‘He’s an energy giver’: Inside Dan Luers’ transition from player to coach

It’s no secret that Miami University is known for its coaches.

Across a variety of sports, the Cradle of Coaches features legendary coaches throughout Miami’s history. While each of these coaches shares a Miami connection, many of them share another: They traded in their jersey for a whistle after spending their playing days in Oxford.

For the men’s basketball team, Dan Luers is currently making that transition ahead of the 2025-26 season.

Luers began his collegiate career at Defiance College, where he averaged 16.4 points per game in his only year with the Yellow Jackets. He then transferred to Eastern Illinois University, spending three seasons with the Panthers and appearing in all 32 games in his last season.

For his fifth and final season as a college basketball player, Luers played in 12 games with Miami and averaged 5.2 points per game. His two highest scoring performances came in notable moments, including a season-high 20 points against his former school, Defiance, and 18 points on senior night against Ball State University.

His most significant impact, though, was what wasn’t seen by fans every game.

“Dan Luers was a huge key to the success that we had as a team last year,” head coach Travis Steele said. “He’s an energy giver. He was the same guy every day. He was all about the team.”

Much of Luers’ energy came during practice. He was often tasked with guarding senior guard Peter Suder throughout practice, a difficult task for many of the best players in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). But Luers more than held his own.

Suder ended the season as Miami’s leading scorer, averaging 13.7 points per game, good for top 20 in the MAC. Suder was also named to First-Team All-MAC, the first RedHawk with that distinction since Julian Mavunga in 2012, and was recently named the Blue Ribbon MAC Preseason Player of the Year.

The battles between Luers and Suder had a lasting impact on the rest of the team.

“I think it was really important for us,” junior guard Evan Ipsaro said. “He and Peter fighting every day in practice, bringing the energy, I think other people feed off that.”

That type of impact was enough for the coaching staff to begin to ask Luers if he would be interested in a graduate assistant (GA) position for next season.

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After a few weeks of further conversation and thought, Luers agreed to the new position.

That meant that in just over a year, Luers went from a new transfer in the program to one of its most trusted voices. That also meant that he will be coaching many of the players that he called teammates just a few months before.

“It’s definitely interesting playing with them [compared] to now, coaching them and trying to hold them to our standard,” Luers said. “But it’s really not that weird because our guys are right. I already had great relationships with them, so they understand the transition that I’ve made, they make it easy.”

The transition from player to coach, from student to teacher, can be quite an adjustment. In any industry, many would look towards their closest mentors for advice.

For Luers, becoming a coach is no different. He said that since he took the GA position, he has talked to some of his former coaches, including Marty Simmons at Eastern Illinois and his high school coach, Kelvin Moss, who is currently the head coach at Lakota West High School. However, much of the advice that Luers has received has come from inside the walls of Millett Hall.

“I think we got one of the best staff in the country,” Luers said. “I try to model it after the guys here, and our coaching staff really tries to empower the players. I think that they kind of give me a good example of what great coaching is. And then I’m just gonna try to take pieces from that and develop my own method for it.”

Luers added that he wants to include the best qualities and attributes that he sees in the current coaching staff. But coaching is also about going through the peaks and valleys of the season. For every positive during the year, there’s a setback that brings a teachable moment.

It takes a certain kind of person to perfect that balance. And while it’s still very early, the results for Luers have been overwhelmingly positive.

“He’s a born leader,” Suder said. “He’s one of the most hard working guys I’ve ever played with. He pushes you in every single aspect of life.”

Luers will begin his coaching career later this year, when Miami men’s basketball opens the season Nov. 3 against Old Dominion in the MAC-SBC Challenge.