Reflections on Nyla Milleson’s Tenure as Head Women’s Basketball Coach

By
Daniel Frank
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After completing a 3-19 (0-14) season, it was announced this morning that head coach Nyla Milleson was resigning.

As head coach at Mason, Milleson had an all-time record of 98-140. In 2018, Coach Milleson led the Patriots to one of their best seasons in school history behind A-10 Player of the Year Natalie Butler, earning a spot in the 2018 WNIT. In the opening game of the tournament, Butler became the NCAA Division I women’s basketball single-season rebounding leader, en route to Mason’s 82-75 victory over Stephen F. Austin. It was the first postseason victory ever in Mason history.

The following season, George Mason earned a 7-seed in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, and got to host a first round game, before falling in 2OT in that matchup with UMass. Then-Sophomore Nicole Cardano-Hillary won Atlantic 10 Player of the Year that season, and was one of the top scorers in the nation.

Unfortunately, the 2020 season is where it began to come off the rails. The Patriots posted a 9-21 record, including a 3-13 conference record finishing in 13th place in the A-10. It looked like rock bottom. It was not.

In the offseason, Nicole Cardano-Hillary announced she was transferring from Mason to Indiana, where she has been a starter all year long for the top-10 ranked Hoosiers.

Finally, we come to this season. The Patriots posted a 3-19 record, went winless in A-10 play, finished in 14th place, and lost their final 15 games of the season overall. No player on the roster averaged in double figures, as the young team seemed to struggle to find an identity all year long. Offense became a consistent problem too over the years, and that was punctuated this season.

George Mason ranked dead last in Division-I in field goal percentage entering their contest yesterday, shooting 30% from the field on the season. In addition, the Patriots ranked 326th in points per game at just a mere 50.5 points. In addition, they are 316th in scoring margin (-14.3), 324th in assists per game (9.3), and 315th in win-loss percentage (.143).

In her final game at George Mason, her Patriots fought valiantly, and nearly pulled the upset on 11-seed George Washington, but came up just short. After the game, Nyla Milleson and GW head coach Jennifer Rizzotti shared a really lovely exchange, with Milleson visibly in tears.

The press conference afterwards was an emotional one to say the least. I asked Coach Rizzotti, first, about her relationship with Nyla has been and what that interaction was like for her. Jen responded, “We’re neighbors, we play each other a lot. I don’t know, I feel like the league really welcomed me a couple years ago as a coach, it just felt different from when I started coaching at Hartford. The community of coaches in the A-10 is great. [Nyla] has always been a competitor, but also understands the bigger picture.”

Rizzotti further expanded, sharing a lovely memory she has with Milleson from the 2018 season, saying, “A couple years ago in 2018, she had a really great team, and we upset them in the first round of the tournament, and I’m sure it was probably devastating for her. You know, she had Natalie Butler and Nicole Cardano-Hillary and was probably their best chance to get a championship, and we kinda took care of business. After the game, instead of, you know, moping about it, she stayed for the whole tournament and was like ‘we’re rooting for you to win,’ and it just meant a lot to me. We’re all competitors, it’s really hard to walk into a locker room after your seasons ends, and the fact that she had a positive mindset about what GW could do, and almost like ‘hey we can compete, but we’re also neighbors and lets support each other.'”

Rizzotti concluded saying, “I know its been a really rough year for them, so as a coach when you know what that other guy is feeling, it’s hard not to want to give them a hug and just told her she’s got my number and when things settle down, lets grab a beer. We’re neighbors so lets support each other as colleagues and friends and obviously the connection with [Tajama Ngongba] on her staff is strong for us, and we’ve just always really respected each other as staffs and I just appreciate that, and she’s just been a really solid friends since day one I came into the league.”

I think those words from Jen really describe well who Nyla is as a person. True, her teams on the floor struggled at times. But what defined Coach Milleson is how she led her team, and how she developed her players, specifically as people on and off the floor that stands out the most.

On Senior Night in 2020, Nyla shared some remarks that I just feel are very relevant, and help tell the story of her tenure at Mason: “To watch this program grow over the past seven years…I remember the very first night I got here…we went for the National Anthem and literally there was about 25 people and I kinda looked around and I went ‘wow.'”

“But it’s not only been our play and what we’ve done and built that, but it’s been the type of people we’ve been able to bring in. We’re out in the community…we’ve got people. 100%, you’ve gotta win ballgames and unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that this year, but we have really built a fanbase that is really really loyal, they come back. The little kids in the stands, I love it. We’ve brought role models in…but I can tell you our attendance has grown…I think it’s even better than it was last year. That’s another thing that I’m very very proud of.”

At the end of the day, Nyla was a remarkable leader, role model and friend to so many around George Mason University. I’ve never heard a single player ever say a single bad thing about “Coach M” as they so fondly referred to her as.

Even in her final press conference as head coach, Nyla was as gracious and sincere as always, saying, “I just wanna thank you all for all that you’ve done for women’s basketball, all that you’ve done for me at Mason over the years, I appreciate the coverage. We don’t get that a lot, I’m gonna say it, from young people, a lot like we have, and I appreciate everything that you all have done to support our program.”

On a personal level, I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Nyla, her staff and her players. As a fledgling reporter, I got credentialed one night for a random mid-week game in February of 2019. Coach Milleson made me feel welcomed, appreciated, and valued for my coverage of her team. It made me want to keep coming back, and so I did. I’ve had the honor of covering Nyla’s teams for the last two and a half seasons, and it has been just that: an honor. Sure, there was quite a fair share of ups and downs on the floor, but off the floor, Nyla never changed who she was a person. I’ve always described her as such a mother figure, not just to the players, but to everyone in the program. When she would walk in the media room after a big victory, you couldn’t help but have your mood improved with her bubbling optimism and positive outlook. And she always made a point to let me and anyone else in the media room know just how much she appreciated us.

College basketball can be cruel at times. As a basketball analyst, it’s hard to argue that the change at head coach was anything but necessary. But as someone who cares about this program, probably too much for my own good, I feel a lot of sadness with the end of this era. Yes, we all want to win and compete, that’s why these hard decisions sometimes have to be made. But it’s hard to have to say goodbye to such good people.

It’s great to see Coach Milleson already landing on her feet, as of this morning, she officially took the job as Hollister School District Athletic Director in her home state of Missouri. I wish Nyla nothing but the best in her future.

As for Mason moving forward, the coaching search begins immediately. I have heard rumors that there may be a short list of choices already, but we’ll see what happens. I have a few names I’d love to see come to Mason, namely Johnathan Tsipis, Diane Richardson and Stephanie Norman to name a few. We’ll see what direction AD Brad Edwards decides to go with.

But for today, I simply want to just say thank you to Nyla Milleson one last time.

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