Highland football coach Eric Miller met with his football team on Monday and announced the inevitable.

"I was fired," Miller confirmed Tuesday morning. "I did not quit on the kids."

A month ago Miller was talking about working hard and turning around the Trojans' football program.

Miller just completed an 0-10 season and has won only one game over the past two seasons. Miller is 14-40 in five seasons, but Highland School Board vice president Dave Turoci said the past two years is of greatest concern for administrators.

"We've only got one win and that was against a Gary team," Turoci said Monday night, referring to last year's sectional victory over Lew Wallace. "Our numbers are down and we need a new direction. It's obvious that we need to make a change."

This season, the Trojans played to a 56-6 loss to Hobart in the final regular-season game in the Brickie Bowl, then lost to Hammond in the sectional opener 8-6 in the last minute of the game to extend an 11-game losing streak.

"We've had very good Pop Warner teams that get the snot kicked out of them by the time they reach the varsity," Turoci said. "We have good athletes walking the halls who don't come out. I think Eric made the mistake of not surrounding himself with good assistant coaches.

"It seems clear to me that the time for change is now."

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