SPRINGFIELD, Mo.–  Drury University Vice President & Director of Athletics Nyla Milleson will be inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame as part of the organization's induction class on Feb. 2, 2025, in Springfield. The Missouri Sports Hall of Fame announced their February enshrinement class last week.
 
Milleson took over the leadership of the Drury Athletics Department in February of 2022 after a long career as a women's basketball head coach at the college and high levels. She was Drury's first women's head coach as the program launched in 2000-01 and led the Lady Panthers to a 20-win season in their inaugural year. Milleson guided Drury to the NCAA-II national championship game in four years as the Lady Panthers won a regional championship, finished 36-2, and and were the national runner-up in 2004. In seven seasons at Drury, Milleson went 185-36, was named conference Coach of the Year six times, and her teams won three conference titles along with two regional championships.
 
Following her run at Drury, Milleson spent 14 years coaching at the NCAA Division I level, first at Missouri State, then at George Mason. She guided the Lady Bears to three straight 20-win seasons and a Missouri Valley Conference regular season title in 2012. At George Mason, she took over a program that had just won eight games in her first year, to a 24-win season and the team's first national postseason appearance in 14 years just five seasons later.
 
Before coming to Drury to start the Lady Panthers basketball program, Milleson was the head coach at Glendale High School in Springfield. In seven years, her Falcons went 157-39, appeared in the Class 4A state semifinals twice, and won the 4A State Championship in 1996. She was named the Missouri Girls Coach of the Year in Class 4A by the Associated Press and the Missouri Basketball Coaches Association in 1996.
 
Milleson also served one year as the Director of Athletics for the Hollister R-V School District in Missouri in 2021-22.
 
Since taking over the Drury Athletics Department, Milleson has seen six teams win conference championships and 17 squads represented in NCAA championship events. In her first full year as the Director of Athletics, she oversaw the launch of six new non-NCAA sports. In addition, 28 teams have won Great Lakes Valley Conference Team Academic awards, and 531 student-athletes have won academic honors within the GLVC in Milleson's first two years as AD.
 
When she accepted the AD role at Drury, Milleson became the first woman to lead an athletics department at any of Springfield's collegiate programs, including Drury, Missouri State, and Evangel.
 
Nyla Milleson was previously inducted into the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2018 and the Drury Sports Hall of Fame in 2016.
 
Milleson will be among 19 Missouri Sports Hall of Fame inductees and one Missouri Sports Legend honoree in a class that includes former Major League Baseball All-Star Johnny Damon, former St. Louis Cardinal Matt Adams, and local coaching standouts Benny Lawson, Kris Flood and Horner Askins.
 
Ticket information for the Feb. 2^nd enshrinement held at 1 pm at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds in Springfield can be found on the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame website (click here), or by calling 417-889-3100.
 

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