Step inside Miller Bugliari’s office and get lost in the memories. From ceiling to floor, barely any white space exists between the photos, plaques and pennants which tell the remarkable story of a 91-year-old life well lived.
“You could spend an hour or so looking around,” Bugliari says. “Me too, because I don't know what's all here.”
After 66 years as the boys soccer coach at The Pingry School in Basking Ridge, N.J., there’s more memories still to be made. Bugliari’s team is now one game away from winning the school’s 23rd state championship. The Big Blue plays Delbarton on Sunday in Franklin in the Non-Public A state final.
Ranked No. 1 in state by NJ.com, and in the Top 20 nationally, this 24-0 Big Blue team is one of Bugliari’s best. But winning isn’t what brings him the most joy.
“I think the thing that I enjoy the most is working with the young kids and seeing their expressions. Their excitement,” Bugliari says. “That keeps you young, and that's what's done it. ... It's exciting.”
In 1941, when Bugliari arrived at Pingry as a second grader, the New York Yankee’s Joe DiMaggio was in the midst of his 56-game hitting streak. The U.S. was about to enter World War II. Two years later, his father died. His mother wasn’t sure she could afford Pingry’s tuition. The school offered him a scholarship.
Bugliari has been paying off that debt ever since. After college and a stint in the military, Bugliari returned to Pingry in 1959 to teach biology … and never left.
For his 90th birthday party last year, the legion of students he taught and coached raised $6 million for scholarships in his honor.
“Miller’s biggest legacy will be the fact that there will have been hundreds, and in a given year there might be a dozen students, at the Pingry School who can only afford to go here because of the generosity of people that gave money to the school in honor of Miller,” says associate head coach David Fahey, also the school’s chief advancement officer. “These are not soccer players, by the way. These are just students.”
If a legacy is built on the number of lives touched, Bugliari’s impact exceeds all the numbers – he has the nation’s highest win percentage as a high school soccer coach with 994 career victories. It goes beyond the school’s athletic center and the field which bears his name.
Spend some time in that sports museum of an office and listen to the conversations that unfold. There’s the former player, now a teacher, who calls for some life advice. There’s the senior coming back from an injury who pops in to give an update. There’s the plans discussed to attend the football game that afternoon and the school play later that night.
Bugliari says he feels like he’s 70. Relating to players three quarters of a century younger isn’t an issue. “Even at his ripe age of 91, he’s always trying to make the team laugh,” says senior co-captain Walker Candelario. When Bugliari makes a height joke about the picture on his office door of Candelario as a 4-10 freshman, which is a foot shorter than he is now, Candelario might counter with an age joke.
“What makes him who he is is the fact that he connects with you on a very personal, very human level, full of care and empathy,” Fahey said. “Gets to know you, gets to understand what motivates you. Gets to understand what problems you might face and really finds ways to give you tools, whether that’s just love and support, or whether it’s actual tools from his experiences.”
Seven decades of winning have been extraordinary, but the relationships matter even more. “I love going into his office when I have a free period or eating lunch in his office and talking to him,” says senior co-captain Ryan Stern.
The walls of Bugliari’s office reveal his Forrest Gump-like life. There’s a picture of Bugliari with David Beckham and Pele. There’s photos of the decades he spent on the sidelines of NFL games at the Meadowlands as a referee and member of the chain gang. There’s pics of top European clubs and World Cup teams who have played on Pingry’s pristine fields, as well as shots with managerial legends like Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson. There’s even the People magazine cover of his son David’s wedding to actress Alyssa Milano.
Plus a few photos of his time in Hollywood. Bugliari had a cameo in the recent Bradley Cooper movie “Maestro.” Bugliari’s son, David, is Cooper’s agent.
“They said, ‘Can you come over and be an extra?’” Bugliari recalls. “I’ve got my own trailer. And I was in the scene at the end when Bradley is conducting.”
Not only did his three sons play for him at Pingry but so did his grandsons. As did his assistant coaches.
“I think he just loves it so much,” Fahey says. “I think, in a way, it keeps him striving. It keeps him growing. It keeps him learning. He adapts really nicely. He’s funny. He picks up on the wit. They’re kids. Their words change and their styles change, but their human nature and personalities are the same, whether it’s 1950 or 2024.”
With his trademark notepad full of scribbles always in reach and a booming laugh which punctuates most sentences, some things never change … except maybe the music played during practice.
“I like anything by the Vampire Weekend,” says Candelerio.
Bugliari isn’t opposed. “Some of it I don’t understand, but you know if it’s got a beat, I can, you know, move around,” he says.
And the boys even let Coach put in a song of his own in the playlist. Some Frank Sinatra.
“It’s ‘You did it ‘My Way,’” he says.