A chance meeting with NC State rifle team head coach Keith Miller changed graduate student Lauren Phillips’s life.
Phillips, a member of the NC State rifle team, was set to leave her former school, Nebraska, in 2015 after two seasons on the rifle team, and join the Army Marksmanship Unit in Fort Benning.
But she just wasn’t sure. After all, she knew it wasn’t in line with her desired career path and still aspired to someday get her master’s and doctorate degrees.
“I was kind of lost,” Phillips said. “I think everybody kind of has that point on their lives when they’re like, ‘What am I doing?’ and that was me.”
Phillips was an All-American performer at Nebraska, but a coaching change led to some turnover in the program.
“It just really wasn’t working out,” Phillips said. “I got a new coach while I was there, so she wasn’t the coach that recruited me.”
Transferring schools is not a common practice in the rifle community, so Phillips wasn’t looking for another school to join the rifle team, but after running into Miller at the National Championships during her last year at Nebraska, those plans changed.
Miller, the Wolfpack’s rifle coach since 1990, had recruited Phillips as she came out of high school in her hometown of Seabeck, Washington. The two knew each other over the years from encounters at rifle events, but Phillips never saw herself at NC State.
“Keith came up to me at our national championships that year and asked ‘Hey, what are you doing, you know, with life?’” Phillips said.
Miller offered for her to come out on an official visit, and shortly after Phillips fell in love with Raleigh and committed to NC State.
“I said ‘Hey, you know this is way to get a master’s and it’s a good, strong academic school,’” Miller said.
For Phillips, that one conversation was the difference maker in her life.
“When Keith talked to me it kind of shifted everything,” Phillips said. “As soon as I thought about going back to college rifle and being on a team again and working with Keith and helping him build his program, it was exciting.”
Since joining the Wolfpack in 2015 as a junior, Phillips has helped the squad to a consistent national ranking, along with numerous individual honors. She won the individual smallbore title at the Great America Rifle Conference championships in 2017 and was also named to All-America teams by the National Rifle Association and the Collegiate Rifle Coaches Association.
To Phillips’s coach, it’s her work ethic that stands out as much as her talent.
“She’s just one of the people you never really have to motivate,” Miller said. “They’re self-motivated, self-organized and very driven.”
Phillips is working toward her master’s degree in social work with a concentration in military social work. She currently works an internship three days per week from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Fayetteville at a detox facility, where she leads group and individual therapy as well as doing intake for patients. When she’s not in Fayetteville working, she’s training for the rifle season back in Raleigh.
“Substance use is a huge issue within the military population,” Phillips said. “So in order to reach my goals through my career in military social work, I hope to use the substance use internship now to kind of lead into that, since it is one of the main issues facing the military.”
Along with knowing people in the rifle community that were in the military, both of Phillips’ parents were in the Navy which led her to working with the military population. For her career path, her place on the rifle team and everything that has happened since leaving Nebraska — Phillips credits Miller for it.
“Keith just really took a second chance on me after the rifle community kind of pushed me out, and I really do owe him everything I have here,” Phillips said. “Keith really is family.”
Phillips also praises Miller for the character of the program he has built at NC State.
“Something that’s different about Keith than any other college coach you’ll meet is he believes in people and he recruits people. He doesn’t believe in scores or performance,” Phillips said. “He deserves a lot more than he gets in a lot of ways.”
Phillips, who is in her last season of eligibility for the Wolfpack, helped the team to a No. 9 national ranking, narrowly missing a bid to the NCAA Championships as the top eight teams qualify.
“We barely missed it last year, and it was painful for all of us,” Phillips said. “There really was a mourning period after that because we had such high expectations last year.”
For the current season, both Phillips has lofty expectations for the 2017-18 rifle team. The Pack entered the year as No. 9 in the nation, with Phillips being a leading force of the squad.
“I really want to bring the first National Championship in rifle to NC State this year, whether that’s individual or as a team,” Phillips said. “I expect our first national championship this year.”
After Nebraska, Phillips had no idea what the future would hold. If not for that chance encounter with Miller, who knows what would have happened?
But now, at NC State, she’s found her place. And for that, she’s thankful.
