Nyla Milleson, the architect and builder of a basketball program at Drury University which produced eye-popping results in the seven seasons from when she established it, is the new head women’s basketball coach of the Missouri State University Lady Bears. She was selected from a field of 46 applicants for the position.
Milleson was introduced by Missouri State President Michael Nietzel and Director of Athletics Bill Rowe at a news conference Monday afternoon in Hammons Student Center. Milleson starts Tuesday at Missouri State and will replace Katie Abrahamson-Henderson who resigned March 30 after five seasons as head coach of the Lady Bears.
Milleson’s appointment is subject to the approval of the Missouri State Board of Governors at an upcoming board meeting. Milleson will have a starting annual salary of $115,000 and a five-year contract.
The Lady Bears’ new head coach, a native of Goodland, Kan., embarks on her third coaching assignment in the city of Springfield. The head coach at Springfield Glendale High School from 1992-99, she moved to Drury and spent the 1999-00 school year putting the building blocks in place for Drury’s first-ever women’s team.
What happened over the next seven seasons is the stuff of story books. Chalking up a gaudy .837 winning percentage, her scratch-built program claimed six conference titles and made five multiple-round appearances in the NCAA Division II tournament, finishing as national runner-up in 2003-04. Drury has had the winningest Division II program in the nation over the past four seasons as Milleson’s 185-36 record in seven Drury seasons averages 26.4 wins a year.
The Lady Panthers, also among the top 12 schools in Division II average home attendance each of the past seven seasons, claimed Heartland Conference titles four of the five seasons Drury competed in that league before Panther athletics moved into the potent Great Lakes Valley Conference in 2005-06. Drury became the first team to go undefeated in GLVC history with a 19-0 mark in 2005-06 and the Lady Panthers’ 30-3 season record included a trip to the Division II Sweet 16.
This past season, Drury had a 14-5 regular season mark in conference play to win the GLVC West Division and knocked off Kentucky Wesleyan and Northern Kentucky in the first two rounds of the conference tournament before bowing to East Division champ Lewis in the tourney finals. Drury then drew an NCAA at-large bid, and, in the regional tournament at Lewis, beat SIU-Edwardsville in the first round before returning the favor against Lewis with a 67-62 win on the Flyers’ home court. That win moved Drury into the Sweet 16 where the Lady Panthers upended Ferris State before losing to Southern
Connecticut State in the Division II national quarterfinals. Drury finished the season 25-9.
Drury caught the fancy of basketball-happy southwest Missouri in the Lady Panthers’ inaugural season with a 20-6 record and a Heartland title with Milleson’s fledgling program. Drury finished second in the Heartland in 2001-02 in an overall 18-9 season and then won 33 of 34 conference games over the next three seasons in chalking up three more league championships. The 2003 Lady Panthers were 27-5 and got to the Division II third round and the 2003-04 ballclub put together a 36-2 season record in which Drury got all the way to the national title game in St. Joseph, Mo. The Lady Panthers won their first three tournament games, knocked off Seattle Pacific in the national quarterfinals, downed Henderson State in the semifinal contest and dropped a 75-72 decision to California (Pa.) for the Division II title.
Drury went 29-2 in 2004-05 and was again an NCAA automatic qualifier but lost in the second round of the Division II tournament. Milleson was named Region 6 Coach of the Year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association in both 2005 and 2006. She was Heartland Conference Coach of the Year in 2001 and 2004.
The Lady Panthers’ on court success has been mirrored by exceptional classroom work at Drury as well. The team has been ranked among the top 10 Division II women’s basketball programs in cumulative team grade point average all seven years the program has been in existence, finishing first in 2004, first in 2005 and second in 2006 in that category.
Milleson’s production of six 20-win teams in seven seasons at Drury came after she had guided the Springfield Glendale High Lady Falcons to six 20-win teams in seven seasons at GHS, for an overall mark of 158-39 in that tenure. A two-time WBCA High School Coach of the Year nominee, she took her teams to four conference titles and three district championships with top 10 state rankings every year. The Lady Falcons collected a Missouri Class 4A state title in 1996 with a 27-3 record which earned Milleson selection as MBCA and Associated Press Missouri Coach of the Year. Glendale was 27-4 and took third in the state in 1997 and reached the state round of 16 in 1998.
Milleson moved to Glendale in 1992 after three seasons as head coach at Junction City (Kan.) High. She took over a struggling program with a 3-18 record her first year, moved to 8-14 her second season and won 19 of 25 games her third year with a ballclub which finished third in the Kansas Class 6A state tournament.
The valedictorian of her high school class at Goodland, she earned an associate degree at Seward County (Kan.) Community College and then graduated from Kansas State University in 1985. Milleson received her master’s degree in educational administration from Kansas State in 1989 as a magna cum laude graduate. Milleson competed in basketball, volleyball and track in high school and was captain of the rodeo team during her two years at Kansas State.
Milleson and her husband, Brent, have two sons, Barrett and Caylor. Brent Milleson is Drury’s men’s golf coach.
“We are fortunate to have found a coach that excels in all dimensions of the job,” said President Nietzel. “Coach Milleson has a tremendous record, her teams have a history of high academic performance, she has a great appreciation for the Lady Bears program’s history and high expectations, and she knows and loves Springfield. She will do a great job.”
“We’re extremely excited that Nyla Milleson is taking over the reins of the Lady Bears’ basketball program,” said Rowe. “She’s a proven winner wherever she’s been and she’s very anxious to meet the challenge of coaching at the Division I level in the Missouri Valley Conference. She’s been a very close observer to the success our program has had over the past 20 years and I’m confident she’ll be able to step into our situation and not skip a beat. With her successful tenures in Springfield at Glendale and Drury, she’s obviously well acquainted with our community and area and has an outstanding network
of friendships and relationships in southwest Missouri. She’s going to be a wonderful addition to our university family.”
