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Ryan Miller just bought a town home on Yale Boulevard that's sandwiched between The Pit and the airport, about a two-mile stretch.

Considering how perfect this location is for Miller, he might not need to drive anywhere else.

The airport gets Miller to Chicago, Memphis, California and other areas where high school basketball players are contemplating their collegiate future. And The Pit has a basketball court, which is practically the only place Miller wants to be when he's not out of state recruiting.

"I might drive eight miles a week," said a joking Miller, an assistant coach with the University of New Mexico men's basketball team. "Which is good, especially because of gas prices."

As a 31-year-old single guy who looks to carve out a national reputation as a tireless recruiter and basketball coach, Miller knows this is the process.

Putting in 12- or 16-hour days on the job doesn't bother Miller, who said he never got a free pass in the basketball ranks just because his brother, the Memphis Grizzlies' Mike Miller, is an NBA standout.

Miller's first week on the job in April included a 48-hour stretch spanning four cities. He flew into Peoria, Ill., on a Tuesday morning, drove to Decatur for an all-day visit with UNM signee Darrington Hobson, got back to Peoria at midnight only to leave his hotel at 5 a.m. to catch a flight to Tulsa, Okla. It was off to Las Vegas that night.

"That's a regular right there," Miller said. "It's just something you have to do."

The Lobos staff doesn't recruit with a private jet, which gives a handful of top-25 programs the chance to hit two or three spots a day.

Flying commercial allows about as much leisure time as your typical O'Hare or LAX layover.

As Miller dreams of first-class airways, however, it's evident his plans are to help propel UNM basketball back into flight.

Thinking big equals big success, Miller said.

"I think we're going to have access to one (our own plane) eventually," Miller said. "A lot of it has to do with relationships, and the relationships need to be there."

That kind of optimism has advanced Miller's coaching career, which started in 2001 with an assistant coach/player position with the Dakota Gold of the now-defunct International Basketball Association.

Miller, a former star at Division-II Northern State in his home state of South Dakota, has played in an Australian league, coached in the Midwest Professional Basketball League and served as an assistant director of basketball operations for Memphis. He was a Pepperdine assistant for one season before taking the New Mexico job in April.

"Basketball's my only real hobby," Miller said. "I love watching it, reading about it, being around athletes and recruiting athletes. You can only ask to do something you truly love and feel passionate about. This is encompassing a large part of my life."

First-year Lobos coach Steve Alford, who started in March, heard about Miller through associate coach Craig Neal.

In just two months, Alford has noticed the recruiting fruits of having Miller on his staff.

Hobson, rated as a top-125 player in the class of 2007, chose New Mexico largely because of his relationship with Miller. Hobson was committed to Pepperdine but re-opened his recruitment once Miller moved to New Mexico.

Another top-125 player, guard Terrance Joyner of the class of 2008, said Miller is a large reason why the Lobos top his list of favorites.

"I love how he goes about recruiting," Alford said. "He's very aggressive and has a lot of contacts. With Ryan's West Coast recruiting ties, it complements our entire staff. He's a tireless worker, he comes from basketball blood, he played the game and has a lot of passion giving back to the game."

The key in recruiting, Miller says, is to be aggressive, but not too aggressive.

High schoolers don't receive 12 daily cell phone messages from Miller. It's all about the wait-and-see approach - charm up front, then try not to be a pest.

"You know you have a shot at a kid when he starts calling you," Miller said. "If you're pressing the issue all the time and getting no response, that's when you don't have a shot."

Miller's recruiting ties stretch from California to the East Coast, where his brother has an Amateur Athletic Union team, the M33M squad out of Memphis.

An extensive book of contacts - or cell-phone database, these days - gives Miller the confidence to ring just about "anybody at any level," he said.

Though his biggest strength could be his ability to shine in a living room.

Check out how Miller started selling the program in an interview for this story:

"We have so much to offer here," Miller said. "Our practice facility is state-of-the-art, one of the best in the country. The Pit is full of tradition, and we have one of the most experienced staffs, as far as playing and coaching experience combined, in the country, hands down."

And it's all yours, if you sign this letter of intent.

Not that Miller wants to recruit his way into a nonexistent social life. He was once married and now divorced, but he'd like to have a family of his own some day. He'd also like to become a head coach and looks up to Alford, who juggles basketball and a family of three kids and a wife.

Miller has noticed how Alford puts in the necessary hours as coach and quickly switches to wearing the Daddy cape.

Until then, the everyday choices are simple for Miller.

"If someone gives me a choice between going hunting and watching kids play basketball, I'd rather watch basketball," Miller said. "It's what I love."