Oklahoma in 1998, where he was a member of the 1995 Division II national champion wrestling squad.

“Bobby is highly respected in the wrestling community and we think he will be a good fit here,” Mills said.

“He really has a direction he wants to take the program.”