"Where the Water Kept Rising" unravels at the height of hurricane Katrina in New Orleans where Jim and Jean Miller and their extended family try to escape from the wrath of nature. They are eventually displaced and are in the process of rebuilding their disrupted lives but Jim is also caught up in another struggle. He has just left his job as an executive at the National Football League and has accepted the offer to become an athletic director at the University of New Orleans. Plagued with bureaucracy and lack of funds, the job proves to be a big challenge. However, Jim is determined to give the young student athletes the distinction that they are hoping for.

In his book "Where the Water Kept Rising" James W. Miller tells his heroic and sad story as an athletic director, who wants to make a difference in the lives of his athletes. This is at a time when his personal life is also in turmoil. From someone who has been in the world of sports for more than twenty years, the description of the events is powerful. This book reveals many of the seemingly small but important details that we, as sports spectators, will never learn about. James W. Miller's memoir also tells the story of their struggle in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. The juxtaposition of these overpowering challenges with the personal stories of individual athletes makes the story very compelling. In a voice that is neither bitter nor sarcastic and with a bit of remorse, this story will not fail to tug at the reader's heart.

"Where the Water Kept Rising" by James W Miller takes us into the real life story of the survival of a New Orleans athletic team at the college level. Jim Miller had been in sports 20 years as an executive with the National Football League and three member clubs when the offer to become the athletic director of the mid-major college program was what he wanted to slow down the pace. It would end up not being the slower pace he thought it would, but instead a challenging and rewarding time of life. The first 32 months of his being the director was gratifying for him and he helped those athletes who competed. The program was on a shoe string budget that he had to work with but Miller managed to make it work and keep the program going well. However, on August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina smashed into the region and tossed those fragile and modest budgets at schools (among all the other damage it did) into a terrible disarray. Jim tells the story of how he worked to claw the program back to life. He had hoped for a quick recovery but like everything else in Katrina recovery there was a lot of red tape and having to work around it to get things to work. Along with the issues that were going on with the program Jim Millers family had personal trials and things to cope with as well.

This is a very personal and endearing look into something that did get national attention at the time but you would want more details. The fight that Jim Miller and everyone involved with the New Orleans programs put into saving things really comes across in this story. The writing is really good and it draws you in and makes you want to keep reading. I was enthralled with the details and was inspired to find out everything that went on from a personal perspective. Sports fans will love this book.