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Nyla Milleson

Nyla Milleson, the architect of the Drury Lady Panthers basketball program that established itself as a national power, returned to the university to lead its athletics department in 2022 and will begin her fourth full year as Vice President & Director of Athletics in 2025-26.
 
When Milleson was named to the post in February of 2022, she became the first woman to lead an athletics department at any of Springfield's collegiate programs, including Drury, Missouri State, and Evangel.
 
In Milleson's second season leading the department, the women's swimming & diving team won the Great Lakes Valley Conference championship, the men's swimming & diving squad finished as the NCAA-II Runner-Up, and both the men's and women's cross country squads had their best finishes at the GLVC Championships in program history. Coaches hired by Milleson saw success as well as women's basketball head coach Kaci Bailey led the Lady Panthers to 25 wins and a national tournament appearance. Men's and women's track & field head coach Luke Karamitros produced four provisional national qualifiers, the most on program history, and the first men's track & field All-American ever at Drury. First year head softball coach Brooke Gajewski led her team to a 17-9 mark in the GLVC and 30 wins overall, the fourth-most in team history. Academically, the Panthers set a record with 278 Academic All-GLVC honorees and 14 teams earned Academic Team All-GLVC honors in 2023-24.

In her first year as Drury’s AD, Milleson saw the women’s basketball and the men’s swimming & diving teams win Great Lakes Valley Conference championships, nine teams were represented in NCAA championship events, and she oversaw the launch of six new non-NCAA sports in 2022-23. Drury teams were also successful in the classroom as well as 14 teams competing in the GLVC earned academic honors from the league and 253 student-athletes were named Academic All-GLVC.  
 
Milleson was the first head coach for the Drury women's basketball program when the team launched in the 2000-01 season. She built the team into a national power immediately as Drury won 20 games in its first year and reached the NCAA-II national championship game in just their fourth season. In seven years as Drury's head coach, Milleson posted a record of 185-36, her teams appeared in five NCAA-II tournaments, won three conference championships, two NCAA-II Regional championships, and the 2004 team was the national runner-up. She was named Coach of the Year in the Heartland Conference four times and won the same award in the Great Lakes Valley Conference twice.
 
In addition to their performance on the court, Milleson's teams and players earned numerous academic honors, and the Lady Panthers were ranked in the top 15 in attendance at the Division II level. Now in their 22nd year, the Drury women's basketball program boasts the best all-time winning percentage in the nation with a record of 569-115 (.833); they've earned trips to 18 NCAA-II tournaments, won 10 conference championships, and have reached the D-II title game twice in their history. Since the opening of the O'Reilly Family Event Center in 2010, the Lady Panthers have ranked in the top 10 in NCAA-II women's basketball attendance each year. 
 
Following her stay at Drury, Milleson spent 14 years as a head coach at the Division I level. She led Missouri State to three straight 20-win seasons and guided the Lady Bears to a Missouri Valley Conference regular season championship in 2012. Milleson became the head coach at George Mason in 2013-14 and, in five years, took a program that won just eight games in her first year to a team-record 24 wins and the club's first national postseason appearance in 14 years.
 
Milleson stepped down at the end of the 2020-21 season to return to the Ozarks and, for the last year, has served as the Director of Athletics for the Hollister R-V School District in Hollister, Missouri.
 
Milleson originally arrived in southwest Missouri in 1992 when she was named the head coach of the girls' basketball program at Glendale High School in Springfield. In seven years, she posted a record of 157-39 while guiding the Lady Falcons to two state semifinals appearances and the 1996 Class 4A state championship.
 
In 2016, Milleson was inducted into the Drury Athletics Hall of Fame, and she was inducted into the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2018.
 
Milleson and her husband Brent have two sons, Barrett and Caylor. A native of Goodland, Kansas, she has degrees in Psychology and Education from Kansas State University and a Master's in Education Administration from Kansas State.
  
Nyla Milleson Highlights
  • Named Drury’s Vice President & Director of Athletics (2022)
  • Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame (2018)
  • Drury Athletics Hall of Fame (2016)
  • Led George Mason to a program-record 24 wins and first national postseason appearance in 14 years (2017-18)
  • Coached George Mason's first-ever All-American and first-ever WNBA draft pick (Natalie Butler in 2017-18)
  • Guided Missouri State to the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title (2011-12)
  • Coach of the Year, Great Lakes Valley Conference (2006, 2007)
  • Coach of the Year, Heartland Conference (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005)
  • Missouri Girls 4A Coach of the Year – Associated Press, Missouri Basketball Coaches Association (1996)
 
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